I Have Failed!!!

I have vworked my butt off for 32 years in the roofing business. I started with no knowledge and no experience, and as soon as my dad moved me into sales, I found myself woefully outgunned by those more experienced roofers who could rattle off a list of a hundred roofs they'd done...which is a pretty effective sales technique.

But I overcame that experience defecit by hustling, working longer and harder than my competitors. For years I knocked 40 commercial doors every day, cold calling. Through that I established a formula that proved dependable, repeatable. If I saw 40 business owners every day, I'd get 2 roofs to bid, and I'd sell 1 of the 2. Average sales commission: $400. So, each of the 40 company info folders I handed out, was worth $10 to me.

It worked well, and I ate it up. One Saturday morning I stopped to laugh at myself. It was 10am, it was snowing like crazy, and I was trekking through 4" of snow in downtown Littlefield, Texas on a Saturday, in leather dress shoes, white dress shirt and tie, slacks and a sportscoat. All the sane roofing salemen were home in bed on a snowy Saturday morning. I had to laugh at myself because I realized that I'd discovered my angle...I could outwork any of my competitors.

But in the roofing business there is always uncertainty. We're dependent on the weather and other uncontrollable situations. I've had competitors threaten to whip me, slander me, steal from me. There are ups and downs. I literally gave and arm and a leg to our roofing business when on 13 October, 1994, on my way to a US Intec demo at ABC Supply, my pickup drove under a John Deere 4430 tractor.

I didn't want all that for my son - I wanted him to have more stability. We sent him to Texas Tech to become educated so that he wouldn't need to be a roofer. He instead chose to become a fireman on the Lubbock Fire Department. He kept that position for 6 years before he decided to resign from the FD and join the family roofing operation.

And he likes roofing - I have failed.

Well I guess that makes by Dad a HUGE failure!

Back 17 years ago my oldest brother and I worked for my Dad in the Summer on roofs. We did this a couple Summers before going full time. At 19 my brother got his insurance and went to work for our Uncle. At 19 my father and I partnered in business which lasted 3 years. In those three years I personaly took my little brother under my wing and trained him in the ways of roofing.

Fast foward to today. My little brother has a roofing business and does well. Between projects he subs from me. My older brother is a full time sub for me. My dad is a full time sub for me, 5 years now.

Every so often I'll meet other father and son teams who most often the son is working for the father. I'll take the son off to the side and say, "Someday your Dad could be working for you"...

We have our first born on the way in 6 weeks and yes it's going to be BOY!!! Although a college education is up to him I will not condone him if he wants to be a fourth generation roofer.

My wife and I are blessed live in a home we only dreamed of and neither of us finished high school. We are both VERY hard workers which to some can mean more than a college diploma with no work ethic.

A good friend of mine told me an interesting college story. His father who was sucessfull in his own business told his kids if they wanted to go to college they better do good in high school because he wasn't paying for them. My friend was offered scholarships to MIT and other ivy leage colleges for engineering. He decided to stay around his family and went to the U of Duluth! (yes on an all expense scholarship). Now he's half owner of a huge manufacturing firm and does extremely well.

Nothing wrong with kids following in their fathers footsteps. I think you have to be able to show them what hard work can earn though. Some kids may think a "hand me down" is what they get from the family business.

My Dad failed. He busted my hump for 4 years telling me that I wasn't going to be a Roofer.

What happened? The weekend before I was to go Upstate to start on Pre-Law College courses, someone offered me a side job. I made more money in 1/2 a day than I made in a week working for my father's boss. I went to school, but all I could think about was making Lawyer money without having to put in 7 years of school. Then it hit me...I already had put in 4 years of school with my old man. But, I gave it the old college try. I lasted a week. I came back, sold my pretty Trans Am, bought a used Pick Up Truck with ladders racks on it and hit the ground running.

I've gone from having a full fledged business, office, yard, 8 FT employees almost twice my age at 22 years old to working across the country for some of the biggest outfits around in 1/2 dozen states to becoming the enemy himself: A City Building Inspector. My most recent stint was with a Construction Management Firm where I ran 2 projects (3 million/7 million) for a solid year and a half (technically, I'm still with them, but on hiatus).

My thinking is "failing" now as I am putting together a plan to launch a specialty roofing company where I'll apply all I've learned in the past 28 years and take advantage of the connections I've made. That inevitable "itch" to be the Master of my destiny is once again flaring up.

Thanks for the thread Roofguy.

