Roofing Business: 7 Resources to Help Grow

“There’s never been a better time to start a roofing business” is a lie. The best time is now. There’s more resources and advice for roofers out there than ever before.

If you’re not sure where to start, though, this blog post is for you. We’ve done the hard work of gathering a number of resources to help with 7 different areas in your roofing business.

Whether you’re just starting a roofing company with no experience or scaling a family business, arming yourself with these resources below will have you tasting success even sooner.

Resource #1 - Business Planning Tools

When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Regardless of your experience level, it’s crucial that you implement a business plan for your roofing business. A business plan will help guide your decisions and even secure loans or investments for you to start your new company.

Don’t fret– there’s no need for you to go to business school to learn how to write an actionable plan. We’ve put together the 9 essential items you need in your roofing business plan in this blog post.

In essence, your business plan should be your North Star for how you plan on operating and growing your business. To start, describe your company and the offerings that you’ll have. Will you focus on residential or commercial roofs? What areas of your city might be prime customers? As you start to answer these questions you’ll get a better sense of the market opportunity and how you might compete with other service providers. 

As you start taking a closer look at your competitors, though, be careful not to copy their tactics. What worked for them might not work for you. More importantly, no two business plans look the same. That doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch! Below are a couple of different business templates you can use to hit the ground running.

The U.S. Small Business Administration
This page from the US SBA has a great deep dive into the different types of business plans you might consider based on factors like your funding and size. You’ll also find a couple of different examples to pull inspiration from for your roofing company’s business plan.

The Law Depot
In just a few minutes, The Law Depot will have you on your way with specific business plan templates. What we love about this resource is that you can filter templates by industry and they even provide other legal documents you might need as you grow your business!

BPlans.com
If you’re not quite ready to build a big team but want to get a little more organized as a solo contractor, BPlans.com is your hub. You’ll find dozens of sample business plans here. Take a look through the variety of plans available and pull inspiration from the samples that resonate the most with your ambitions.

Before you keep reading, we want to remind you– don’t wait till your plan is perfect. It’s more important that you get out there and start working on business. Your plan will naturally change as you learn more about your market and gain experience selling your services. A plan that’s “good enough” is better than a plan that’s “perfect.”

Resource #2 – Securing the Right Tools and Equipment

It takes a lot to start a roofing business. You’ll inevitably be making frequent trips back and forth to the hardware store to gather more equipment as you start taking on jobs. But the type of tools and equipment you might need will depend on many factors; the type of roofs you’re servicing, the areas you work in, the budgets of your customers.

Trying to navigate the world of tools and equipment can be intimidating. Thankfully, there’s expert-led blogs like RoofingInsights.com to guide you.

On RoofingInsights.com, you’ll find detailed reviews of specific tools, breakdowns of roofing materials, and much much more. One of our favourite things about RoofingInsights.com is that they also create in-depth guides to make sure you’re using your new equipment safely.

Resource #3 – Landing Your First Sale

Itching to land your first roofing customer? We’ve got a secret sales tip for you.

Before you go out and knock on doors, pull out your phone and strategize a little bit. Open up Google Maps and check out your area. Zoom into a couple of specific neighborhoods and start checking out the rooftops. At a glance, you’ll quickly get a gauge of which roofs look a little worn out and in need of your services. List out these addresses and boom– you’ve got a hitlist. Now you’re ready to hop in your truck and do some good ol’ fashioned door knocking.

This process might be tedious but it’s a great way to start building rapport with residents. What you’ll find is that most people might not be ready to buy right away. That’s all good. Your job at the beginning of the sales process is to build trust. Remember, you’re not looking to do one roof and call it a day. You’re looking to build a roofing business that last decades. A business like that is built slowly off  hard-earned trust. Take the time to explain to residents exactly what you saw on their roof on Google Maps. Why do you think it’s time for a roof repair?

There’s an invaluable rules in sales that closers swear by– show, don’t tell. Instead of trying to lecture residents on what’s wrong with their roof, show them what’s wrong. How do you do this? With a personalized roof report.

A great roof report will contain high quality aerial images of your customer’s roof, accurate measurements of every eave and valley, and an estimate on how much materials will cost. When it comes to closing leads, time is of the essence. That’s why Roofr delivers roof reports in just 24 hours.

Spending this time upfront educating potential customers pays off. Before you know it, your roofing business will have its first customer. Do a great job and soon enough, you’ll become recognized as the neighborhood’s go-to roofer.

Ready to start selling? Try Roofr for free today.

