5 Ways to Make the Winter Months Easier to Bear

If you’re in a southern market, this likely doesn’t impact you as much.  But for contractors in the northern states, the winter means it’s time for a slowdown.  Obviously, in some temperatures, you simply can’t install a roof.  But most of the time, most homeowners just don’t think about replacing their roofs during this time.  And the weather usually isn’t doing anything to damage a roof – beyond an ice dam.  It’s not like you’re getting severe thunderstorms or hail storms that are blowing or breaking shingles.

So, during these winter months, northern roofing contractors often lay off their employees or lose money and shut down for a while.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.  If you’d like to ease the burden of the winter on your roofing business, here are four things you should do:

Charge More. Here’s a scary fact: 80+ percent of the roofers we work with do NOT know how much to charge their customers. And most are undervaluing their work.  Want to make the winter easier to survive?  Charge what you should be charging the rest of the months you do have work.

Collect What You’re Owed. Receivables will kill a business. It is NOT okay to be owed money.  You need to be dogged in getting what you’re owed from customers.  Be pleasant, but be very clear that you are to be paid in full once the job is done.  If you eliminate A/R, the winter months become a lot less painful.

Take Credit Cards & Offer Financing. Want to eliminate A/R? Take credit cards and offer financing.  You’ll be amazed how many MORE roofs and roof repairs you’ll see just by doing this!

Follow Up on Those Proposals. You know you have a stack of proposals you sent to people throughout the year. You’d be shocked how many people still haven’t put that new roof on… even those people who called you six months ago.  Call them and see where they’re at.  Offer them a small discount to do the job now.

Implement these few ideas, and make the winter a little easier to bear.