Are you tired?

More and more contractors tell me the same thing… that they are getting tired of the entire system but they are so into it that its hard to just say i quit…

How do you feel?

I voted for #1, but I also want to vote for #2.

Roofing isn’t what it was like when I started. It is a totally different ball game now adays. I got into it years ago because of the way the business was. Now it is different and now I don’t have the same feelings for it that I did when I started.

Everybody ruined it.

but thats the way with everything.

I came in to this business to try and do a good job happy customers and the whole … “dream”

I am tired of the city inspectors who have me waiting on them while the entire house is exposed to the weather… i had to leave the roof open sometimes because of this!! then there is the $250 dollar charge just so they sign the dumb sheet…

I am tired of the suppliers always trying to pull fast ones… sending you the wrong materials… billing you for double fuel charge… and the entire headache … one time they were going to deliver the materials on my office!!!

I am tired of having to pay all this @$$@# bills , insurance , taxes , licenses , etc… while other guys are crooked as hell and they drive by with more cash than me… Selling jobs 60% of my price… just because is all under the water…

Sometimes i feel like just putting on my 14 squares a day and go home with $300 bux a day … no worries… :expressionless:

[quote=“QRFL”]I came in to this business to try and do a good job happy customers and the whole … “dream”

I am tired of the city inspectors who have me waiting on them while the entire house is exposed to the weather… i had to leave the roof open sometimes because of this!! then there is the $250 dollar charge just so they sign the dumb sheet…

I am tired of the suppliers always trying to pull fast ones… sending you the wrong materials… billing you for double fuel charge… and the entire headache … one time they were going to deliver the materials on my office!!!

I am tired of having to pay all this @$$@# bills , insurance , taxes , licenses , etc… while other guys are crooked as hell and they drive by with more cash than me… Selling jobs 60% of my price… just because is all under the water…

Sometimes i feel like just putting on my 14 squares a day and go home with $300 bux a day … no worries… :|[/quote]

Sorry to hear that Dude. You sound like an honest Contractor. Hang in there. Is there another trade you can do on the side to keep you going when roofing is slow?

Its not that slow but it is that frustating… i can alaways sub or go into management or sales…you know joel… today i wen to do a repair for this condo complex… its the second time they call me and they want me to go out a thrid time because they cant afford to reroof the whole 100+ squares so i am doing mainly repairs…
Like i said before i dont warranty repairs but when i went up on that roof i fixed the entire area… re-do the flashings on the skylights and when i found exactly the spot with the leak… i felt very good because i didnt fix the leak but i also fixed way more…

And you know what … when i see all the skylights full of tar and all kinds of crap… and i look at mine all nice and shiny with the complete roof to wall kit… i take pride in it…

i walked home with $700 for 5 hours of work… but they will never have any more problems there … and they rather keep paying my fees… than hire some guy for $300 who is going to make a mess…

That is what keeps me going… you know people appreciatte my work that they dont mind to pay what it takes…

The manager was happy the condo owner was happy … i must have clean my repair area like 20 times… and no debree fell in the house…i re-seal the skylight . clean the roof…And by the time the people got home i was getting out of there like nobody was ever there…

If it was just me and the homeowner it would be fine… if the homeowner gets upset because its my fault … ill admit and try to repair it… Its the rest of the people involved that make runing a business a nightmare.

Suppliers. Inspectors. Cheating competitors, Etc.

“Like i said before i dont warranty repairs”

That is a fine line there. Working on roofs that have a history of leaking, like you described, I can see no warranty, and add in skylights (the devil of leaks).
Just keep doing honest work, for a fair price, and you will get a good refrence and cliantell built up.

I warrant all of my work. If I dont think it is repairable, I walk away or sell them the re-roof.

Q, wait til you have employees. :smiley:

yea Aaron ive heard nightmares about that…Just as superintendent a few years back i remember one of my guys (shingler) gave me the worst lecture and cried how he made 2-3 squares an hour so he deserved 20x3=60 $60 an hour!! i told him… man its raining we cannot open roofs and we need to make the bills go and do some repairs!!.. i gave him the repair order he came back and turned in 2-3 hours… the customer got billed and he call saying that leak was the same…i go over and it turns out he had a shake roof and this guy only went and put a dab of henry’s on a shake of about 3 inches round!!! I am like WHATTTT!!! i inspected the shake liner and did an estimate for a partial re-roof for the guy… I sent another of my guys he calls like 3 times in the morning (trouble with the girlfriend) and didnt wanna show up to work…I got on his case and he eventually went and ended up getting mad at me for his own irresponsibility… he calls me and says “i cant take the trash…shakes are too bulky” … so i sent a “third” guy to just do the clean-up… 2 months later i get a call and it went like this:

