What is it you can do to battle Stormers ????

twill; You bring up an old point I had long forgoten, but, was a prime observation of mine, when first exposed to the "storm frenzy".

Typically, for the most-part, these "hail damaged" roofs are in no way susceptable to leaking anytime soon....As a matter of fact; Anyone honest & with applicable knowledge/experience, realizes.most will perform for years....A lot of them, may & very-well do, perform right on through, or very close to, their respective life-cycles.

I believe, Ins. Co.'s now,require the work,is/was actually done, prior to paying the customer.

That being said; There is no real urgency to re-roof these homes, other than the simple greed factor, of the unscrupulous contractor.

Possibly, that is the best way to combat these "stormers"....Simply be honest with the customer. Assure them, their roofs are in no immediate danger of leaking. It doesn't matter if the roof is done today, or a year or two from now.

Most people would rather have a local outfit do their roof, one would think.

Tom, That is a good point. The stormers come in and offer the supply houses huge amounts of money if they will keep them first for what ever supplies they need over the local market. Stop that. HAH Nope!!!! NO Way.. I don't think so. Local guys need to take to the streets get in the neighbor hoods where their community is and take control. It is a battle and only those with the courage and fortitude to do it will succeed. Crying and whining is not a option. This is an epic battle for your families and the community in areas where catastrophic events take place. IMO B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

I've tried to learn from this thread. When we got blasted w/ hail and an "inland hurricane" in '09, I had only one hail claim under my belt. We had hundreds of calls a day for a month or more. I almost bought exactimate, although I had never known anybody to use it before this. Glad I didn't as the time it would have taken to learn it would have stressed me out even more so.

We had a dozen+ workers and I'm the only salesman, unless my Dad felt like running a few bids. I had 100 roofs sold for us , which was great. However, it was hard enough to manage sales and the guys. Few wanted to wait 6 months, and as the list grew, my sales went down.

I'm attracted to the money you speak of Rocky, but I'm unsure I want anybody putting a roof down in my name. Many of the people in this area went to school w/ my family, or just know us from being around. I would hate to have them call me back in eight years because their architectural shingles are sliding off their roof because I hired monkeys who can't hit that a mythical thing called a "nail line"

Rockydog Said: Robert, Chucky doesnt like stormers, he, like I, and every roofer, likes STORMS. Storms create business for all of us. :

I hate storms. Don't like profiting off other people's hardships. But not doing residential, hail isn't such a bid issue. When we have storm problems it's usually much more severe than shingle damage.

Oh...back on the topic.....I don't believe you can stop them....Just imagine if you where in a state w/o licensing!...it's absolutely absurd! Everybody's a roofer and they come out of every crack....Homeowners are accosted via canvasers/flyers, telemarketing....you name it....I don't get real excited about trying to sell a roof to a HO, who's already talked to 20-30 "roofers"...It's whole nuth'r science....

Rocky....I moved some 20 yrs ago, from a similar climate...I prefer it, to the hail crap.....Unfortunately your re-roof market, for many years to come, was just gobbled up by those stormers....and that's a fact jack! it's gonna be slim-pickens for quite a few years. That was a fluke hail storm.

I'm in the mountains now,,,no damaging hail....Hooray!!!!!

I'm still pretty close with a couple of former employees, that are contractors in Ca....You can just about set your watch, so-to-speak, as to the re-roof market/wokload you can expect year-in & year-out......

Flagstaff got 94" 2 years ago led the nation. They normally get a lot. Phoenix on a good year gets 10", averages 7" and we are 1-1/4' behind already this year. Areas that get frequent rain, not necessarily storms ,stay busy with roofing work, Storms generally bring catastrophy work and the chasers with it. Those with little rain and even fewer storms go hungry or they be come innovative in how they create work. That would be door knocking, realtors, property management and a few other avenues. Im not a firm believer in tearout wall flashings. If you do that then youre tearing up the walls as well. If youre doing that then youre driving the cost to the HO or the insurance company up. I dont feel it is necessary to take it out if it is in good shape and if its in good shape and you can't put a good roof on with it, then there's something wrong with your abililties. Most of our flashing will out last 3 shingle lifetimes. of course that was 20 year shingles, so let's say 2 laminated shingle lifetimes. Are we replacing it because we want to charge more money.... maybe in your area it rusts out sooner. As far as my having the infrastructure and capital, I have no advantage than any other roof.

I imagine you get more precip in Flagstaff than you do in Phoenix but point well taken. I'm with Woody; we get some wind damage from time to time, and some flooding, & earthquake stuff, occasional fires, but no wholesale periodic hurricane, tornado, and hail catastrophe waves. I'm starting to think that TomB is in an intermediate zone, probably twill also, where it's just frequent enough to be disruptive to otherwise normal market conditions. I am reminded of my vexation with Darryl years ago when he kept saying, "Tear out all that wall flashing when you do a reroof...no exceptions." I finally grasped that in Florida all those flashings have to be set in a solid 8" bed of mastic, per code. Well, yeah, you're not going to be saving any of that so of course it has to be chucked out each time. Different set of givens lead to different conclusions. Actually, if you have a situation like Rocky where you have the infrastructure and capital to constrain the migrant roof people and essentially press them into service, you basically owe it to the local building owners to do that as a matter of public service if nothing else. (and that line of reasoning would certainly sell, no doubt about it.)