Resource #4 – Streamlining Your Processes

As your company starts to grow, you’ll have to make sure every member of your team is aligned on priorities and the status of different projects and customers. This is when you might start to experience some growing pains.

When it was just you and a couple of buddies patching up roofs, it was probably easier for you to keep track of things on paper or through a couple of text messages. This “system” starts to fall apart, though, as you begin hiring more people and taking on more customers.

For example, as you start taking on more customers, the group chats you might be relying on to share progress updates will quickly get messy. This is where our friends at CompanyCam would come in handy. CompanyCam’s software helps keep all your projects and the relevant progress photos organized in one spot. You don’t have to jump between emails or text message threads to update your customers and team.

See how CompanyCam can help keep you organized. (Fun fact: CompanyCam also integrates with Roofr!)

As you start scaling your roofing business, ask yourself– what other parts of your company should you be streamlining?

Resource #5 - Marketing and Promoting your Business

Word of mouth is arguably the best marketing channel out there. What’s better than having a happy customer tell all their friends and family about you?

There’s just one problem with word of mouth. It’s not reliable. If the only marketing strategy your roofing company has is hoping for past customers to tell people how great you are, then you’ll be in hot water quick.

It’s crucial for roofers to be proactively marketing their business to homeowners in their area. We recently had a conversation with one roofer who grew an online following of over 200,000. And guess what? This following translated into a lot of sales for them.

You could be leaving a lot of money on the table by not building a marketing plan for your roofing business. If you’re not sure where to start, we highly recommend tuning into the Rise Above Show from our friends at Roofing.com.

Resource #6 – Staying Ahead of the Competition

We want to tell you about Cody, an incredible roofer who’s growing their business in a very unique way. Cody really impressed us because he was using Roofr to close leads before he even left their driveway. Here’s how he did it.

When Cody would get a lead, he’d go out to visit the house right away. After meeting the homeowners, he’d fly his drone over the property for a few minutes to snap a couple pictures of the roof and do an inspection.

Nothing too out of the box yet, right? Just wait till you hear what he does next.

He’ll get back into his truck and draw out a roof report using the pictures he just took. And then, in one click, he’ll build out a full proposal in Roofr. In less than ten minutes, Cody is back knocking on that door with a full, detailed proposal in hand. And the homeowners? Well, they’re ready to work with Cody right then and there.

This process that Cody uses leaves customers in awe. An approach like this can quickly make you the top roofer in your area with a waitlist of homeowners that only want to work with you.

How you treat customers from the minute they become a lead all the way to up until they’ve paid your invoice will have a lasting effect on your brand. Your professionalism will go a long way– and Cody knew this.

To stay ahead of your competition, keep your eyes and ears open for industry leading technology (like Roofr Proposals) and become a master at using them to service your customers better.

Get started with Roofr Proposals by watching this step-by-step masterclass!

Resource #7 – Becoming an Industry Expert

From innovations like solar to revolutionary ways to work with customers, the roofing industry is always changing. One way you can ensure you’re building a sustainable and profitable roofing business with a bright future is to become an industry expert. As a business owner, it’s your job to stay on top of industry trends.

The best place to start is to learn straight from recognized experts like Martin Pettigrew. From humble beginnings, Martin grew his company, Monarch Roofing, to an impressive $40M business. Today, he generously shares his knowledge on how other roofers can reach the same level of success for themselves. His book, “The Roofing Machine” is a must-read for any entrepreneur serious about growing their roofing business.

Building a business can get lonely. But you don’t have to go it alone. Martin is an example of just how open and collaborative roofers can be. There’s thriving communities across social media full of roofers like Martin who are sharing what’s working for them and what they’re learning. One of our favorite communities is the Roofing & Solar Community on Facebook Groups. With over 24,000 helpful group members, the answer to any question you have is just a post away.

We’ve personally found that the best way to gain the most insight is to chat with professional roofers directly. That’s why we started our podcast The Roofr Report. Every other week, we sit down with experts in different areas of the roofing industry to help ambitious business owners like you. Whether it’s questions on pricing or using social media effectively, we cover it all on The Roofr Report. Click here to listen to our most recent episode!

The right resources make a difference

Roofing is tough, but rewarding. You’ll inevitably stumble and make a lot of mistakes along the way. The good news is that you can learn from the mistakes of others. This quick list of resources will help you spend more time doing what you love most– roofing.

Enjoyed this blog post? Listen in on conversations with roofing experts on our podcast– The Roofr Report.

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