;)

Yes, Jet. The roofing business was great for the period in my life raising the family. My boys worked with me from an early age. I didn't work on the roof with them for long. My duties were off the roof running the business. Now they have roofing to fall back on in the event of a catastrophe. My youngest boy has a business that sells penny stocks for companies. They give him a good share of their stock to sell and he trades them when the stock reaches a point he thinks profit is maximized.It keeps him in a very phat lifestyle. He also is a A rated insurance adjuster. My next oldest boy is a manager of 5o employees. Not that there haven't been problems. All in all I too have failed. I am proud and fortunate to have sons like this. B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

Well there are lot of "professions" that are a lot worse. Just watch that show where the host does these horrible jobs (one of them was a tar/paper roof application in CA). My son is 31 now, had his state license for nearly 10 years and will always have something to come back to. He's finished his degree in computer engineering and is finishing his CCSI certification. His plan is to do seminars for others looking to achieve this status and I'd love to do the marketing for these seminars. While we're waiting it's business as usual. Can't complain........no one will listen ;) ;)

JET

---I always told my boys, "Stay in college or you'll end up a roofer." ---My oldest worked for me for 7 years. One day he announced, "Dad, I'm tired of roofing. I am going to be a computer tech." He did and now works for the federal gov't with all of it's perks and gravy. ---2nd oldest dropped out of college last year and works for me full time. It remains to be seen what will become of that. ---3rd oldest works part time for me and goes to college full time. He is more brain than brawn and I don't see roofing in his future. ---I would like one of them to take the biz so I could retire. So far none of them are old enough or mature enough to take that step. I only keep roofing for them. The biz is a good one and I make good money part time so someone that wanted to work full time could do well. But I would rather do something else at this point in my life. ---Roofing has been good to me. I like the outdoors, the freedom, and physical work. And when I see other men my age who can not climb a ladder while I can tear off all day and still work on 12/12 roofs I know roofing is good for my health. I recently attended my HS 40 year reunion. It was a shock to see men my age who looked like they were 80 years old. Many were slow and FAT. Too much couch time, beer and not enough exercise has turned them into marshmellows. I can still do about 85% of what I did in my 20's now in my 60's. I have less stamina but I can still do everything. So 3 cheers for the next generation of roofers. There are a lot of positives. Lanny

Jet,

The oldest is about to turn 23, married with two kids, as he has the nickels to put into it he's renovating an old farmhouse that by all rights should have been torn down, and working as a roofer. He quit college without telling me about it. Now he's paying the price. He says he wants to do it. The younger one is 19 and doesn't even want to look at a ladder.

Mike H Said: Congratulations on your failure! I have failed in a similar manner.

You got the kids roofin' now Mike?

JET

I to have failed. I sent my son to college for two years. He didn't like it. I worked him in the summers installing pitch & slag roofs with me,In an effort to discourage him. He went into the Marines, was activated during the 1st Gulf war. He came out and wanted to work with me in the roofing business. We got a rent-a-boat one summer day when he was in High school. That day I told him my story. Poor, uneducated, married young, all the things that should not work. I told him I've done well in life by working hard. IF I had an education I might own this Ocean we're fishing in. Like all children they never listen to their parents, where do they learn it? I think it was a Mark Twain quote. You can't make someone walk in your shoes.

HAHA, good story and glad to hear it. My ol' man is a hardcore sun of a gun and started this business in 87 when I was about 4. We were poor, damn poor. My mom was saying get a real job for the first few years. He paid his guys $5 per hour and they made more than he did too often. He got his foot in the door by being the cheapest, but production/quality was top notch for around here. Plus all the sleepless nights I know he suffered, such as when an engine would need rebuilt that was crucial for work the next day.

If you were like my Dad, you were telling your son that he should be too smart to be a roofer, or that he shouldn't have to work this hard for a living. I started roofing the summer of 8th grade and continued through high school summers, but then got a very good job working on computer networks. Went to college while working, then quit them both after 5 years and came back to roofing. I love it and haven't looked back. I did good in college and and great in networking, but screw that.

Well fortunately the business finally became fairly profitable w/ a damn good reputation and we are both making a decent living. It's because he broke his back making this company, I will never have to...at least in the same manner he did.

I hope I don't share the same failure....I have two boys; 13 & 9....Yikes!!!!

awesome thread. Its harder work than flipping burgers but theres a good life in roofing.

Congratulations on your failure! I have failed in a similar manner.

There are reasons for everthing. This reminds me of Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison once said to a reporter, who had asked how it felt to fail 25,000 times, “I don’t know why you are calling it a failure. I now know 25,000 ways not to make a battery. What do you know?” Thomas Edison was asked a similar question when asked how it felt to fail 2,000 times before inventing the light bulb. He answered, “I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2,000-step process. Your boy is a man. Individule and certain confident. That my friend is not failure. B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day