Building a one-stop shop for homeowners

By Emma Peterson. 

Learn why contractors are diversifying their offerings and how the right supplier partnerships can make expansion easier. 

In a new Coffee Conversations® webinar, Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with Josh Wilens, Alex Birnbaum and Kristina Hill to talk about how siding is no longer just an add-on for roofing contractors; it is becoming a key part of their portfolios. Josh and Alex both work at QXO, the former being their lead marketing associate and the latter being their complimentary product manager. As for Kristina, she’s the co-owner of HomeShield Roofing & Exteriors and Shield Building Group. 

As a roofing contractor, the question of whether to add siding was one that Kristina had to face in her own business. She explained what led her and her team down that path:  

My company was founded in 2017, and I came on board in 2019. And when we got started, everything was all about roofing. We would take on some siding projects, but we were choosy. But then, in 2020, we were starting to get some storm claims and realized that we were really leaving money on the table by not being a full-service exterior contractor. 

After having that realization, Kristina and the HomeShield team added gutters to their offerings, following that with siding. And it has been a big success. As she put it, “It’s been huge for us, when we have a slow season in one area, like storm restoration, we have the other offerings to fall back on so that our guys have work and our lights stay on.” 

And Kristina’s story is just one example of many contractors who have begun adding more offerings to their portfolio. Alex has seen this firsthand, sharing, “Contractors are realizing that homeowners don't think in terms of products. They think in terms of protecting and improving their home. And adding more services is less about upsell and it's more about customer experience. Customers want that whole project done at once.” 

Josh added some thoughts about why homeowners prefer getting everything done at once, adding, “I compare it to when you are repairing your car. You don't want to go one place for tires, don't have to go one place to get your car window fixed, then one place for your interior. You want to go to one place and have it all taken care of.”  

 So, how do you expand your offerings and become a contractor that can deliver that one-stop shop experience? Work with the right partners. Kristina explained, “We worked with our supplier partners, like QXO, who got us in contact with some subs. From there, we brought on a gutter team and a siding team that helped us add in those other trades and diversify our company into a one-stop shop.”  

Alex seconded her recommendation for leaning on your partners, sharing, “From the supplier side, we tend to have field teams at each branch that we want our customers leaning on as resources. And they have a lot of resources, they may not have the answer right away, but they can probably point you to somebody that does.”  

Want to learn more about expanding beyond roofing into areas like siding? Listen to the whole episode or Watch the recording.