Hi i am mr. XXXXX … one of my neighbors called me and said that he has been looking at a pile of trash for months and he wants me to take care of it… maybe your guys left a little bit up there …can you come and see??..Of course i said…

I went set up my ladder and got up on the roof to find out there are 2-3 squares of shakes laying on the flat roof!!! :shock:

The last “clean-up guy” i sent did that clean up… but the problem is … he only cleaned the ground and never went up on the roof!!! :smiley:

so Aaron i know what you mean… :wink:

Thats funny, Q cuz I feel like I am babysitting most of the time. :slight_smile:

I felt like I was babysitting all the time, so I let everyone go. Something I am not regretting !!!

Me and one other guy from now on!

a guy came up to us and asked if we were hiring. This guy looked like he was so high that he could barely function…I was more than happy to tell him… no. :slight_smile:

I had those too G… one guy was so hyper he was telliing me in the interview… “I am good man …I do every roofing type…I am really fast too… see… see…”

I couldnt even say a word to him… he wouldnt let me talk… i am like…relax man!! just fill the app… and we will look in to it!!!

Another one i knew from back when i was a tear-off labor… and he comes in the office… and tells me straight out. “do you do drug tests???..cuz you know… hehe” :shock:

Then there is the type who always carry a cooler whetever they go… even if they are only working 2 hours…you see it in the back of the truck…of course full of beer… :expressionless:

Its so easy to cath them and they do act like little kids when you go at the end of their lunch break and ask …“what are you doing??” they are like “nothing” with their eye veins sticking out… completele red!!

Q, we were taking a beak about 10:00am, sitting on the ground next to the house, when this guy walks up carrying a six pack or beer, drinking one of them. He walks up to us and asks us if we are hiring… :roll:

Lately I’ve been slammed with new roofs. Go to the job either load it, paper it or both, shingle it and collect your money from the builder or homeowner.

Granted there is better money in tear offs but what’s wrong with $1,000 days?

Doing new stuff I don’t have to deal with inspectors or being a salesman!

Recently got an interesting call from a homeowner who’s father couldn’t finish the roof. When I got the job I looked up and said, “wow”. 12/12 3.5 stories in the back and four dormers on the front three with windows. We agreed on $75 per square and $50 a roll for ice and water. After the homeowner mentioned me cutting in the ridge vent and putting on the drip edge I told him I need keys for the $90,000 Lull! Three days later the roof was done (today, 40sq’s $3,500). The house was very large as it had a 5sq breezeway and 15sq garage which the homeowners father did.

When I asked why you chose me from the phone book he told me two reasons, 1st you spoke English, 2nd you’de be around in 10 years. I was not the cheapest either.

Heres your typical customer mentality…

Now before you get all upset, I said “typical”, if this doesn’t sound like you, then you aren’t “typical”.

