3 hour estimate

My lead sheet said client wants A) new ridge vents b) Has 3-5 leaks C) Has cracked shingles on the backside only D) wants a wooden weather vane removed from the roof.

I arrived on time at 11 a.m. He was standing at the garage entrance talking on the phone so I waited for that to end. Met the family dog and proceeded into the house to try and figure out 5 seperate leaks. So I did the best I could, writing down measurements from reference points as usual.

I knew before even getting there it was gonna be a challenge but he is a returning client so I felt that I might could close a nice deal on the spot and I had no other appointments for the day.

When I got on the roof I discovered 40 yr. Owens Corning Oakridge shadow. Shale in color. Across the entire backside they were badly cracked at 19 yrs old. All the rest of the roof was fine.

He had 2 power fans on back that he said had not been working for some time and that he had them replaced multiple times and they just keep burning out every 2 yrs. or so.

Two of the leaks were on this backside with the cracked shingles,( one around a stucco chimney and the other at an unlevel spot bottom of short valley), one on the left side around a pipe, one at the wooden weather vane on the garage in front and the other was an old inactive leak.

This is the little wooden weather vane from underneath.

So I bid to completely reroof the backside, ( not with oc oakridge shadow as we believe it to be discontinued ) Cut the stucco 6 inches up off the roof and completely reflash the chimney, remove that little metal piece at the bottom of the short valley and eliminate that hump causing the water to pool there, replace the leaky pipe collar, remove the weather vane and deck in getting rid of all that black mold, remove the two power fans and install 52 feet of ridge vent on the main house and 32 feet on the garage.

He has enough of the OC material in his basement to do the garage work for a dead match.

Anyways I pulled up at 11 am and left out at 130 pm. We sat down and went over it all and he says well I'm probably going to do it but we are leaving for vacation in a few hours and wont be back for 2 weeks! ARGH!!!

So true Rockydog.

Also depends on the source of the lead what the closing rate will be.

Naturally it will be lower on new callers than referrals or repeat clients.

And with the new calls it will be different depending on the source.

My website leads are stronger than any other source of new callers. The potential clients have read 1 to 10 pages of my history and knowledge of the trade before deciding to call me.

I hate to even think about what a 10 page ad with 30 pics would cost to run in the phone book!

:woohoo:

Ya can't close them all the time and you definately cant' close them all the time on the first time out. Sometimes they have to be cultivated. Patience. I.m an easy close kind of guy, no pressure, want to think about it, fine. What was it you wanted to think about? Answer any and all questions and give them plenty of information about yourself and your company. Especially about yourself. Become their friend, their buddy. Become their Son or Nephew or even their Father. Get them to like you and trust and they'll call you back. 4 out of 10 AT the table and 9 out of 10 if they call you back. Of course I'm talking reroofs. Repairs are probably 60%-65% closing

He called about repairs only. I turned it into a large sale. $8,500.

After I did this he let the cat out of the bag that the insurance had already paid him for this cracked area.

They paid $7,500 minus $1,000 deductible. So $6,500.

This is one of the most upscale gated communities in the area and trust me the extra $2,000 won't be a problem for this guy.

He is a very particular guy but he took note of me being a very particular roofer.

I'm 95% sure he will sign up on returning from vacation. But like you say I always prefer to close ASAP!

He said quote " I'm pretty sure I'm gonna let you do it but I just want to think about it for a little while".

I don't believe closing on the spot was an option on this one or I would have accomplished it. Like you Darryl, that is my specialty. :)

I always asked a potential customer when were they planning on doing this project, that way I could come up with some type of promotion that was good for this time right now otherwise they would have to lose the discount and do the job when they get back. The idea is to close that deal right now, granted it doesn't always work but in our case it worked about 70% of the time. We would try very hard to not walk away with nothing, the difference between order taking and salesmen ship.

That's some pretty cool pics on your site roofmaster.

Welcome to RCS, I think you could probably contribute a lot here. :)

Just a few reminders. Owning a home comes with many responsibilities. It can seem like one part of your house or another is always in need of repair. It’s too easy for homeowners to ignore their roof until it is in desperate need of repairs. Having a long term roofing plan can save you tons of money by allowing you to:

Fix problems when they are small Repair or replace your roof before water damage affects the remainder of your home.

Regards,

Rochell Javier http://www.roofmaster.net/