According to Roofing Insights, 80% of roofing contractors will fail, often in less than two years and an even bigger amount (95%) of roofing companies will be out of business within five years. When it comes to growing a small business, it’s important to get things right on the first try, especially when it comes to operating in such a high-turnover sector as the roofing industry.
Here are the top 4 reasons why roofing businesses fail and how to prevent your roofing company from falling into the same traps as those who came before you.
1) Disorganization and lack of processes
Everything you and your roofing company does needs to have a proper process in place behind it so that everyone stays on the same page and nothing falls through the cracks. Make sure you have a sales process established that everyone on your team must follow to ensure each roofing project starts off on the right foot and, if necessary, you can have anyone on your team take over anyone else’s work if team member quits or calls out sick.
Have a template for every roofing job you and your team work on and stick to it, and keep a proper labeling system in place for everything that you’re working on such as tagging jobs as won, closed, completed, etc.
Proper processes go beyond sales and project organization, however. Many roofing companies fail due to a simple lack of organization in their paperwork, files, and documents. Try to get away from paper documents and work towards keeping a digital copy of everything stored in a well-organized and centralized location where you can quickly access all your files when you need them, and share them with the team when necessary.
2) Skipping out on using proper marketing strategies
A roofing company without a steady flow of leads and customers is bound to fail, and fast. While word-of-mouth and referrals are great ways to generate new leads and grow your business, you’ll need more than that to really spread the word about your roofing services and company.
Marketing a roofing business doesn’t need to require hiring an agency or spending tons of time and money on a complicated marketing strategy. Start with a website set up to explain what kind of roofing services you offer, show off your team and business, and leave a short contact form for curious homeowners to reach out to you for more information or an estimate.
Build up a presence on social media by creating pages for your roofing company that then link to your website, and then invest a little cash in some ads to run on those pages and some search engines like Google and Bing to target some interested homeowners in your service area. This ensures that the right people are hearing about your roofing company and you have a steady flow of leads in the pipeline at all times.
3) Failure to plan and strategize
Another reason that roofing companies fail is simply that they haven’t properly planned for what’s ahead. If your roofing business operates in an area where the roofing industry works on a seasonal basis, it’s important that you’re all set and ready to go well before that year’s season begins.
Put together a roofing business plan at the end of the current season and update it with everything that worked for you this year. Keep this as up-to-date as possible and make sure it’s easy to update with any new information you may gain after each new job.
Be aware of the average number of jobs you work on on a monthly basis, how many supplies you go through, how many quotes you send on average, etc. so that you can put together a team that can handle the workload without over-hiring and spending money where you don’t need to be.
4) Not keeping up with roofing technology trends and improvements
One of the biggest reasons that roofing companies fail is having a fear of change and technology. At Roofgraf, we often hear from roofers who are hesitant to try out our roofing software because they believe that since they’ve gotten by with a pencil and paper since they started in the industry, that they don’t have any need for our roof measurement software.
What they’re missing, however, is that for the most part, roofing technology has grown out of a need to make life easier by saving time, stress, money, and most importantly, make your day as a roofer safer.
When drones hit the market for the general public, roofers open to change quickly adopted the tech for their roof inspections to save a trip up the ladder, making the job safer and faster to get done.
Today, with Roofgraf, roofing contractors can upload those same drone images to the roofing software (or use HD satellite imagery), measure the roof, generate a roof report/BOM and proposal for their client in a few minutes without ever having to step on a ladder before the job is closed, eliminating a huge safety risk from their day-to-day.
If you’re a roofing contractor who isn’t interested in failure, keep an eye out for new tech and improvements to roofing software so that you can stay ahead of the competition and rise to the top while the hesitant sink to the bottom.
In Conclusion
When it comes to maintaining and growing a healthy roofing business, organization, marketing, planning, and adopting new technology are great ways to make sure that you find yourself on top while your competitors get left in the dust.
With accurate roof measurements, roof reports in seconds, smart templates, and beautiful proposals with Good, Better, Best options, Roofgraf has all you need to close more sales, grow your business, and save valuable time. Give it a try, risk-free today to see why it’s the only roofing software that you need to stay ahead in this tricky industry.
