Roofers Success International?????

| recently attended one of there profit days. I was wondering if anyone here has any information on them or maybe even become a member. I really like a lot of what they had to say and offer but it is very expensive. I just don't know if it is worth it or not. I have only been in business for myself for 5 years and really don't know anything about running a successful roofing business. I just see myself as great installer. I don't have any employee's I just do it all myself. I would really appreciate some help from any of you more successful roofers out there.

P.S OnARoofTop tinner666 from roofing.com said you have had membership with them and might be able to give me some advice

Chris

Wish i could help you out Chris but i spent 25 yrs. learning from the school of hard knocks. I would teach THEM how to have success as a roofer if it were possible but they wouldn't be able to understand it! lol

Well that is kind of what they are trying to save you is learning through the school of hard knocks....but is cost you quite a bit of money per month

On reflection, I think there was a real long thread at NRG. I know Kyle is a member. I assume if it's a monthly fee, the fee must come out of the jobs they're sending you after you get paid on completion? Right?

no they do not send you any jobs. you just pay to be a part of the the club i guess you could say. they tell you how to market and run your company. among other things.

I tried to find the post on NRG but couldn't find it

Chris, for what its worth: If you've been running your own business for 5 years then im assuming that you had several years experience before that. I installed for 12 years and have been running my own business for 13 years ( 25 yrs. total ) and i get these letters ( and many others) all the time in the mail. Sometimes i open them just out of curiosity and sometimes not. When i was at your stage of the game i wanted to be "successful" too ( i mean who doesn't )and thought maybe somebody had something to offer just like what you are thinking. But i have not found anything like that to be worth 10 cents. Worse than the money you will spend is the time lost where you could be doing what you do best. And thats selling, repairing and installing. It can also throw you off track sometimes. Doesn't seem to me that you need this type of thing. Especially if its just you with no employees. At that pace you dont need a lot of work to stay busy. I dont know what your definition of "successful" is. But to me its making a comfortable living and being able to put a little away for a rainy day. Although i have had some very profitable time frames in this business over the years I gave up on trying to get rich a long time ago. lol If by "successful" you mean that you want to grow and have a few employees and more work then theres nothing wrong with that but be very careful not to overspend in the process. You should grow a little at a time over time. Don't try too many new things too quickly. Like, if you want more work then advertise more. A lot of people don't like the yellow pages but they have been very successful for me. When i first started out i advertised in the yellow pages and the newspaper. Then i started using yard signs, lettered trucks etc. The leads from the advertising will turn into jobs and then those jobs will turn into more jobs. Over time you will build up a nice customer base. For me "True Success" as a roofer comes from being exactly that! "A Roofer"! Not some big shot business man type.

Thank I hear you. I guess i'm not really sure what I want and I know I need to make that decision before I do anything. Sometimes I think just me and maybe one guy would be fine. I know I can make money like that. I'm just tired of doing it all myself. I don't think i'm the kind of guy to have a big crew anyway. I know there are good roofers out there unfortionaly I have worked along side to many bad ones and it scares me to have that kind of liability out there working for me. I won't have someone that as soon as I turn my head will do it whatever way they want. I think i'm looking for more sales and advertising help than anything. I need to learn how to sell my quality over the low bidder. 90% of my work is word of mouth and they usually already know and I don't have to sell them.

TCR- I like this conversation. And I appreciate your honesty. Running headlong & blindly into creating some multi-million dollar company is certainly not going to lead to any kind of success. Most contractors end up creating a nightmare & a disaster.

I agree w/ Willie about measuring your own success. It is an individual thing. Which is the beauty of it. You seem to have taken the first step, which is to remove your ego.

Think about the #'s: Can you be successful w/ one employee as a $250,000 company? A $300 k Company? Can you protect your margins, take on another employee and grow to $400,000 + per year? And so on.

Can you work a niche without falling prey to creating a volume monster that needs fed?

Can you run this business profitably, w/ integrity and a minimum of headaches and liabilities?

Even a small company needs quality management. You can't manage five guys until you learn to manage one! Walk don't run!

You got 5 yrs. in and that is good. Your questions are worthy: "Where do I go from here? What are the possibilities?"

There is no magic bullet. There is no magic product that will bring the world to your door. And there is no single employee who is going to take you to the next level.

You are at the point where you want help and are willing to ask the right questions.

