JOB MARKET

BEEN IN THE ROOFING BUSINESS FOR THIRTY-FIVE YEARS. WHY IS IT SO TOUGH FINDING WORK AT THIS TIME???

How many of us would purchase,if presented with a price list from a manufacture or supplier. Reducing the price of material 15-20% compared to material we have been buying from local established suppliers. Not only purchase but put pressure on our current supplier to match or beat the prices? I'll throw out a guess 95% or more of us. We are faced with the same situation in the Residential market. The H/Os see the contractor as pretty much the same and most are shopping price. Price is dominate in purchasing. Gone are the days of getting a premium price if the H/O shops bids, H/Os are thinking about retirement and paying the bills. On and on...........

B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

The resultant wages and "going rates" are a result of unbridled, free enterprise.....We reap what we sow.....

The insurance companies came up with Xactimate and the like, to control the pricing since after all they are the ones paying the money out.

They have effectively done this in the residential market. With every Tom, Dick and Harry storm chaser around doing roofs for "what the insurance pays" ( which is a whole $175 per sq. for a 1-layer walkable here) you can not compete unless you are willing to do the same.

When all is said and done, I can tell you who does 90 plus % of the roofs in this area. And its not X, Y or Z company.

It is the immigrants that live in and around the area.

They are the only ones willing to work for "what the roofing companies pay" (which is 40 whole dollars a square for a 1-layer walkable here).

They will make it up by production, including skimping on the details and whatever else is necessary to turn the dollars.

Most of the homeowners are too ignorant about roofing and too price driven to even be able to educate them away from this!

TomB Said: CIAK...At he risk of sounding negative.....My gosh man, isnt that the speech we get at about 12 yrs old or so? Or from one of those shyster motovational seminars, most of us have graced our presence with, over the years?

It does have merit though. To a point.

I notice a lot of people dont focus enough, on a particular endeavor......BALANCE, is the key.

Shysters are every where. In the "roofing business" plus any other etc etc. The focus is IMO on building your personal wealth and or growth.The business climate requires each one of us to limit our losses.That requires extreme focus and balance with diversification. There have been some good points made on this thread. IMO to narrow in scope but good if used as a part of the whole. I'm not putting the advice of Spudder Peter and others in the bad advice column . It just doesn't cover the spectrum. The advise speaks wisely and directly to the question. However not the full answer. B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

I have always maintained that there is a difference between a salesman and a closer, when I was in my prime my closing ratio was high It all started when I pulled into the driveway my plan went into action and might have changed when they answered to door My own personal message is that I needed to be flexible and look for the right path, to turn the potential consumer to wanting to buy from me. I felt the turn in the customer I try to steer then down a path not with trickery but with knowlege about my trade and products. As I approcached the homeowners house I would breakout into a little song or call out their name and try to be friendly as I could I needed to know everything about that customer and had to change my pitch in a different direction instantly the result wold be signing of the contract and picking up a deposit check, I always felt if I picked up that deposit or made arrangements for piking it up there would be less chance for a cancellation lol I eventually got out of the residential business but doing commercial work was no different, the old story of selling your self and using your knowlege in all topics not just roofing or its by products lots of cold calls sshowing why we were better than his present contractor, be willing to go to any lenght (legal) We did not sell price either with the residential or commercial customer Once you start dropping your pricing and the customer still says no or yet I'll let you know the deal is usually lost, if you get your self in a pricing war then you start comparing and taking away product to justify the dropped price, some people you will never sell but you have to keep moving and learning by your past mistakes

I do all that and much more and they still go cheap! lol

Hi Ole Willie,

No need to push, in fact make every effort to "turn" the inquirer into a buyer, answer all the questions, explain (in your own way) that you respect his money as if it were your own, well that is the purpose of the visit :)

One of my solar web sites has a section on the top, copy and paste might work:

For a No Obligation Survey by a Tradesman not a Salesman. Contact Us We Appreciate Your Business.

No suits just clean work wear and tidy transport, the specification must be well typed good punctuation and spelling but most important make sure every question they asked is covered in the quote.

I have found over the years that the following at the end of every quote has closed more sales than all the B.S.

Remove all rubbish and excess materials as the works progress leaving the work area in a clean and tidy condition.

It's a simple line, many contractors believe the customer takes that as a given, write it down leave no doubts, for commercial I have a few others that are relevant to their project.

