PRACTICING ROOFING - OLD COMMENTARY FROM OUR FRIEND PETER

This editorial was written by our dear friend a number of years ago. It was one of my favorite things written on the RCS Forum and I saved it all these years. It only got better with time....

ARE WE PRACTICING ROOFING?

In Ireland and Great Britain there are many professions like Lawyers and Doctors who never claim to be ‘Experts’. Specialists, yes - Know-it-alls, no. They are practicing. I assume it is the same in the USA where you have Medical Practitioners or Lawyers ‘Practicing Law’. Professors in colleges who practice their chosen specialist field be it in music, medicine, law, or economics.

They never claim to ‘know-it-all’. I believe this is to allow them scope to improve their knowledge of the subject they have devoted their lives to and the changes that come about through new inventions and technology or changes in the laws be they may made by man or by a higher power.

I believe one of the many problems with roofing and roofers is we do not push ourselves forward as a ‘Profession’ or ‘Practice’ in a similar way that other construction professionals do, for example mechanical and electrical services (Ireland anyway).

In failing to truly value our knowledge and expertise within the roofing industry we send out a negative view of ourselves and the importance of the services we provide to our clients for the properties they trust us with.

When clients want our opinion or services they pick up the yellow pages, make a few calls and these guys will come running trying to beat each other’s prices, or worse. A practice I hate when I see it and will not get involved in, is bad mouthing the competition instead of selling their own professional service.

While we will entrust our lives to a ‘Practicing’ brain or heart surgeon why should our customers expect the price wars and back stabbing among the professional roofers worldwide? They expect it because we allow it to happen, some of us actually take part in the very behavior that belittles us all and puts our skills and knowledge out to the public free of charge.

Not only our own knowledge, but some of us are giving away free of charge, the use of very expensive transport, equipment, and time in the hope of making a living. We take on the responsibility for crazy insurance premiums, without any real recognition for the services we provide by the very people who often save money by our services. Maybe it is time to start demanding incentives to train apprentices with the help of roofing colleges and courses to teach the young men and women what we know and are still learning.

Until pride in the work carried out is introduced we will get nowhere, it is just as important for the three tab shingles to look and perform as well as the traditional slate or the copper roofs, of course the client will only get the life expectancy in a roof that suits their pocket, but does that mean because all homes are not covered with roofing products that have 50 year minimum life expectancy they should not get a professional installation?

As to the choice of roofers available to the public, yes they have jacklegs, cowboys whatever the local name for scum whose only true ability is to rip off elderly or those who know it all and think they are saving money using only operators. That does not include all roofers who take chance operating without insurance licenses where they apply.

One of the best roofers I had the privilege to employ owned his own small kettle for built up felt roofing (no mops, only pour and toll). He was as entitled to make a living just as I was, in fact he knew more about different felts than I did and was only too happy to pass on his knowledge and the customers who wanted large jobs done that he couldn’t manage.

That man was a skilled roofer, a pleasure to watch and work with, not a contracts manager or entrepreneur, he just wanted to make enough money to live a comfortable life.

To the self-employed and company directors in the roofing business, perhaps there is someone out there who can guide us to achieving the respect and professional status the true Roofing Practitioner deserves.

I don’t know the answer but for as long as I am in this business I am willing to listen and learn from the every source I can, I do know that at this time we are not going to be appreciated for our knowledge if we don’t start to appreciate ourselves.

Here endeth the sermon for today, anyone got any suggestions?

Kind Regards, Peter Crawley.

I suppose doctors and lawyers call their business a "practice" because they can not guarantee results. If a roofer can't stop a leak he isn't going to be in business very long.

The problem with the roofing business is that any idiot can slap on a roof and it won't leak for a while. When it does leak, you have rotten decking, rotten fascia, and/or stained ceilings and no one can remember who did the roof if they are even still around. So the next guy slaps on another roof with insurance money after they determine the leak was caused by "storm damage".

The roofing "business" deserves little respect because it is filled with contractors who got into it for the easy money and their applicators are not much better than day laborers.

Becoming a roofing professional takes years of hands on experience along with the conscientiousness to care about how it looks and performs. There is not many of them around.

good post, just sneezed from the dust on it though. i am a good example of what being what you described will get you these days and it's not money. the W in NWO stands for world and the N stands for new. if you haven't noticed there's a new way of doing things in the world. trust me, i rebel but i also don't live like these guys. people truly don't want what you described. there are so many incrimental strands to the tangled weave but for time sake, i'll try and get to the bottom. i believe it's the ignorant nature of modern consumers and the intent or motive of the businessmen of today, the two of them feeding off eachother. doing a trade these days is illegal. i say this because the definition of a license is permission to do something that would otherwise be deemed illegal. the process one must go through to obtain this permission forces them to aquire bulky overhead which becomes a constant cost. this cost must always be fed no matter what or one will lose their permission to be legal, therefore forcing them to constantly focus on the bottom line. being focused on the bottom line causes people to make compromises, once these compromises are made across the board, they become a standard. this standard replaces the truth and now when someone brings the old truth to the table the overwhelming majority call this truth the lie and people tend to follow majorities. the consumers are afraid of freedom, afraid of a free market. instead of saving for unexpected expenses, now they buy insurance. instead of educating themselves, they create gov beauracracies. things have gotten so out of hand, they will argue one lie against another but will reject truth in unisen with a loud voice. it isn't gonna change, it's only just begun to get difficult to buy and sell. there are several ancient scripts which describe what's happening to us but they've hacked that up too. that's the short end of my two cents anyway and two cents is bout all i got left these days!lol and i know to most people just now i sounded like the teacher from charlie brown! lol i don't mind p.s. earlier i said it won't get you money but i failed to mention what it WILL get you. those who the truth is in them will understand, the rest will go BAAAAAHHH

Ya gotta love Peter. He lays it on the line and it is all true. It is up to us (especially "us" older guys) to lead the way. Written by "Old School" boy, that makes it even tougher on me doesn't it?

No suggestions here. Just keep on plugging and offering quality.