Monday, August 27, 2007

I guess it is time to man up

I am always getting money making ideas and seldom do I ever go further than writing them down. However, I acted on one this week.

I got it in my head that roofers are roofers and not very good salesman. Let me explain. Roofers hire teams of workers called "crews" to help them with their summer contracts. It is very costly and time consuming to lay them off when there is no work and risk losing them for when there is work to a company that can provide steady work, so.........as a general rule, roofers leave alot of money on the table when quoting home owners on a new roof for fear of losing the job and not having work for their crew.

As I have yet to find the magic food that will give me a 6-pack, my role will be behind the scenes.




I put an ad on Kijiji that I was a "roof artist" and that I could not only quote you on a new roof but also throw in a roof ventilation evaluation by a ventilation professional (me) for free. Well I got a bite the very next day.

I didn't exactly know what to do. I don't normally go this far with my ideas. Its now becoming a reality and Im going to have to man up to the challenge as nervous as I am with it. So I went by the job site this afternoon and assessed the job. I think I have enough guidelines from a friend that I can adequately calculate what will be involved as far as materials, labour, and my cut of the project.

Although I'm new at this, I am not exactly doing consumers an injustice. I am simply advocating for the roofing industry. On top of that my expertise in roof ventilation will noticeably extend the life of the shingles. As it is now, less than 10% of the roofs that are done currently are properly ventilated. I also plan submitting the job to one of the few roofers that I know does a very good job.

Now if I get the job I guess I will have to go in search of a roofing company that can do it when I commit to do it and at a price that is less than my quote so there is some cream left atop for my cream deprived family.

3 comments:

Ryan and Katie said...

wow.... let me read that again so I can get my head around it all....

Lisa said...

Good luck Eric. I hope you remember to tie yourself to the roof. Cream is good - but only if you're alive to drink the cream.

Wendy said...

Hey Eric, we managed to get the key back but us little people had to use a ladder! So hi to Jenn and the boys.