# Starting your own company



## Simplebutwell (Jan 7, 2016)

Hello all,

I have a question for those of you that run your own roofing business. Today, I answered my phone to a roof leak repair lead and forwarded over to the company that I currently work with to provide leads for. I am not a roofer, I'm a marketer. My knowledge of roofing stops at the website and maps position that I have ranked in google that generates leads monthly.

I got to thinking today, why not start a roofing company instead of selling the leads to another company? It seems that I have the missing piece holding companies back that fail.....consistent work. Instead of a percentage of a job that comes in, why not get my ducks in order over the winter and find some people that can fulfill the work?

What are your thoughts on this? What hurdles did you come across when starting out? What about starting costs? I'd love the chance to maybe trade some SEO information to pick someone's brain on the best way to start your own business.


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## rot808 (Nov 13, 2016)

Simplebutwell said:


> Hello all,
> 
> I have a question for those of you that run your own roofing business. Today, I answered my phone to a roof leak repair lead and forwarded over to the company that I currently work with to provide leads for. I am not a roofer, I'm a marketer. My knowledge of roofing stops at the website and maps position that I have ranked in google that generates leads monthly.
> 
> ...


With this comes the added risk. Lead gen sites for local businesses are very popular, and in most cases aren't too difficult to rank. If it all goes down because of an algorithm update, you are only out the time you put into the site. Now if you are relying on it for all of your construction business, it's not gonna be pretty. 

It may be a good way to get started, but I wouldn't get too comfortable with 100% of your leads coming from the site.

Have you ever experimented with PPC? It is much easier to replicate and scale a successful adwords campaign.


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

Interesting topic because I am literally in the process of starting a new roofing company (again). What I learned from my last roofing company (2003-2013) is that making the phone ring, or emails ding, is just the very first step in a looong process. What do you do next? 

I have found in my nearly 19 years in the roofing industry that seemingly the most successful (largest) companies are run by guys who have the least hands on experience. They are very much sales organizations and roofing just happens to be what they sell. Having said that, since they know little about the roofing process they have two options. Either they need someone to run the roofing operations for them (production manager, superintendent) or they just get a very bad reputation. 

Ok, let's assume you know someone qualified to run the production side of things. What about the administrative side? Are you qualified and capable to run the office operations? It's not all that difficult to do. Let's assume you are. What about the sales process? Are you capable and qualified to measure the roof, figure the materials necessary and the labor necessary to complete the job? Can you win over the customers trust and convince them you are the best choice? 

See, making the phone ring and emails ding is just a small (albeit very important) part of the equation. If that's all you bring to the table, I wouldn't bother starting your own roofing company. Just my $0.02.


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## Dimensional (Mar 29, 2016)

rot808 said:


> With this comes the added risk. Lead gen sites for local businesses are very popular, and in most cases aren't too difficult to rank.
> 
> Have you ever experimented with PPC? It is much easier to replicate and scale a successful adwords campaign.


First , Its not easy to Rank if you are not doing any good in business. Lead generation isn't that easy to accomplish the goals.

Second, He already a marketer, why are asking him that stupid questions. Haven't you his previous posts. In all his older posts he just trying to start a conversation - Roofers Austin


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## Silb (Mar 23, 2017)

Long days - get ready for it!


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## SavageBuilder (May 9, 2017)

*similar questions*

A little about myself, Im a roofer by trade simply because i grew up installing them with my father. Once i entered my twenties and was fully capable of installing a roof on my own i decided to switch sides and began selling roofs for Top companies in Va. I was astounded that one sq of shingles is 93$. I sold for a few years just to sharpin my skills. i was routinely selling jobs for roughly 15K or more that i knew i could absolutely do the same thing for almost half of these prices.. i guess my question is what can i expect to make realistically if i were to try and start my own business?


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## Blikkenslageroslo (Nov 1, 2016)

Great idea man, please update us on your progress 

//
Fellow Roofer from Europe (Norway)
www.oslomurogflis.no


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## ronpickle (Jun 28, 2017)

Simplebutwell said:


> Hello all,
> 
> I have a question for those of you that run your own roofing business. Today, I answered my phone to a roof leak repair lead and forwarded over to the company that I currently work with to provide leads for. I am not a roofer, I'm a marketer. My knowledge of roofing stops at the website and maps position that I have ranked in google that generates leads monthly.
> 
> ...


If you are great with lead generation then it is a very good idea to start a roofing company but you need to find a reliable partner who is an experienced and qualified roofer, some body who is also thinking on the same lines. So find such a person or group of people, partner with them and get going.


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