Have The Shingle Prices Had An Effect On Your Business?

J-Peffer

I've closed a few jobs with telling customers they just keep going up.

I got booked up in April fast and had to eat quite a bit on some jobs because I had bookings into August already. Seems like shingles have gone up 10-15% 2 times a month since April.

I just bought 25 gallons of gas at $3.22 and was paying $3.15 a gallon when my $75 landmarks were only $42.

It would appear a few local companies are solving the increase by cutting labor. The seasonal fruit pickers seem to be on a number of roofs I've bid on.

Ed the Roofer

Look up and do a search for, Escalation Clause and Price Allowances to solve the problem of getting stuck with the increases.

Ed

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MJW

Exactly! And with the politics lately.....I will assume it will get even worse. Wages are going to plummet because houses are worth about half what they used to be(if they are worth anything)
Like my Dad always says..."nothin' is worth anything, unless you already have a buyer"

Slyfox

Alot of companies are finding ways to cheat a few bucks here and there and calling it survival.

Thursday, October 02, 2008
Are there Youngstown Roofersnow employing nothing but 'illegal' labor?
The owner of Youngstown Security Systems 'Cal' told me 'Steve Fox' on Wednesday, 01
that he hired *** Roofing/Siding Contractor to install the roof on his home,
and he quoted the owner of *** Roofing as saying,
"I will never hire a legal American again, so long as theres illegals available'
is this true? is this the way of the American dream? or is this a simple matter of dis-honesty?
Cal's response was Quote "i totaly agree with his statement" End Quote...
This is just one of several rumors floating around our area in regards to the use of illegal labor.
Home owners, business owner, etc., need to pay attention to the contractors they hire,
and ask for proof of insurances that cover not just the company, but each and every employee
and sub contractor that they will have working on your property.
There are legal issues that could cost you, the home owner or business owner,
alot of money should non insured 'illegal or legal' employees or subs be caught working on,
or end up hurt while working on your home or business.
Email any comments on this subject to slyfox62o@gmail.com
or Click Here.
Out of respect to the legal ways of "Inocent until proven Guilty" I removed the name of the above referenced roofing contractor until this matter has been further investigated.

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J-Peffer

I've done between 20-50 roofs a year for the past 5 years. I've handed out my proof of insurance to 3-4 home owners and most builders don't even ask for it.

.5% of customers actually ask for it. I am not even sure why I pay it. I don't think the responsibility should fall on the customer. The goverment should be stepping in to protect the legit business' or we won't have any left.

J-Peffer

That will protect me, but the problem I see is while explaining this to my customer....they won't want to take the risk and except a booking 4 months away.

They shoo me away, and go with the guy who can start tomorrow. They may regret it, but I could see it causing me to loose jobs.

Shingles prices have pretty much doubled in a summer. Gas has gone up a buck (30%) in a summer and the world stops turning. I just don't feel the manufactures cost has doubled based on asphalt and oil prices.

woodworkbykirk

the worst part about something like this is, when something does go wrong, then they call you and they want it fixed for nothing when you have to pull apart they work by the under bidder and fix all his mistakes

concretemasonry

Shingles, like all other building materials are a pass-through cost to the owner and really not a profit center for a real contractor.

The trick is to bid based on an intelligent idea of what the materials will cost when the job is built.

If you can lock in a future price or get a maximum escalation schedule or a guaranteed maximum from your supplier, you could have some confidence when it comes to dealing with a customer on a specific project.

When I was in the business of supplying concrete/concrete products, we would distribute or quote a future price as a maximum, but it could be lower if list prices were not increased as projected. This was good for materials where service and delivery were a big portion of a contractors buying practices. It was a big help to the sub contractors since they had proof of future prices and guaranteed delivery.

I don't know if this would apply for shingles, but talking to your supplier could be a smart move.

__________________
Dick

Engineer, designer and consultant recently active domestically and internationally on construction and design in about 35 countries.

mattp

Figure out how much your materials are and ask for a downpayment in that amount.

