Time for most roofing contractors is our most valuable asset and for some reason, we would rather complain about how we don’t have any instead of finding solutions to help free up time.
It’s important to be as efficient as possible and to always improve ourselves as a company and as craftsmen. Here are some tools that offer insightful guides to the roof replacement process for both companies and customers, alike.
It starts with being obsessed with your customer. If you don’t have a heart for that this isn’t for you and it won’t be a benefit to you. Prioritizing your customer means you make time for them. You answer their phone calls, you sit with them and review the proposal, and you make sure you are doing everything you can to give them the best experience, start to finish.
Easier said than done. Why? Because you don’t have the time. Enter technology, you have the opportunity to leverage technology so that you can operate all of the important areas of your business more efficiently. If you take one thing out of this let it be this, the roofing contractors that care enough about their clients to leverage technology are going to dominate the ones that don’t. Once you have the technology in place, develop processes around the technology and put that process on repeat. You will find more efficient ways to operate the technology and your business. Remember, if you are focused on just growth for your roofing business you are missing the point. Focus on your customer and how you can service them better. By doing so, you will be able to serve more customers and more customers better than you ever have before.
Here are a few of our favorite programs and software that we use for our business!
1. Hover
This is easily one of our favorite programs, and our roofing clients love it too! Hover allows you to snap a few photos of your clients house and uploads them to make an online 3D model that can be easily edited! A fun way to try out new color schemes and the best part? You don’t have to hand measure roofs costing valuable time. All of the measurements are uploaded into a PDF or file type of your choice. Other common file types are ESX and XML. This is step one when we go on an initial roofing inspection. Whether you capture the Hover or the client does, this is always what we use first for a roofing inspection.
2. CompanyCam
If I had to chose only one app for my business this would be it. Enough can’t be said about how useful this application is for roofing contractors. When you capture your Hover, the photos and job information you entered automatically create a file in CompanyCam. If you aren’t using Hover, you can do this manually. From the file, you take all of your inspection, build, and completion photos. Your team can access these in real time from their phone, tablet, computer, you name it. Your install crew can take photos of the house when they arrive and their progress. CompanyCam makes it easy to edit photos, add text, shapes, and draw. We use the shapes, text, and drawing feature to clearly mark hail and wind damage in our inspection reports. Leads right into another feature, the reports. Reports are super easy to make and send to your customer or insurance company. You can also share a link to a real time photo gallery. The newest feature of CompanyCam integrates right with your website allowing you to showcase your best projects. See how we use it here: Showcases
3. QuickBooks
Less exciting for some, but an extremely important part of business is keeping track of all your financials. QuickBooks is a great software that makes things simply and easy, so you don’t have to stress and have time to focus on your roofing business. We would definitely recommend this program, especially if you’re newer to business! A huge benefit to using this software is it integrates with most CRMs.
4.AccuLynx
AccuLynx is the heartbeat of our business and is the main program we use. There is far to much to list about this software but here are the main features: sales tracking, scheduling with your crews and customers, estimates, pricing, and ordering. If you aren’t using a CRM, get on a demo with AccuLynx and find out if it is the right solution for you. I once asked a shingle manufacturer sales representative what separated the great roofing contractors he works with from the not so great and this was his answer.
5. WordPress
WordPress is how we get all of this content on our blog to you! It is easy to use and helps get information out about you, your business, and any updates you want to share with current or prospective clients. It’s a great way to get yourself out there and share all the reasons why you are passionate about what you do.
We hope that this was informative and is able to help you streamline some of your business processes, and ultimately serve your customers better and grow your business. If you have questions about any of these software’s or operating your roofing business we are always willing to help!