The New Breed of Roofer

Roofguy - I'm with you 100% - I've whined about that very topic numerous times over the past few years.

Jobs are no longer won on merit - only "salesmanship"

Things have changed - old school types such as I need to get with it or suffer.

Just the other day, a friend had mentioned, her son. who's participating in a general business class, had learned the critical component/importance of a business's image of supporting charities. Then, out of coincidence, I get a BBB email/flyer offering BBB approved charities, as well as the importance of making your client base aware of your gracious antics - How the new generation "likes that".

Kinda goes against the humble-thing, some of us grew-up with - and still practice.

It's a chang'n world , (narcissistic - goodwill to simply proliferate their agenda - & they'll do what it takes to make you aware of it!).... :dry:

It helps to remember that Sears was nothing more than a marketing company. These "new breeds" aren't exactly totally different than Sears. They just have different tools. And of course the new wave Insurance Scam has brought in plenty of Taiwanese Shoestring Salesmen chasing ambulances also.

I didn't mean to make it sound like it's easy to make it on just repair work because it isn't. But it is possible. My hand was kind of forced into it by the storm chasers that swamped my area a few years back leaving the full roof market dried up by the time it was all over with. My main point was that you have to actually be a roofer to achieve this and it be a long lasting endeavor.

It takes years of "hands on" experience to know how to properly diagnose a roof problem, come up with the correct solution that will not have you running future call backs, give a proper price that is fair to the home owner, yet allows you to make a decent profit and then making sure the work is performed correctly. For me, doing the jobs myself works best but I know that I won't be able to do this for eternity. At some time in the future, I will have to find a good repair guy to help out.

The keys were getting all my personal and business expenses down to a minimum along with adjusting my spending habits where "repair money" would actually mean something significant because as we all know repairs don't pay as much as full roofs. However, I'm doing ok. Let's just say "I don't charge by the square".

Like Roofguy says, seems like the "new breed" has really become more numerous in the last 5 or more years. Ever since the industry changed to an insurance based clientele there is less need for actual experience and knowledge to become a roofing "salesman". But there is still a good market for us old dinosaurs.

Ole Willie and Sean have the right idea going into the repair business. If I was younger and or more able (or maybe it's less lazy) I would dump this employee route and do just that. There is good money to be had in the repair business. I have one guy that has been doing repairs full time for a few years now and he can't keep up with the amount of repair work we get in. The average charge for repairs this year is over $500 apiece. He can usually do 2 a day although some of them take multiple days. That's not a bad living if that's all you do.

I have a repair that I will be doing tomorrow. When I went to bid it, the owner showed me the contract that a roofer that previously had tried to repair the roof had given him. It was 6 pages long, for a relatively small repair.

As I read it, I noticed that at least 4 pages were the UBC code for tile that he had cut-and-pasted. To his credit he did a good job at matching fonts and integrating his letterhead to look impressive to a homeowner. When I pointed out to the homeowner that it was talking about clay tile and he had concrete, he points out only one paragraph on the back page points out the work he was to do.

That paragraph mentioned putting I&W in the leaking area, but when I inspected it, the underlayment was still just the original 30 lb felt. As far as I could see his "repair" had consisted of gluing a couple of broken corner tiles. I guess if you invest too much time on the computer on the contract, you don't have much time left to do the actual work.

Me too Willie, I LOVE the new roofers !!!! they put the roofs on for pennies, first rain, I get to make money on that roof for the next 20 years, with repairs, inspections etc.

Keep it up people, I even decline reroofs, knowing I'll get it in a couple months after all the hard work has been done.

After being a true roofer/roof replacement contractor for a dozen years and being a roofer/sub-contractor for another dozen before that, I finally gave up the fight about 4 years ago.

Unfortunately most home owners in need of a good roofer/contractor wouldn't know one if he fell out of the sky and landed on their front porch. They just think everyone will do the same thing and use basically the same materials, so the price is the most important aspect. Add in the increased cost of roofing materials and everything else in the last several years and you got double trouble.

With more and more home owners viewing it this way, where does a really good roofer/contractor have any advantage or get any respect over any other jack-o-lantern that just fell off the turnip truck not too long ago?

So, I decided to change my target market from home owners who need a roof replaced to ones that have already had it replaced by these "new breeds" and now the problems are popping up every other rain system that passes by. Once the problems have been revealed and water is damaging their homes, price is no longer the determining factor. An expert is now desired and the cost is justified.

I don't mean to brag or sound egotistical and I know a lot of you guys on RCS are just as experienced as I am and some even more. But I make my self out to be an expert in all my advertising. Why? Because I am! I diagnose all roof problems personally and I perform all roof repairs personally. After they have already experienced these "new breed" types and meet me, it's really just plain ridiculous how easy the "new breeds" have made my job.

Once I have performed work for a home owner, they are now the ones making me out to be the expert to all of their friends, family and neighbors. The production hacks just keep on messing things up more and more with time, creating even more work and I become even that much more the expert.

I just use my advantages ( which they do not possess and can not provide ) of experience, knowledge, skill and willingness to work hard physically on the roof. I am just as marketing and internet savvy as the next guy and superior to most in sales ability.

Willie ain't worried ANY! ;)

There's plenty of 'em around. They quickly buy market share. IDK if that is selling, but it sure gets them manufacturer Certified.

I saw a guy yesterday, must've been driving a new $80,000 (?) p/up truck at the suppliers......did not even have a ladder rack. I think he uses the slash and burn subs, the late Billy O's old crew. $70 per sq . (any pitch) and they do 2 roofs a day. Total crap work. I know. I tried them once....... :(

To be fair to Mr. $80k, he does more than roofing.

I gave up on home shows. Contractors there are fighting to give away free roofs. It's changed and still changing. Yet we had an excellent 2013 year...... we just keep doing quite OK

OTOH as far as tech savvy goes: EagleView, Internet advertising, Cell Phone usage, Computer Estimating........been doing all of that for many many years. This old dog is always learning new tricks.

Most of these new young guys I see, are fighting over pennies, beating up/ cheating their labor and have no idea of the value that Good Roofers deliver, or the amount of money they should be charging, IF indeed they are worth more than a few pennies. Hmmmm......maybe they're not worth more than a few pennies :dry:

They are not "roofers" only roofing contractors. There is a big difference. You can be both, but a lot of guys that are "contractors' don't want to get their hands dirty anymore. Some of them never did. Such is life, and that is how it always has been.