The Roofing Industry Needs A Publicist

I was watching a show called 'The Middle' last night and the lowly neighbor kid said he wanted to work to become something in his life "like a roofer or a landscapers assistant". I first thought 'Hey, cool he wants to be a roofer', then I realized 'Hey, he is comparing a roofer to a guy works a wheelbarrow!'. No offense to the wheelbarrow guy (you are only an assistant) roofing requires skill and a lot of common sense and you have to do it 11 stories up or at a 45 degree angle.

This is just another example of Hollywood's assault on skilled labor, to steal a point from Mike Rowe's Ted talk speech, (GKRFG posted it a few weeks ago).

Why do we portray manual labor as something to be made fun of? How did it come to this? How did the public lose respect for people that like to get their hands dirty for a living? Why aren't roofers feared and respected!

Irritated me. What do you think?

It took me a while. I found pix of the larger company's pride and joy.

:woohoo:

At least they corrected the BIG so water would flow to the downspouts on each corner.

:woohoo: It doesn't hold much water now. As it fills, it tilts and the water flows over the outer edge. :ohmy: This roof now has a real scary BIG to be walking around in.

Created another happy referring client today! When I finished the job he wrote me a check and asked for another business card even though I had already given him one the day before. He said "My sister has a roof issue too and needs a specialist like you to look at it and not just some roofing company! ;)

Well, talk of the devil. I have a regular client of 8 years now. I gave them a bid 9 years ago and didn't hear back for a year. :unsure: Seems they went with a much larger company. They quit doing their call-backs ad walked away after 12 months and said the warranty period was over. Since then, I've bee there several times trying to alleviate numerous issues. I can only do as much each time as his budget allows since it's hard and expesive to pay for a slate roof once, much less twice.

Looks like the chimney flashing has to be redone again now.

Many years ago, I did a repair for a guy with a clay tile roof in one of Denver's nicest older neighborhoods. The guy was a white collar guy, but he seemed to think we wouldn't understand him unless he threw in lots of expletives, mostly of the three and four syllable nature.

So while we worked on the house, we talked "roofer talk" just like him except we upped the syllable count and madeup our own descriptive words. Things like "hand me that monkeenutlikkin tile". We probably had an adjective for every fantasy Martin Bashir has ever had about Sarah Palin.

But when the job was done, we just went back to talking normal.

natty Said:

Roofguy Said: When people finally find one who does a good job and wont screw them, they tend to want to use him over and over.

The last thing property owners want from their roofer is to use him over and over. That means there is a problem. When I put a roof on, they get the full life expectancy out of it. They may refer me to friends or relatives if it is fresh on their minds, but that is it.

Even on repairs, I remind them to call me when they need a new roof, but they usually get sucked in by the stormers even when they dont need it replaced.

Roofguy Said: When people finally find one who does a good job and wont screw them, they tend to want to use him over and over.

The last thing property owners want from their roofer is to "use him over and over". That means there is a problem. When I put a roof on, they get the full life expectancy out of it. They may refer me to friends or relatives if it is fresh on their minds, but that is it.

Even on repairs, I remind them to call me when they need a new roof, but they usually get sucked in by the stormers even when they don't need it replaced.

OLE Willie Said: Over the years, Ive had several people in white collar type jobs revert to explaining something to me using roofing terms, as if they thought thats the only way I might be able to understand since Im just a dumb ole roofer. Ironically, they dont understand the roofing terms very well.

Recently this happened with a website designer who was trying to sell me a New and improved website design.Only problem with that is Ive had the top spot on the first page in my area for over a year and customers tell me all the time quote I wouldnt change a thing about your website and I dont want it changed.

In her example she said my web design was old and outdated and said now you wouldnt use old shingles on a clients roof would you and tell them thats the best quality you can provide? She was very confident that this would persuade me. However, I replied back, Yes I Would because I do not do new installations but only repair work and the clients often have OLD shingles left over from when the roof was put on and that is always the best possible match. The same brand, color and batch numbers. :laugh:

Funny, I get the same calls daily for some reason. Clients to be call nearly as often too.

