Yeti GOBOX Collection

Roofing Question

in over 20 years of this stuff, have never had a customer balk at putting money down on a bigger job. over $2500.00. if the homeowner has a problem with making a committment to the job, then I won't touch it.

John, what you talk about is why home improvement folks have such a bad reputation. know of at least 5 in the area that have done exactly what you are talking about. people don't know about this, but the best way to handle it is to use a title company. you can usually get them to distribute funds for you to the contractor, and supply houses, for around $400.00. and they don't pay out until YOU tell them to. NEVER give a contractor that much money until work is done. if they say they need it for materials, go and pay for them yourself. if nothing else, the materials are now in your name. at least you won't be out that money. the other thing that title companies do for homeowners is the collect lien waivers. lien waivers are proof that the contractor has been paid. no worries later on. you can also have the title company collect insurance paperwork for you. no paperwork, no check.

hard to say about themetal roof. need to know the size, how many valleys, how many hips, etc. lot of variables with metal roofs.

jl, what part of indiana are you working in? 120 roofs a year is incredible since you can't do roofs there in at least 3-4 months.(nov/dec - feb/march) you must travel the entire state. only big areas that could possibly get you that many roofs are fort wayne or indy. and fort wayne has died recently with new home building. and how many guys you have working for you? you average a roof every 3 days. must suck to have to work all those weekends.
 
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My business is in central Indiana. We are only averaging 75 to 80 the last few years. 2006 was our highest with 189 roofs. I run a single crew of 5 labors and 3 roofers with me being one of the roofers. We can get anything less than 30 square walkers done in a day w/ tear off. December 15th through March 1st no roofing. Just repairs. We dont work weekends unless we lose several days of the week.

The hardest part is finding 7 white...er Americans.
 
You've been fortunate, Jason.

I'll qualify my earlier statement and say that when a job is under $5k, I seldom require any down money. Anything over that, and I'm collecting 10% to 15% up front. If someone has to back out for any reason, anything that has not been spent on permits, drawings, etc, is refunded. Most of my contracts are substantially more than $5k though (more like $50k and way up from there), since we're mostly in commercial work.

You guys need to pick better customers.

How do you qualify your customers, if I may ask? Credit checks? I'm not being smart, just always looking for better ways to do things.
 
How do you qualify your customers, if I may ask? Credit checks? I'm not being smart, just always looking for better ways to do things.

It has a lot of do with the first 30 minutes that I meet them and talk to them about things other than their roofing needs. All my work is referral, so that helps out a lot too. I have walked from a few in the past that I have not felt comfortable doing work for.

Most of our roofs are 8k plus anymore. I did a 19k roof last week on a hand shake.:D
 
It has a lot of do with the first 30 minutes that I meet them and talk to them about things other than their roofing needs. All my work is referral, so that helps out a lot too. I have walked from a few in the past that I have not felt comfortable doing work for.

Most of our roofs are 8k plus anymore. I did a 19k roof last week on a hand shake.:D

I know where you are coming from. My BIL is a remod contractor on his own and operates on a handshake. I would have him be our General, but I know he wouldn't be fair on what he charges. In my way of thinking, guy still has to pay his bills and I told him so. At least he has us lined up with a couple of smaller stand-up contractors (both concrete/roofing) who are bond/insured, but small time guys who are on the jobsite.
 
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