On being competitive

Very true Tom. As a sub, I had many GC contracts/projects/relationships cancelled and our ways parted because 'We found somebody cheaper'. Never mind their prices weren't dropping to be more competitive. It seems each instance was always self serving for the GC only. On the commercial side, I saw the same issues, but I preferred residential work so I stuck with that. I eventually evolved, devolved maybe?, to where I am today, along with a few others on this board. :)

This topic involves endless dynamics. We can each comment/reflect on our own particular situation; Be it geographic locale', licensing environment, financial demographics, etc.

In my 30 yrs as a contractor, (both roofing & GC) - I can make some comments "on being competitive".....

California; - We did primarily commercial & gov't BUR. - Value/price was king; There are always flakes/crooks, but, for the most part, your competing w/like companies and the customer understands that. Relatively speaking; Strict licensing laws. So it's all about proficiency. Extremely price-competitive. Virtually no salesmanship - Merit system - You must be on your game - very good at what you do, to succeed.

Colorado; - We dabbled in commercial. It was very difficult to break into, (on a significant level, that is). Suppose it's the industry's way of self-correcting itself due to no licensing. I remember I couldn't get one commercial roofing manufacture to add us to their "approved applicator programs", even though we'd been successfully providing commercial BUR throughout California's military installations for years.

- We ended-up developing the concrete tile roofing market during the 90's housing boom, and were very successful. I hated tile, but recognized an opportunity and ran w/it. They were getting $300/sq for tile when I just got in off the turnip truck from CA, where the typical residential tract pricing was under $100/sq at that time. We kicked-but for several years, until, of course, the regional/locale' "competitors" caught-on and utilizing the ever-popular "sub-game", eventually priced us out.

- Very sales-driven in Colo. as apposed to merit. I suppose I'm just getting lazy, but it's tiring always having to "sell yourself".

This is getting long - I'll cut it there, for now.

I'm with Chuck on this. Besides, it's great fun to analyze specific issues on a roof. Beats pounding shingles which is boring. :)

I gave up on being competitive about 5 years ago after 25 years of roofing. It got so bad here that I was having to bid on 10-15 roof jobs in order to get just ONE job because I refused to give them away at break even prices. In order to achieve this, I had to be willing to use that 25 years of hands on experience to my advantage and be willing to go backwards and perform the physical work again, myself. After having 3 salesmen, two secretaries and 8 sub-crews at the highest point. On average, I had one salesman and myself, one secretary and 2 crews but like I said that was the highest point. The lowest point was sitting at the shop, the phone not ringing with no jobs on the board and ZERO people working.

Repair work is nowhere near as competitive as installing roofs. However, to survive doing it and not have lots of problems, you need a LOT of experience. Not just in doing the work either but in all phases from running a business to advanced selling ( I don't mean flashy lights, bells and whistles). The problems have to be properly diagnosed and the correct solution came up with and then a profitable price given. Notice I said a PROFITABLE price and not a COMPETITIVE price. Scheduling and speed of service becomes top priority if you want to succeed.

I chose to specialize in this kind of work because I spent 25 years watching the roofing trade go down the tubes and every Tom, Dick and Harry start a "Roofing" business when they couldn't even replace a loose shingle correctly if their life depended on it. A large majority of the home owners just think everyone is the same when it's time to replace the roof but when the roof is less than 10 yrs old and having problems they realize that cheap price wasn't so great after all and now want an actual real live roofer believe it or not. Then there are the insurance models. I'm trying to be nice today so that's all I will say about them for now.

I'm sure this will sound very brazen and bold but there is indeed a lot to COMPETE with concerning replacing roofs but I chose my current business model because 99 out of 100 other "roofing businesses" can only dream of providing the level of quality and service that I provide today. I could not do it when I had my other full service roofing business either because it was set up like so many others in order to try and "COMPETE".

I don't price gouge people. However, I know what I have to get in order to stay in business and make a reasonable profit and that is what I charge. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with what anyone else is charging and is the farthest from "by the square" as you can get.

This is my Forum post of the week.