From the office to the trucks: Keeping things efficient

RCS Influencer Bridget Wilson says the off-season is the perfect time to tighten up operations.

Editor's note: The following is a transcript of a conversation with Bridget Wilson of Cardinal Roofing. You can Read the transcript below, Listen to the interview or Watch the recording. 

Jenny Yu: Hello everyone. I'm Jenny Yu with RoofersCoffeeShop and I am here with Bridget Wilson. How are you, Bridget?

Bridget Wilson: Doing well. How are you today?

Jenny Yu: I'm great. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here with us today.

Bridget Wilson: Thanks for having me.

Jenny Yu: Of course. We're excited to kick off 2026 with our question for January, which is how can roofing contractors use the off-season to tighten operations and improve job site efficiency?

Bridget Wilson: Gotcha. Yeah, during off-season we really do tighten up all the way from the office to the trucks to being on job sites. As far as job site efficiency, I think that starts with tightening tightening up how the crews do things and having we typically have a post-mortem storm season meeting with the guys and girls of what can be improved from their standpoint because their perception is vastly different from leadership's. So, we take all of their information, see how things can be tightened up and go from there.

Some of the very funny things that the guys have said is as simple as the water coolers are, we're in Florida, so obviously hydration is huge and staying cool. And we always have the big buckets on the side of the truck, the big orange Gatorade style buckets that are full of ice and water. And apparently our crews do not like this because a lot of the guys will bring their own drinks and put them in the drinking water, right? They take the lid off, clean water now has dirty hands in it. It's disgusting.

So something as simple as that is just how to stay keep hydrated and how to keep things more efficient is the guys are like, "We want a cooler and a drink cooler. No problem." That way there's no arguments, there's no discussions opening things or refilling things and it really does help with the efficiency of getting the guys out there to get the work done.

Again, being in such a hot climate, that is the number one priority for our guys. So, that is one of the things we do is track how your water situation is doing or your hydration situation or their lunches and how is it stored on the truck, how is it stored while they're on the job site because that can take so much time up of them just having discussions of that.

Another thing we do is seeing how the guys are getting the trucks fueled up. Are you doing it at the end of the day, beginning of the day? Again, being where we are, it's cooler in the mornings. We prefer the guys to fill their trucks up in the morning when it's cooler. In the afternoon, it's hot, we don't want them out there and there's also more lines at the gas stations. So, tightening up and making sure the guys are following that protocol.

Another thing that we do for the job site is also for safety. Where are our first aid kits? When the guys get to the job site, how are they getting their workstations? We call them workstations. It's the bed of the truck. How's your workstation set? Do you have your first aid kit already out? Because you're going to have the little boo boos that the guys are going to completely ignore, but you need to grab a quick band-aid rather than digging around the truck. And we have them set up and to make sure that everything is set to where they're not losing two or three minutes here and there.

And also, again, a Florida thing, we make sure that there is a shade situation. Once you're setting up your workstation, it may not be super hot at that time, but where is the shade station? Is there one there or are we building one? The guys will go as easy as taking a piece of plywood and leaning it against a tree, a building, even the truck and making a little leanto. Then, if they get overheated or a lot of times they'll have a place to take breaks. So three guys will be up on the roof, one guy's literally laying down drinking water, chilling out and then they just keep rotating depending on the day, depending on the heat and all of that stuff.

We also see how the truck is inside. How are the guys keeping it clean? Are they taking all of their garbage out at the end of the day? All of these little things add up and can add two hours to their day if everything's not efficiently done. And so, it's easier to do it during the off season. We don't have 12 jobs on the books that day. We're not fighting the weather. Again, in Florida, it rains by 3:00 in the summer. This time of year is super dry, so we're getting a whole lot more done. So, it's easier for us also to get out of the office. Phones aren't ringing as much to go make those job site visits, see how things are going, help out and to make sure everything is running as efficiently as possible on the job site.

Other things that are beyond our control that we want to pay attention to in the off-season include when deliveries are happening, who is accepting the delivery? Is everybody going to stop at that time? What is being delivered? What is the roof situation? Does everybody have to be off the roof while the conveyor belt is going up there? That type of thing. And just making sure that the guys all understand the teamwork capability of it and that everybody is working together.

And sometimes we'll change crews around when it's off-season to see how they get along because you get super cranky when you're working in the heat and you're so busy. Right now, everybody's happy or jovial. Again, it's Florida. The weather is gorgeous. So, everybody's in a really, really good mood and it's a great way to see if we're going to flip-flop and see who wants to work with other people.

Jenny Yu: Amazing. Thank you so much. It really sounds like, yeah, the little things matter and they stack up and make that big impact, especially when it gets to busier seasons. So, perfect. Well, thank you so much, Bridget.

Bridget Wilson: You're welcome.