State of the Roofing Industry Blog

Seeing as I have always followed the RCS and respected the site for it's influence on the industry I felt it was necessary to finally join and to announce the blog we at Fairway Solutions started regarding the state of the roofing industry. Seeing as we deal mainly with insurance restoration work I know our perspective might be very different than some of you and we respect that but would love for you to join our conversation. I will attach a link to our website and would love to here some feedback. Here is one of the posts from the blog: I want to talk about the state of the roofing industry and the state of what has become industry standard. Eagleviews used for measurements, Xactimate used for estimating and Overhead and Profit based off of complexity and coordination are now industry standard. The interesting part about these standards being set is that they benefit the insurance carrier more than the actual contractor. The insurance companies have made it standard that measurements can be off, prices are based off a software owned by an insurance company and O&P is now allotted by an insurance company's representative and their opinion on whether or not a job is complex. The sad part about this is that roofing contractors have noone to blame but themselves for undermining each other on price and not uniting to set the industry standard price. Contractor A wants to charge the insurance carrier the appropriate price but Contractor B undermines him, does not supplement for missing items, covers the deductible just to sign a contract. This has allowed the insurance carriers to make up their own rules and regulations on how much money the contractor can make and it is getting worse every storm season. A perfect example of this nonsense is on a SafeCo claim we have recently handled where they have demanded that we remove the removal charges on roofing line items because they come off with the roof, refused to pay base service charges and approved O&P on everything except the roof because they do not pay O&P on roofing. At some point this has got to be put to stop. Insurance carriers have determined our measuring service, estimating service and now they are manipulating how that estimating service is used to benefit them in every possible way. The roofing industry needs a change of balance back in the favor of the contractors but it will only change when the contractors make a stand together.

with exactimate, if you charge for every little thing allowable and you can get the 10% profit and 10% overhead thrown in you have a decent chance of making a little money. The secret is in making sure you know exatimate and what it allows. Roofing is scattered all over the website and you have to search for everything. and the 10+10 really helps

What are your thoughts Vickie? I know you have a pretty strong opinion about the roofing industry, I would love to hear your opinion.

Hmmmm...

I'm glad I don't live in hail country; just too much craziness. What little insurance work we encounter leaves me with a small amount of sympathy for both sides. No hail, mind you, just some wind, fire, falling trees...things like that. Those estimating programs are often not really consistent with reality. Over-pay for some things, grossly underpay or completely leave out others. Just took a look at a spreadsheet that called for etching, priming and finish painting a 22-foot stick of new gsm gutter. The program allowed 92 cents a foot. You couldn't buy a quart of primer for that. Utterly stupid detachment from reality in the pursuit of standardization. Whether or not an insurance company is required to make the homeowner whole is one question. What it actually takes to achieve that is a separate question. If they are going to be involved with restoration, the ins. co's have to adequately respond to the second. Around here, they usually do, although occasionally you have to be very patient, very threatenng, and very knowledgable. In my experience the cat adjusters are the least reliable. After a very short time, they're pulled off and gone. They don't have to face anybody but their supervisors and the company brass. It's nothing to them. I went through nine adjusters once before I got satisfaction. They all got their paychecks and I finally got mine. But what a fight it was.

Well, you've had two days now to quit beating around the bush and talk about whatever it is that you really want to talk about.

You came on here just talking about insurance work. I didn't go to your link. Maybe if i did we could have avoided some misunderstanding but then again you could have just came out with it up front also.

I'm pretty sure you don't want to talk to me or GSD anyways! We are both repair companies. We do not install roofs anymore. Your dead on about the state of the roofing industry. It got so bad we said to hell with it. But all those years are not lost. Today we use all that experience and knowledge to our advantage to focus on the niche' of roof repair.

I don't hate storm chasers personally. Everyone has to make a living and provide for their families. I do however, dislike the business model but not the people.

But HEY, I'm not prejudice, I equally dislike insurance companies!