Trust me, I'm a realist when you've been on top and have to begin again luxuries like trying new sales methods that you're not comfortable with are one thing that can prove very costly.

Peter1: In today's market many people think all service providers are the same so why pay Roofing Inc more than General Roofing Inc?

It seems like nearly all people think this way. You can explain away, making your own job as difficult and as stressfull as you prefer, but most often they simply remain thinking this way and at some point if you don't stop they will begin to consider you to just be another pushy salesman. This is coming from a good salesman of nearly 20 years. I'm not perfect just dam good.

There is no respect for the fact that roofing is a "skilled" trade. Probably because too often, it is performed by the "unskilled".

Many people think everything will be grand if they just do their own roof and save a bundle. Until the leaks pop up that is. Would they consider doing there own heart surgery? Which is also a skilled trade.

I don't mean to add to the negative but as the old saying goes, Its good to be optimistic, probably not so good to be pessimistic, but best to be realistic.

No offense intended to the O.P. but are you a salesman or a roofer?

The reason I ask is a good salesman can sell anything from roofs, solar panels etc etc.

I agree with GSD the art of selling has been lost along the way everyone needs to know why they should buy be it your services or the roof the company you are working for is selling.

First thing a salesman must do is sell himself, no man regardless of how good he was can do that when he concentrating on the competition, nice to know what they are doing, even better if you know how they are doing it but you have hit gold when you can get the message across that you do what they don't write down.

In today's market many people think all service providers are the same so why pay Roofing Inc more than General Roofing Inc?

No reason unless the more expensive of the two tells the customer why they should give them the job, in a lot of cases the extra attention to detail is not explained, in some cases there are no differences but one will provide the customer with a detailed list of what the customer is buying.

Notice I didn't say detailed list of he was what he was selling?

My way may be old or new I don't know or care because it works, I allow the customer to buy from me and yes I sell roofs, solar etc etc

The last thing I need to hear from a salesman working for one of my suppliers is how slow the market is, everyone knows the economy is dead come in and inspire me, leave me in a positive mode and I will have more customers buying that salesman's products.

Next job you go for tell them what you are bringing to the party, don't concentrate on what they want that's obvious or they wouldn't be talking to a salesman, make sure they know they are talking to a person who can bring their customer through the process from the initial inquiry with the project managed to collecting the final payment.

Don't forget to mention the profit margin you can bring them by proper pricing and project management.

CIAK...At he risk of sounding negative.....My gosh man, isn't that the speech we get at about 12 yrs old or so? Or from one of those shyster motovational seminars, most of us have graced our presence with, over the years?

It does have merit though. To a point.

I notice a lot of people don't focus enough, on a particular endeavor......BALANCE, is the key.

What I have learned is, years ago, we were all "order takers" there was enough work to go around for everybody, so we pretty much were really just taking the customers orders.

Nowadays, we need to sell. We need to have a great reputation, we need to know roofs, we need to know our product. we need to keep promises, we need to be ethical, we need to know how to talk to people, we need to know how to present ourselves, we need to know how to talk intelligently.

Did that sound like bragging. It wasn't my intent. The idea I was trying to bring across....putting all your eggs ( no pun intended ERIC )in one basket isn't the path to success. Diverseness is the key. Look at what other skill sets you have or are interested in. Today's climate is full of opportunity. Push on, believe you will prosper ,create an atmosphere around you that supports that idea. Stay away from negative people and thinking. Life can be and is full. It is your choice. B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

I used to brag about, as a roofer, being able to go anywhere in the US, go to work and get paid within 48 hrs. And it was true at the time but not anymore.

I will be out there sometime late next week. If you want to grab lunch with the boss and I email me B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

Hey CIAK, sounda like you made some good choices in your business life. Good for you. I could brag about how i live high on a hill and look down to the valleys, mountains and ocean. I have made good choices too but, i would like to keep going until i can safely retire. I'm out in southern california and it's a dog eat dog world. We are luckly to consistantly maintain a 15% profit on our jobs. Some out here go down to 10% to 12% consistantly. For us sales people there is no room for commissions. Most of us are on salaries. So thats why i say roofing contractors are not looking for experienced people, they need to find the diamond in the rough. My salary has been cut in half and contractors want to hire for less and give a commission on jobs making over 20%.