Opinion requested

For any of you who have been in roofing business for awhile or longer, what would be your advice , in one sentence or less, to someone who is just getting in? Or what word best describes anything and everything you have ever done to get started, keep the door open, and still continue ?My advice would be start young enough, and never retire. My one word would be " two actually, "bloody knuckles".

Start off with knowing your numbers, surround yourself with people who are smarter in areas that you don't know so well...

No joke TomB this is not out of comic books . Morality can be controlled . http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/brains-moral-compass-shifted-magnets-study-finds/story?id=10243784 This lends credence to the information about electrical appliances and magnetic fields . Very interesting the idea that there are multiple systems for morality you can selectively target and impair one at a time out side the will of the person.

Check your moral compass, if your a decent/honest sort, get out while the get'n's good!

I've tried to get out of this business but it just keeps coming back to me. The Sicilian connection is just getting off the ground. We met in Washington DC last month a blast and formulated plans. The newest interest roofing is an LLC with a young guy who has ten times the energy I have . That is one of the first ingredients ? 1 Start young. 2 Customer service 3 Customer service 4 Did I mention Customer Service.

Thanks for that nice post Lanny. It was more than one sentence but who's counting?

When I was young I learned to never cut corners or take shortcuts and fake it because you won't get callbacks (that don't pay) and mainly, when its time to get the check you can't be called on anything. Something still valuable today, that was in 1976. Good luck.

RUN

Learn Spanish :silly:

Find a great sub, then set your prices accordingly so you can profit on each job.

All opinions were great, varied in nature but all seemed to have a common bottom line, Don't go into this business. I agree with all answers, I would never go into it , if had it to do over, but, it is sort of like swimming across a lake 100 feet deep, you get half way across, why turn around, it is the same distance either way , so you have to get to the other side, or drown. I love it though, wouldn't change now, no way.

Mike M. Said: For any of you who have been in roofing business for awhile or longer, what would be your advice , in one sentence or less, to someone who is just getting in? Or what word best describes anything and everything you have ever done to get started, keep the door open, and still continue ?My advice would be start young enough, and never retire. My one word would be two actually, bloody knuckles.

Pretty tall request for a one sentence answer.

Bloody knuckles works if you are actively running the crew as a salesman/bookkeeper/foreman/roofer/contractor. I never lost money when operating in that mode.

But here's the best I can do at the moment: Find a niche that isn't a reverse auction and master it, including the business side of it..

Without connections and lots of money to survive the first few years I'd say look into another profession. This one, just like a lot of other construction related careers is tied too much to the economy and if you don't know how to ride the waves you'll drown (in debt) for sure. With that said, if you can walk into an ongoing operation where the owner is due to retire (or sell) in the next few years I'd see what part could be played in being the new owner. A roofing company takes many years to get established enough where referral business keeps you going through the lean times.

JET

I would tell them to go to college and stay out of roofing....honestly, there is an easier life.

One word of advice?

Don't!

seriously- I have to grown sons- one just graduated college- I have never encouraged them to become involved in roofing- because I know there are horrific odds against even making a simply decent living-let alone abundance.

On the other hand- both sons have often worked on my projects-in fact the recent Grad is working for me now while he looks for a "real" job-and both sons have a real appreciation for the fact that roofing is beastly hard work-even the easy projects are unpleasant,and that you have to deal with many extremely unpleasant people.

they also know it can be relatively lucrative and that there are many paths to success if you can sit down with a pencil and paper and think things through.

If I offered one sentence of advice it would be " Evaluate each prospective roofing project as an independent investment opportunity and don't be conscerned with staying "busy".

stephen

don't do it, be a great #2 guy for someone else.