Honey, take a look at the ceiling. Notice how you can see the nails through the paint? That’s water damage. The roof must be leaking. No, the upstairs bathroom is over the kitchen. It’s definitely the roof. We need to take care of this before the drywall rots or the lights short out. Hey, you know the guy who built Sheila and Barry’s old deck? You remember, the one that collapsed at their Fourth of July cookout? We should get him to fix our roof.
I know we have his phone number around here somewhere. Yeah, it’s on the fridge magnet. Here, Don Maliszewski. I know it says “Dan.” That’s a typo. He gave the Garvers a bunch of these magnets when he came to redo his job on their sewer pipe after it flooded their basement.
Hang on, it’s ringing. Oh, shoot. “The number you have reached has been disconnected.” Boy, maybe his gambling debts finally caught up to him. You know what? I don’t need to call him. He practically lives at Flannery’s Tavern. I’ll just scoot over there and let him know we want an estimate.
He gave the Johnsons a great quote on their wiring. It ended up costing more, but that’s how these things go. Don explained that the cost of materials went up, which is why he needed an extra $200 for light switches. Well, they still saved a bundle. They would’ve had to spend $500 more if they’d gone to a licensed electrician. Instead, they were able to use that money to stay in a hotel after that terrible fire.
He did the Garvers’ fence, too. You used to be able to see it from here, but it blew down during that storm. It looked good when it was up, though. The slats were all even. Too bad it had to be the only thing in the neighborhood that got damaged in the storm. Must have been one of those freak wind gusts you hear about on the news.
Anyway, the Garvers said he was great whenever he showed up. He’s a really interesting guy. He has all kinds of stories about back when he was a biker. Did you hear about the time he got knifed at the Sturgis rally? That story is amazing!
I’m not married to using him, though. The responsible thing to do is to get price quotes from several people. Hey! We should ask those high-school kids who mow lawns if they want to give fixing the roof a shot. They might be pretty good at it. When they’re mowing lawns, they miss a lot of spots and leave the trimmings lying around, but maybe they’d be better at something more challenging, like roofing. Or, hey, how about that guy—what’s his name? Jerry Anderson? The guy who got arrested for trespassing and peeping? You don’t spend all that time on a roof without picking up a thing or two about how it’s put together.
Unless some of the other quotes come back really low, I think Don’s our guy. He did a nearly adequate job on the bay windows in the Perrys’ house. He finished that job about a year ago, and it’s still holding up. It took a little longer than they planned, but only because the city halted the construction. Yes, Don was wrong when he said they didn’t need a permit. But he offered to finish the job late at night, when the city inspectors would be off duty. So work was held up for a few weeks, but Don did a super job taping that tarp over the hole in their wall. It rained three times, and not a drop got through!
Oh, no… I just remembered that Don’s in jail! Well, I don’t know that the roof is so bad that we can’t wait the few months until he’s free. It’s not like he killed a guy on purpose. His scaffolding collapsed when his partner climbed on it, honey. They charged Don with, I don’t know, something shy of manslaughter… neglect? Negligence! That’s the word. If a jury said he didn’t kill the guy on purpose, that’s all I need to hear. Shoot, everyone makes mistakes. I’m all in favor of giving someone a second or third chance.
Honey, no. I don’t trust the Yellow Pages. You don’t know anything about those guys. "Licensed and bonded"—what does that even mean? Who licenses them, and what is a bond, in this case? Honey, a guy in the phone book is likely to tell you anything to get your money. But you practically have to beg Don to agree to take on a job. Yes, I’d really prefer to go with someone unreliable whom we know. The roof will turn out all right. You just wait and see. Now, let’s go visit Don in the pokey so we can get things rolling.


I ll double quoted to make sure the message arrives… :smiley:

Thats funny… G… Hey you forgot the one that says:

Ok hunny we have spent all our budget in that guy who says he does everything very good. But not licensed…mmmm… Maybe they dont license guys that are too good… maybe he got exempt or something…He is so good he said he would put a nice 40 year roof on our flat roof…Wow !! that roof is sure going to last long… i specially like the color of the SHINGLES …

Wow he said that if we do it on the weekend we dont need a permit… that the inspectors only want the fee… good thing we have him… he saved us money allready…
I sure would be glad to mail him a referral if i knew where his address is… But since he probably has so much work maybe he dosent need an address… I allready trust him even more since the helper he has looks like the guy who is always standing at home depot… If its him he must have extensive knowledge from all the contractors driving there…
Good thing i gave him cash because i dont wanna have to order more checks… He is so nice and gave me a quote for doing my room addition he said we dont need a permit either for that…

He charged us $6000 for that nice shingle roof in our flat deck… Now we have $800 left from what we would have spent on that Roofing Contractor…He tought that just because he was certified and insured… he could charge us $800 more… Now that the roof is finished lets buy a $3000 plasma tv and put it right below the roof drain were it used to leak all those years… we get better reception there…
:smiley:

800 extra for a roofer? Everybody knows these “professional” roofer types only price gouge you.

I like the fact that we saved on checks…wonder when Don is gonna get here. Has he answered the phone yet, Hun?

so the ratings show that only one in eight roofers is happy with his job… :smiley:

No wonder why most of the roofers i know dont pass the drugs test… Guess they try to escape reality… :mrgreen:

Now you have me thinking. I wonder about the opposite - what is the most pleasing occupation?

I wonder if male [size=150]Gynocologists[/size] are the happiest people in the workforce :smiley:

Who would want to see nasty clams all day?

Its not a smile… their nerves freeze like that from the acid smell!! :shock: kinda like the joker in batman