Woody & TomB, I would agree with both of you if my area received as much precipitation as either of your areas. Actually most of the country gets more rain except maybe Death Valley. If we didn't have rain we wouldn't need roofs and if we didn't need roofs we wouldn't need roofers. Phoenix has had rain one time since the middle of December 2011 and unless we get it this weekend won't recieve any until our July monsoonal flow comes thru. Hopefully! It doesn't always come. Sometimes it's just giant dust balls. We don't necessarily look at the storms for insurance work, rather, to wake up the HO and remind him that he has a roof problem he has neglected. If it doesn't rain, they don't call. Kinda like the "out of sight out of mind" syndrome. Storms aren't the culprits here. They will always be here They bring the fruit to the market. WE all depend on them. Geez, it's like "knock and the door shall be opened" when the opprortunity presents itself..... It's Chuck in the truck, no offence Ciak, and the storm chasers, which is what this topic is about and what we should be discussing and is evading us, that ruin the market. You can't tell me that if you had a 4 year old roof and it just got hit with 2" hail, you wouldn't turn it over to your insurance company. That's not a mindset. That roof, if it isn't shot to hell, certainly will be in 2 years. and then what? you're gonna fork fork over 10-15 grand for a new roof. Right? I have ocean front property in Arizona. :laugh: . And it doesnt matter if it happens every 3 years. If it's shot it's shot. That's what you pay you premiums for. and yes, that's why your rates go higher. If you don't agree with that move to a different area of the country where there isn't as many storms. We dont get rain and only a few localized storms. In Oct 2010 we got slammed as hard as any city ever had and we had hundreds of storm chasers come in here and they got too big a slice of the pie. Salespeople, tearoff crews, install crew, siding, windows, cars not to mention companies like Jasper that brought, rumor has it700 people into our marketplace. That's the topic. How do we slow THAT down? The Williams gang flows thru every year, we have our gypsies groups and our illegal immigrant bands. We have always lived with them. The storm chasers were new to us down here and we didn't like it. I think the last time was 1988, long forgotten.

I don't like storms...It ruins the market....Instead of a steady need for new roofs, as they age...It's feast or fammine...A frenzy every now & then...A crappy way to operate...JMHO

As for "insurance work"....It's my price & that's it....I can't honestly sympathize with contractors that allow the tail to wag the dog, by allowing insurance companies to dictate what they're going to pay them....It's absurd...JMHO again :)

You know, the wife likes to take off for a long weekend at least onece a month. I have a lovely granddaughter 4 and a grand son 3, that I just spoil to death. I give to St.Mary's Food Bank, time money and food, The Salvation Army and the local sports teams. Vegas is 4-1/2 hours San Diego and LA are 5, the Grand Canyon is 4. I have 6-8 salespeople that do the claims, not to many denied. I did have one yesterday, teed me off. The point, Robert, is that we are looking for solutions to slow down the storm chasers, and you asking me about something that is irrelevant. Phyliss Diller said " if you want something done, ask a busy man" and Im busy. I dont have to wait for a storm and I dont have to chase any storms. But if the fruit is lying on the ground waiting for some buddy to pick it up.... what would you do? Leave it there? wait for the storm chasers come pick it up. I can't apologize if you're to busy to take on more work, if I become too busy I'll hire someone new, put them thru all the hiring phases, shake their hand, give them what training maybe necessary and welcome them aboard.

Hope your not to busy denying claims to enjoy yourself! :laugh:

Ok this is getting crazy. I have been called out again after being home 1 day. This going to be a very busy season. I will keep the latest news reports on Stormers. I think I will call it Storminess updates. B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

Robert, Chucky doesnt like stormers, he, like I, and every roofer, likes STORMS. Storms create business for all of us. The more business there is the more homeowners I can help. Yes, I make money when I help someone with their roof. There is nothing wrong with that. It,s called making a living. You can have as much business as you want. That is your choice, do not deny me mind. I will work very hard for it. I hate stormers coming and dipping into mine and yours pocketbook.They take most of the fruit that have fallen off the tree or hanging low in the tree when you and I should be out there with our bushel baskets. I am a firm believer in sharing, and I have no problem sharing and giving my wealth away to those less fortunate. So the more I make the more I can give. Don't deny me. To all local roofing contractors, where ever you're from, you owe to your self and your community and your brotherhood to go to all lengths to slow down the Stormchasers, or just shut up, and watch the migrant work force swarm thru your groves and orchards gathering truckloads of fruit..... :angry: :angry: :angry:

This is really not worth discussing, because not enough other roofers are putting in feedback. We have twill who plays "devils advocate" but doesnt offer any relevant info on how to combat the chasers, and woody and Robert who really don't give a hoot about insurance work. I wish all my competition thought like that. Instead the locals go off half-cocked with no education and start lowering the sale price to take work away from the competion and bitch about the storm chasers coming into town on chrome dually chariots.