Hail Storm Crews...where Do You Find Them?

232323

Our area has been hit twice within the last 10 years by very damaging hail storms. Like other areas, we were flooded with storm chasers, who for the most part did lousy work and left bills behind. Since I just have one small roofing crew, we are very limited to the work we can take on. I hate losing a couple of hundred good jobs (to storm chasers) simple because they have the crews and I don't. What have some of you other contractors done in this situation? Where can a person access a couple of good reliable (insured) roofing crews on short notice? We're close to the Canadian border so Mexican crews would have to be legal (the illegals were shipped out as fast as they came in by the border patrol). Im not interested in partnering up with a storm-chaser...just interested in finding a decent crew or two for the next storm. Thanks for any input.

Ed the Roofer

Advertise in CragsList or form a Liason with other small companies and do a canvassing with equal dispertion of the leads and jobs that come through, to share costs and other expenses incurred.

Ed

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johnk

I think the biggest problem is when there is that much storm damage,every company around is booked solid.I would put out ads on craigslist in surrounding states for qualified contractors and crews.I`ve had overwhelming responses with Craigslist.You could subcontract to them,but your name would be at stake, so always check credentials and references,otherwise you could find yourself unknowingly doing the same crap work as most stormchasers.People I think would rather deal with known,local contractors.Also would have to check your local laws regarding hiring out of state contractors.

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dougger222

Craigslist.

Not only have I sold things instantly but found killer deals and even found an excellent renter on the site.

I'm in the same boat but rather than 2 hail storms in 10 years have had more like 5-6.

If you are an installer after finding a crew you think could be good you could supervise them on a job or two and decide if you want them to shingle a house you put your name on.

My family is full of roofers so finding crews is easy for me but I'm very anal on quality and wouldn't sub out roofs to some in my family.

What I found best is to weed through the leads and find the good home owners with a lot of friends because they will always bring you more leads down the road after the storm chasers have done there damage. Also I try to spend more time securing $20K+ roofs than say $7-9K roofs. Of course all the installers like the 4/12 cupcake roofs so never turn those down!

In the past two years have done over 150 tear offs with only one crew with taking off a total of 8-9 months.

Another trick is to try to do as many roofs for the insurance companies that are easy to work with and pay good.

buildpinnacle

Roofers Exchange has tons of storm ads. Never used any of them, so can't comment on the quality, but there is a help wanted and work wanted section as well as equipment for sale. May be worth checking out.

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