TCR Roofing ****** I think i'm looking for more sales and advertising help than anything. I need to learn how to sell my quality over the low bidder. 90% of my work is word of mouth and they usually already know and I don't have to sell them. ******** That is the #1 way by far. To be referred and thus trusted BEFORE you even get to the site for the estimate. I don't know about you Chris but i don't want some NON ROOFER trying to teach me how to be a bull Schitter! Homeowners can be pretty silly sometimes but they often know when someones feeding them a line or trying to beef everything up. For me the best way has been just to be myself and shoot it to them straight. They really appreciate it. lol It doesn't sound to me like you would be happy with a lot of employees but at the same time you feel like you need some help. I can relate to that more than you'll ever know. Try adding 1 at a time until you get the help you are looking for. Just remember the more help you get the more work you will need to keep it all together. Thus more advertising dollars, payroll taxes, insurance costs, etc. I don't have a real large business ( I work 6-8 roofers, 1 secretary, 1 roof replacement salesman and i sell all the repairs and perform some of the smaller repairs myself ) I would prefer to sell the replacements but i cannot find anyone worth a crap to sell repairs for me. I've tried about a half dozen different guys and all they do is screw up and create call backs costing me money, time and headaches. I was able to find a guy who is not a roofer but is a good salesman. He had a little experience measuring roofs and selling insurance. I spent a few years working with him and molding him into a good estimator and roof salesman. Now, 5 years later he rarely needs my assistance anymore. Good help is hard to find and can be even harder to keep. I pay him fairly well, pay 100% of his health insurance and set him up a retirement plan. I have had a half page color ad in the real yellow pages for many years now. One day ( after i decide my customer base is large enough ) I plan to eliminate all advertising and cut back on roofing employees. Thats my plan for what im going to call Semi-Retired. lol Hopefully i can do that for 10-15 yrs and then Fully Retire. Might work out that way might not but thats the plan. lol Good Luck to ya!

P.S. Twill has some excellent advise there!

Thanks you guys I really appreciate all of your advice it's always nice to know there are good people out there willing to help others in need

I would like to chime in here as well....I do not own a company, but I have created a business plan/model to compete and be successful. [ probably open for business next spring...2010]. Succsessful to me means: Running a company of 1-3 emplyees and having steady work, not looking to get rich, just make enough to live on with a little extra to put away.

One key to hiring a good roofer is to provide constant work, but at the same time you will have to hire about 5 over time to get the one good one. Heavely advertize for repairs, once the steady flow comes in shift the work load to your one roofer...it will free you up to focus on the business itself. In my area (pac NW) lots of rain which means many homes with tile need maintainence, lots of work here. Key factor for me, if there is a speciatly roof that needs repair, I have many additional numbers for roofers that can do the work (on thier day off)...build your phone book and keep them in your back pocket. You have a tear/off sheduled, reach into your back pocket and call someone.

You want to grow a little bit more, outsource your dump truck/trailer for debris hauling (this field is on fire due to all the homes foreclosed, your roofer will sub here to keep him busy. When the housing market settles down, houses will be built again, contractors will need someone to pick up the construction debris. Now you hire a second person geared more towards handling this work. Again, you will end up hiring 5 to find that one good one. If he/she is not a roofer, begin thier training.

The goal here is to to keep everyone busy...Don't send them home too often. Your business starts to slow down, keep your employees working and "YOU OUTSOURCE" yourself to other companies to make a paycheck. I have four companies that know my work very well and will use my services form time to time. I am not too proud to get back on the roof for a couple days a week.

RCS,and NRG are both excellent resources for the knowledge you seek,on nrg do a search on "onarooftop" topics,and you should be able to find the topic,I know onar went last year,was highly enthused,but see that this year he is selling the equipter (special dump trailer)he bought to pay for truck expenses,can`t say it`s because of economy,or that it`s because RSI didn`t give his company a boost??? I do see people formerly associated with training/seminars at RSI have moved on to other things I personally feel that all you want is available here for free,just a matter of investing your time,and being willing to learn There are many accomplished roofers/contractors at these sites that will provide answers to the questions you have,Remember sometimes learning something new is simply a matter of being able to ask the right questions,seems you`re on the right track-welcome

One thing that RSI seems to do is give their members the confidence to up their prices. But if a large portion of your increase goes to pay them, you haven't gained anything. Why not research the advertising/promotion needed to develop your own brand and YOU get to keep the increase? Of course, your percentage of jobs lost to being underbid will probably increase, but the profitability of jobs you get will shoot up.

Since RSI is unknown other than to roofing contractors, it isn't their brand that the public is paying more for. There are some brands that develop enough of an identity that they seem to command top dollar. There's a window company that advertises heavily called Penguin Windows. I don't know if they're national or not. A lady my wife works with got a bid from them to replace her windows. It was $45,000. They did a real sales job on her and she really wanted them, but couldn't afford them so she had a local company do the job for $16,000. It wouldn't take getting too many of those $45,000 jobs to not feel bad about losing a few bids.

I used to sub the installation of tile roofs for the most respected remodeler around here. They have a fancy showroom and have been around since the 1940's. I charged considerably more for my labor to them than I did for my own jobs, yet the price they charged their customers was still more than double what I would have done the job for.

What I'm saying is you don't need to pay someone else to tell you to raise your prices, you can try doing that all by yourself.

Believing in yourself is the key,along with delivering the goods !!