Good Luck with your business Sir! :)

OLE Willie, to answer your question, Fairway Solutions is not a roofer or a roofing company. We are a consultant firm for general contractors. We help companies with their business organization, supplements and invoicing. To answer who is going to lead the way I would have to say that is the company mission of Fairway Solutions. We do not help storm chasers, we help established businesses in their communities who need help during natural catastrophe events. If anything we are on the same side not quite sure why you are failing to see that. I am happy for you guys who are 80% successful with you sales pitch but I am not really talking about that at all.

We had a storm come through on monday evening it did have hail in it, Tuesday I was already getting calls froom roofing companies saying I have hail damage.............

First, I have seen so many roofs replaced w/ just a couple hail dents. These homeowners are lucky! We all know this, regardless of the sales pitches.

Until a huge storm hit here in '08, I could name my price. We didn't charge an insane amount but we kept 8-12 guys stacked w/ work for 15 years without a single day of not having a roof sold. Population of our focused area is about 50k-65k. Then the big storm hit. All of a sudden I was charging too much. Except for tarping, the storm chasers made me realize I was leaving too much money on the table for tarps.

So now I find insurance claims rather than sell roofs. Ran out of work because the houses were scoured for hail damage.

At least I have less bids to run now, get 33% of them, and have more time on the job w/ my 5-6 man crew.

My point regarding your post and insurance work is that if you are going to participate in that, then all the things you mention are going to be a part of it. They always have been and always will be.

Secondly, I don't personally believe you can compare insurance restoration with cash bid and call that "as a whole". They are two different animals.

I asked when you will quit working for "what insurance pays". If everyone is going to go up in price then someone has to lead the way right?

My answer is that i never started. You didn't give one.

I'm in the same boat as Willie, you guys can fight over the roofing industry and pricing, battling back and forth. I will keep doing what I'm doing, like willie, closing at least 80%. doing just fine.

Like in the olden days here, it was always said, don't worry about what the competition is doing, just do your thing.

thats what I've been doing the last 3 years and its going just fine....oh, and I'm profitting more than I ever have. No high pressure sales, "if you want me to do the work, I'll do it, if not, the next guy does."

and I don't do any insurance work. they can ruin the roofing trade, it doesn't bother me.

Not quite sure we are on the same page OLE Willie. Not sure what your point is in regards to my post or my blog but I am focusing on insurance restoration work during a catastrophe event. I am not talking about cash bid projects or your business in particular. I am referring to the roofing industry as a whole and insurance restoration work.

So when are you gonna quit working for "What Insurance Pays"? No way in hell all roofing contractors can or will charge the same prices.

If you think insurance work is bad, you should try selling a roof job to a homeowner without the advantage of getting most or all of it paid for by someone other than them. The promise of a free roof is out the window.

Being the first one out is not important anymore. In fact being the 2nd bidder is more desirable so they have an apple to compare to. There is no contingency agreement to keep them from going with someone else.

Now all the sudden you have to truly sell the job. Being from out of state/town will weigh the odds heavily against you.

You will have to explain why your company is the best choice over and over and over, every day. And why your price is higher than Jack Leg John and his best buddy Ron.s price.

Last but not least, you will have to stay put and honor your warranties. No more running off to the next storm and leaving it all behind for the homeowner to pay out of pocket for repairs.

Just keep sending the Hispanics out to do the work.

Willlie's job is secure, his closing rate is near 80% and he controls his own pricing without even talking to a single insurance person EVER!

Everyday it becomes increasingly difficult to get roofs completely totaled. I see the insurance carriers coming up with new ways to manipulate estimating softwares and lower the overall cost out of their pocket. I do not expect the insurance companies to roll over and play dead but I do know there are more contractors than insurance companies. If the roofing companies were to come together and demand an actual fair market value for the roofing systems the insurance companies are paying for and refused to do it for less it would cause a positive movement in the industry.

So many storm chasing business models hire as many door knockers as they can get to go around claiming hail damage on every single roof.

Do you really expect the insurance companies to just roll over and play dead?

You guys forced them to fight back and this is the current results.

My guess is they will continue to fight back and in the future it will be way more difficult to get a hail damage claim paid for than it is today.

You ain't seen nothing yet!