Over the years, I've had several people in white collar type jobs revert to explaining something to me using roofing terms, as if they thought that's the only way I might be able to understand since I'm just a dumb ole roofer. Ironically, they don't understand the roofing terms very well.

Recently this happened with a website designer who was trying to sell me a "New and improved website design."Only problem with that is I've had the top spot on the first page in my area for over a year and customers tell me all the time quote "I wouldn't change a thing about your website" and I don't want it changed.

In her example she said my web design was old and outdated and said now you wouldn't use old shingles on a clients roof would you and tell them that's the best quality you can provide? She was very confident that this would persuade me. However, I replied back, "Yes I Would" because I do not do new installations but only repair work and the clients often have "OLD" shingles left over from when the roof was put on and that is always the best possible match. The same brand, color and batch numbers. :laugh:

The Kold Kingers reading this might remember that as I gave my Powerpoint presentation on marketing and selling chopped glass roofing, I suggested that they can take advantage of the poor reputation of roofing con tractors. When people finally find one who does a good job and won't screw them, they tend to want to use him over and over.

The internet and flashy marketing has made it harder and harder to differentiate between the good solid roofers, and those who are simply master marketers. The customer's first clue is when a roofing company's website lists its locations as all of the cities who had big storms the last few years.

Vickie, I think we 1st need to define skilled. Honestly the kid who wings me a slider through the drive thru is more worth $15 / hr to me than the he/she on CNN, Fox, ABC, etc. who sez the minimum wage should not be north of $10

The news analysts and the politicians are not even worth minium wage to me. I'd gladly outsource Congress, Mittens and all of the other Job Destroyers, for $1 a day slave wages, except I am not them. They would do that. I would not pay slave wages. But I would outsource them

We TRULY need some "creative destruction" to take effect

Vickie the Boss Said:

Why do we portray manual labor as something to be made fun of? How did it come to this? How did the public lose respect for people that like to get their hands dirty for a living? Why arent roofers feared and respected!

Because the corporate/business mentality considers labor as a commodity- use it up then throw it away. Ship the factory work overseas. We are now seeing that a pension system is not sustainable.

Everybody knows that you don't get ahead by working for a living. You get other people to do the work for you. Most roofing companies in North Texas are nothing but marketeers that sub out the work to immigrant hustlers who put a bunch of day laborers on the job. Your roofing crews aren't any more skilled than your lawn mower pushers.

We actually have a caste society. As long as there are immigrants to fill the roles of labor, it will remain so.

I think that becoming a roofer entails a high degree of risk taking. Some of us were able to channel that and as a result have been able to start our own businesses and as a result hire others. A great number of people with addictions also have this same risk taking "gene" and as a result often find themselves employed as a roofer.

I don't know how many times I have heard on the news about someone committing a murder, killing their children, rapists, pedophiles and the list goes on and they say the guy was employed as a roofer. I'm not just talking nation wide here, this is close to home in an area with a population of under 5 million.

Don't often hear the news say the guy was a farmer, carpenter, cement layer or a cell phone salesman. The media kind of associates roofer with "scum" type of people, be it dealing with criminal acts or consumer fraud.

It is what it is. I've experienced it personally in social situations. My wife works in the school system and I've went to few Christmas parties and had a hard time having a conversation with most of the dickwads that were there who had no concept of physical work other than mowing the lawn which most of us probably try to squeeze into the day before it gets too dark.

Woody, that is too funny! :laugh:

I've known a couple roofers that were also preachers!

So did our industry do it to ourselves?

I saw an episode of Undercover Boss about the CEO of Kendal-Jackson wines. He made a statement like "My Dad was roofer, so naturally he ended up in a bar each night." What a crock, I know lots of roofers that drink at home.