What gets you the maddest about this work?

Contrary to what I may have shown in print in years past, I'm a pretty level headed guy, don't get too visibly angry about anything, on or off the roof, at work or at home. But every once in a blue moon... and it's usually got more to do with a customer than anything else.

For me, it's that customer that wants to negotiate the price AFTER the job is done. I respect negotiation up until the handshake, appreciate honesty and the value of a dollar along side the value of a man's word, and frequently send a little note "The job went real well for us, and the final bill is a little less than we agreed upon. Thank you for trusting HRI for this important investment."

But try to beat down the price of what we agree upon after the job is done and imply that we aren't worth what we agreed on? Oh baby..... that brings out a side of me that few ever see.

What gets your blood boiling?

I think I'd be pointing out that the bright white aluminum gutter looks terrible on that house, and that the right gutter will improve his curb appeal by about $50,000.00

I love it!

I keep every lead and every repair done pretty quickly so I rarely have much of a backlog. Right now I have 4 jobs on the books. Three of them I'm doing without a contract or any deposit. The other one involves replacing a chimney cap which I almost always collect a deposit on and get a signed contract because once the sheet metal shop starts making the cap there are no refunds so if the client wanted to cancel I would be stuck paying for the cap. One of the jobs I sold over the phone sight unseen.

I did one last week from just an email and pics like tinner stated above. Never met the client at any point. I gave the price by email sight unseen. ( other than the pics ) He sent his mom over to the house to be there while I worked on the roof. He was at work. When I finished the job, she gave me the check.

Most of my 'contracts' are simply a phone call. Friday, I gave out a written contract which is rare for me. Any tips for writing them better?

The E-mails:

"Frank-

I had a tree limb hit the edge of my slate roof last night.

The shingle it hit is toast. It also damaged the gutter a

little. Pictures of both attached. Can you come fix for

me?

The shingle is a 9 inches wide and it 5 inches from the

leading edge to where it underlaps the one above it. I

probably have a dozen cracked or broken shingles that are on

other parts of the house that you might as well replace

while you’re there. No leaks anywhere whatsoever, so they

are non-critical.

Address is"

"Those are 9X12 Buckingham Slate. I can repair those two slate, (the one underneath is also

toast), and any others you have. Possibly work it in some

time next IF the weather ver quits screwing up my current

jobs. If not, it'll be another week or so. $300.00 for the

first slate, $30.00 for each slate thereafter. If the ridge

hasn't been re-pointed in the past 3-5 years, you might want

to figure that in also. Without any better pix, I'd guess

that would add about $150. to the job. If the gutter isn't too bad, I might be able to straighten

it somewhat. What concerns me most is what looks like a

cracked fascia below the gutter. If it's cracked, you may

have wood damage and even a split rafter. The gutter repair

would be the standard $65.00 per manhour and I doubt it

would take more then than 45 minutes-hour. If you wanted to

replace it, I would call Ron Crumpton for the gutter work.

It sounds like we could be talking anywhere from $500.00 to

$700.00. That is a guess only since I haven't looked closely

at the roof. You can set a $$ limit based on these few observations and

if it is obvious that's not enough, I'll tell you as soon as

I realize that. If it appears we can operate in the 'stated' budget, we can

procede and if it looks like it'll go past, we'll cross that

road then, but I'll concentrate on slate that can leak, not

cosmetic ones, in an effort to stay within budget."

"I’m OK with that, Frank. Come on as soon as you can even

if we’re not there. Just let me know when & also if it

looks like the ‘slated’ budget gets cracked. I’ll check the

fascia and gutter better over the weekend.

Thanks for the follow up."

"OK. I'll fit you in somewhere."

The Pix:

BTW, No, I've never met the client, nor am I likely too.

Mike H Said:

People want to be told what to do. The more confidently you push them along to the right decision, the happier theyll be about their decision.... as long as the performance matches the talk, anyway.

So true. When that happens, I feel I am going to get the job. When the opposite happens, I feel like I am a waiter in a restaurant taking down an order......an order that many other waiters will soon be taking.

Ultimately what bothers me the most is when I find the problem, offer the solution and .......they're gonna get more estimates....... armed with the knowledge I just gave away for free :angry:

Tim says, "...Once you're our customer, if your JoSam drain is plugged or there is a hole in the side of the building that the cable guy left open, we'll fix them. We want our customers to see us as problem-solvers who don't send a bill for everything we do...."

That is absolutely right. I call it wearing the white hat.

The peeve part for me is when you do something special and all they say is, "Long as it don't leak."

Phone calls from homeowners who still believe that the residential roofing contractors are on their heels, with the mistaken belief that they can dictate the price for our service . . .

Good stuff!

Lady called me about adding some roof mounted ventilation yesterday. I gave her a price over the phone to just come out and do the work. She said ok when can you come do it. I said first thing in the morning. 7 a.m. She says great I will be here waiting but then I have to go to work. I pulled up, she came out the front door before I could get out of the truck. She handed me a check and said thanks for the prompt service, I have to go to work now. Have a great day! :)

Old School, I won't even give an estimate on a repair. I say "If I build the cost of my time into the estimate it will seem ridiculously high. We can send out a tech on a T&M basis, NTE $500.00, and if it is obvious that the repair will cost more than that, then we can give you a written estimate, but you'll most likely be far cheaper to just have us come out and take care of it. If you really need the estimate first, you'll need to call someone else. What I can tell you, is that no matter who you call around here, the guy they send probably first worked here and is no longer here for whatever reason. The guy we send will know his stuff, act professionally, identify the problem quickly, fix it properly, and be on his way while someone else is still trying to figure out what the problem might be. Do you want us to come?" It's usually "yes".

People want to be told what to do. The more confidently you push them along to the right decision, the happier they'll be about their decision.... as long as the performance matches the talk, anyway.

I hate it when they call you out to diagnose a problem, and when you have figured it out and given an estimate to do the repairs, they use you estimate and diagnosis to bid it out. that is why I charge for estimates like that.

Mike H, that's a really nice touch. It's not all those little things you do that has made you a success, it is that you want to do them and you want to be better than the average roofer.

Something that makes me mad is: We pride ourselves in not charging for everything we do. Once you're our customer, if your JoSam drain is plugged or there is a hole in the side of the building that the cable guy left open, we'll fix them. We want our customers to see us as problem-solvers who don't send a bill for everything we do.

Most customers appreciate that, but not all. Some strip shopping center owners call us first if there is a leak, even if they think it might by an HVAC unit leaking. They do this because the AC guy has a service charge and we don't.

Irritating.

People who think their time is the only time that matters and don't mind wasting mine. :angry:

It used to be people who paid the bill "very" late but since I morphed into the repair business and do my own work, this doesn't happen anymore. In fact the billing department has been eliminated. I set an appointment for them to be there during the work just like with the initial diagnosis and when I'm done, they pay me. No one has ever not paid me since the change. No one has ever reduced the amount of the check. However, several have added a nice tip. All the checks have been for the full amount agreed upon or higher. ;)

Quite often someone will ask me to do additional work. If it's less than half of a days worth of work, I do it then, otherwise I have to schedule the work 3-4 weeks ahead. Sometimes, they won't want to pay for the initial work until the additional work is done. That gets the blood a little warmer. But it's all proportional, it's usually somewhere between $1500 and $3500. Back when I was doing lots more new construction and someone would jack me around owing me $40,000 or more, that's when it could boil and I needed a steam whistle spouting out of my head.

I'm with Tinner, having to remove untold layers of stuff from a tube or bucket is the pits. Especially if any "lexel" is involved, that stuff is brutal to remove. B)