J-Peffer

I thought of trying to forcast out the cost, but for awhile there, I did not even know what felt paper was going to cost next week. I don't know if it was just me, but I could not get a idea of what the cost increase were going to be until a few weeks before they came. Generally, the letters came in at 5% to 15% increase. 10% is kind of a big deal then when you are dealing with thousands of dollars.

I think it is unprofessinal not to give a concrete price. If someone else says the price can go up 20% before they start, I come in 10% higher than them but garantee the price, I feel that allows me to close a job easier and appear more organized and profesinal.

I could buy all the materials, but I don't have a spot to store 15 roofs worth of materials, or a fork lift to move them on and off a trailer. The distributors will let you buy them early, but they have to leave the yard with in a few days. I don't want to leave materials in a drive way for 3 months either.

Just one of the times it might not be a good thing to be booked up far in advance.

mattp

Lucky for me my lumberyard will store shingles for me for about 3 months

dougger222

The increases in roofing materials this year has had no ill effect on my business. As a matter of fact so far this year at this point have done more jobs than all last year.

MJW

Most of our jobs this year have been over the $15K mark. When the estimates get that high with insurance work, the mortgage company usually gets a hold of the check. Then they only issue percentages of the checks. Most of the time, these checks don't cover the materials. This is the predicament we have had since spring.

Landmarks at $81 till next week. Will be at almost $88 after that.

Good luck fellas.

Slyfox

Like dougger222, I also have allready done more work in 08' than all of 07' thus the price hike has not directly harmed me either.
In many ways it has actually helped because it has gotten home owners and small business owners asking more and more questions about both the materials and the quality of the roofers workmanship.
The more questions the home owners ask, the easier it is for them to see the differences of quality between the contractors.

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J-Peffer

I've also done more work than in previous years. I've been at it on my own for 4 years and I grow every year. I'm getting too many jobs which was the problem though. Being booked too far ahead, not knowing what shingles will cost 4 months away. I'm new to the game and the previous years the increases were very minimal and on track with the rest of the market, never more than 10%.

Jake Stevens

We have been hit with big increases like every one else and in the state of Maine we can only get 1/3 down on the job. If I can do the job with in 30 days for the most part that's ok but if they want to wait 3 or 4 months to have the job done I tell them they have to pay 1/2 up front so I can pre-buy the shingles and then it works out ok. We're down on roofs this year because they're a lot of guys giving the work away. Last year we did 98 roofs, this year we've done about 40 so far.

J-Peffer

Those guys giving roofs away are probably kicking themselves in the ass for doing it for nothing, or even loosing money. They have to cut the quality of the work to come out even. So they are earning a bad rep while kicking themselves in the ass.

They are also kicking us in the nuts while they kick themselves in the ass.

Ed the Roofer

I just have to ask???

Why are your nuts so close to their ass?

Ed

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Please Stay Tuned For A Very Important Message From Our Sponsor
http://www.rightwayroofingcompany.com/ www.rightwayroofingcompany.com
Roof Estimates, Roof Repairs, Roofers, Roof Leak Help, Elgin, Carpentersville, East Dundee, West Dundee, Sleepy Hollow, Algonquin, South Elgin, Huntley, Lake In The Hills, Illinois

johnk

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"A Roof is only as good as it is Applied"

MrRoofer

We contracted a job yesterday that cost roughly a thousand more this year than last year...last year was already too expensive a price so they decided this year to bite the bullet before next year really blows them away.

OTOH we have those this year that can't probably afford it until next year when it gets even more expensive.... Noone really know wtf is going on so it's easy to ride the fence...until it starts to splinter.


Our quotes are usually valid thirty days...in some cases we have seen three price increases a month from certain suppliers this summer, however they have been generally minimal enough that we have already covered for it in the margin of profit, or in other cases we simply have to requote. We aren't running a charity here, but I suppose for us we can afford to be doing that, whereas some of the smaller guys I would understand having a harder time keeping on top of things right now.

Staying on top of price increases has been challenging to say the least when we consider we roof with most products under the sun, but it has also opened up opportunity for financial gain when you factor in the profitability on inflation

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'I'm living on the edge!'