Roofing Distributors - Invaluable Business Asset or Necessary Evil?

I have another old RoofersCoffeeShop.com Forum topic from April 2004 and I would like to see if this 8 year old conversation still holds up. We have new challenges in business today. Are there any other factors besides the points brought up here that mean something to you? Roofing Distributors Invaluable Business Asset or Necessary Evil?

TOPIC: ROOFSRUS- Roofing Distributors- Contractors best friend or worst enemy? This is a question that I would like to hear every ones opinion on. Some will say that the material house can be your best friend while others will argue that they are a contractor’s worst enemy as they sell to anyone and don’t care who you are as long as you have cash. What is the consensus of the roofing trade on this question? And what are the reasons one way or the other. I have my own definite opinions but I won’t express them until I see what some of you have to say on the subject. REPLIES:

JSC - They can hurt you or help you. I don’t trust them, but stay on good relations with them because they are in a position to give a lot of referrals IF they like you. Overall, they’re just another ****** kissing up to whoever is the largest buyer. You can pay your bill on time for 20 years, but they’ll go right for the jugular the first time you are in a bind. IMO

EGG - If you are juggling suppliers they’ll go for the juggler’s jugular all right. As JSC says, “if” they like you, they’ll also do a lot of leg work for you with manufactures. They are an important part of networking, eyes and ears and all that

Mike H - Like roofing contractors, they are good ones and there are bad ones. Find the good; let the bad scrap it out over the jacklegs.

DARRYL - We have been sorting them out for the last 30 years. I like the idea of a supply house has multiple offices since we all in and out of state. Supply houses for the other licensed trades require proof of license for any purchase, while the roofing distributors require only cash

Peter - I find its better to treat the supplier with respect as they give very definite references to potential customers. They send some business our way, there are some of them who I treat with caution, when updating prices I would never give them the details where I intend using the 100 rolls. I have experienced both sides, where they will give me leads or recommendations, the other side is where they will use info I give them and pass it over to another contractor. The strange thing is when they passed over the jobs it was usually to a contractor who owed them money and in time ended up leaving unpaid accounts behind them.

DARRYL - Tom, I had mentioned that idea once before, we could clean up the trade if the distributors would check on all these construction licensing investigators do for a living. Our politicians love the votes.

SEEN- IT- ALL - Peter your statement ” The strange thing is when they passed over the jobs it was usually to a contractor who owed them money and in time ended up leaving unpaid accounts behind them” is dead on right. This is the only issue that has caused me to leave one business and deal with another. I always make it a point let them know how I feel before I leave. What always got me was the fact that these deadbeat account holders always got the best price when the supply house was ********** for their money back. There was never any loyalty to the fact that you always paid on time. The only time I will ever deal again with them is if they got some lost leader item on sale that I need, and know they are losing money on, then I’ll buy a truckload to run the knife in deeper.

JET - We work with a small three-branch supplier for our main line of products. For shingles we use the usual guys, **********, etc. My new **** rep is a very good person and checks with me on a regular basis so I’m giving him most of that business. I never have trusted suppliers of any kind and that’s a sad thing to say but over 30 years of owning different businesses I’ve found that they just can’t be trusted.

BULL - I must say that I am very pleased with my primary supplier. They won’t sell to just anyone, they’re knowledgeable about the trade and the product, and they stock tons of sale material. If I’m looking for something, they’ll find it. They’ve always been able to beat anyone’s prices, and work with me on special prices for certain projects. They also forward savings on voluntarily, meaning they’ll call me and tell me that my price went down on *****, etc. But that’s ********** Supply, the rest of them I’d just as soon burn down than purchase from them.

DAVE - Like Mike H. says, pick the good ones and use them. Treat them right and they (good ones) will treat you right. Our main commercial supplier gives us so-o-o many breaks, service and help and we never price shop them. They have good, honest numbers and that’s good enough for me. A good working relationship with your supplier is priceless. I don’t expect nor do I want and leads from them, just services.

SHINGLEWEAVER - Loyalty is a two way street.

JCS - My experience with suppliers is that they will sell to anyone who gets the job. Some of my biggest woes have come from low ballers who took major volumes of work- cheap, which they couldn’t have financed without the suppliers backing. It happens time after time. When a guy’s net worth is zero, and at his pricing it will stay that way, he has no business taking millions of dollars’ worth of jobs off the market at a crap price. I have paid my bills on time for over twenty years, yet I get no better pricing than the shaky flakes. . Another thing, if a low baller takes over a lot of work, the manufactures flock to them with their sunshine kits out. Why not- it’s the distributors who are taking the gamble that the guy doesn’t go broke. The, a funny thing happens. The distributor has a vested interest in the knowledge to keep him afloat.

ED - The more I read this thread the happier I get with my supplier. I guess I will keep using them.

LEFTY - I deal with a small one stop supply house. You cannot beat the service. Everyone there knows what you are talking about. I walk in and the counter is crowded. I go out and load the truck come back in and do the paperwork. I do not need a metal shop. I buy my metal from him and use his shop to fabricate my metals. No extra charge. Need a hand bending or slitting the metal. I go get one of his guys. If I am going to do a big job, I tell him who it is for. He knows he will get paid. If I get stuck and the money will be slow. Because of this he has some input. He might know something about the person or business I am about to get involved in. This service was available when I started 24 years ago when I was his smallest contractor. Still get the same service today and I am his largest customer for the past 3 years.

TERRY - Customer service is number one when dealing with a supplier. Suppliers are sales people just like us. I don’t even mind paying the highest price. What I can’t stand is the fact that so many suppliers will. The strange thing is when they passed over the jobs it was usually to a contractor who owed them money and in time ended up leaving unpaid accounts behind them. Sell to anyone off the street and tell them “you can do it yourself” and then give them a brief description on how to install the product that they are purchasing. In order to clean up his industry the suppliers are going to have to stop selling to anyone without a license. Check out your local yellow pages, in just 4 pages there are 800 roofers so I am not just talking suppliers, advertisers, etc. should have to do a little better background check. These ***** are hurting our business, reputation, and our industry as a who.

twill59 Said: Gary Hobart Roofing Co. here

Another great member!

Jack Ronneau is one of the best in the business.

Thanks for buying local.

wywoody Said: Oregon Roofers and Dealers Supply. As to your name; How very Nike of you.

Great members! I love visiting these guys when I am in Portland.

wywoody Said: Your organization has a rather unusual name. Since its all caps, I assume its an acronym. But your website makes no mention of what it stands for. You seem to have a lion for a logo, is that because your last two letters are o and n? There is also MEO in there and a meow is not exactly a roar.

But your two members in my area are both companies I highly respect, only their hard-to-access locations prevent me from using them much.

We actually have two websites--.com is for contractors to find our members, basically. nemeon.coop is actually our main site and we have the explanation on there;

The name was taken from ancient Greek mythology

NEMEON was the most powerful lion in the world. This symbol expresses the "legendary" quality of the mythical lion. A lion is a symbol of strength, power and unity perfect for a cooperative.

The 'founding fathers' of our cooperative decided that we should always use all caps--not sure if I know why.

Curious--who are the members in your area??

:) Thanks, Vicki for the vote of confidence.

I look forward to seeing the comments from your followers!

PS I visited your website. I liked the video. Here's the link for the rest of you. http://www.nemeon.com/

Earl Ward from Nemeon wrote a good comment about his post on my blog. Read it here: http://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/soapbox/index.php/roofing-distributors-invaluable-business-asset-or-necessary-evil/

Thanks, Earl!