Pathetic

MJW

There was a small storm that hit last night near my Mom and Dad's house. There were two "roofers" at the door already today. I guess it's easy to run around immediately after the storm if you hire all your work out to subs and do no work yourself. This business is getting very pathetic!

StormExteriors

It wouldn't to happen to be ummm MASTER_____ Roofing would've been LMAO

Grumpy

What's wrong with hiring people to work for you MJW? Must the owner of the company also be the salesman and the installer? You yourself was complaining about the side job mob, but seems like you'd fit right in. No offense intended because yous eem to think of that site in a bad light, and that's not my goal to offend. The point I was trying to make is you're an owner operator. I personally don't see the point in your business model, althoguh I do think it to be a very valid and prpfotable model for as long as your body allows you to bang down shingles.

However I prefer to hire people who are better than I am to install the roofing products. I mean did Ray Crock (founder of McDonalds) flip every burger and bag every bag of fries and fill every soda? Nope. I see no reason why there was anything wrong with his business model. After all one day you will either have to retire or follow the same business plan as I currently follow. One day you'll be no longer able to roof, because we can both agree that roofing beats you up bad. One of my best guys just quit because his chryopracter told him he couldn't roof anymore. He needs a new hip. He's been roofing 20+ years.


You don't have to bang down every shingle and still deliver quality. You don't have to do it ALL yourself. There is nothing wrong with doing what you do well and hiring others to help you with what you're not so good at.

MJW

Grumpy, you are right.........but you are not here in MN. With our taxes and laws it is very tough to get quality and stay within means to make a living. Sure, others may be doing great, but most are not operating legally, and I enjoy fixing their mistakes.

I don't have a problem with someone running a legitimate business, but it rarely happens up here. These companies usually hire illegals or kids out of school. I knew a kid when we got out of school, he was hired by a bigger exteriors company in the area. No experience, no tools....they sent him out to a siding job on his own. He called a friend of mine wanting to know what to do and what tools to buy.

We have these illegals and scabs coming up to us all the time asking for work, but we have to turn them down. They just want to work strictly for cash. We don't want to get hung with that and also worry about the work they do for us.

Stormexteriors..........it wasn't mastercraft. We are doing one of their jobs now that they did two years ago. Not the best work, but you never know which scab crew they had on it. These were two companies that just popped up in the last 5 years or so since the storms started hitting up here.

Grumpy

Chicago is very much the same MJW. I had a job once for a day much like that. I worked one day was told to go get a materials list for a siding job. I really didn't know much about siding at the time and as soon as I got to the job I realized this is going to be a BS job and just never went back.

strathd

This is off topic but I know two roofers in town. Licensing is not required here but I know neither one carrys comp. Don't know if they carry insurance.

Last week one of them tells me that when he bids a job he tells the HO to get a few bids then call him back and he will beat the lowest bid.

Saw the other roofer yesterday and he was saying he can't understand how he keeps loosing jobs to this other guy. So I told him.

These guys are going as low as $40. a sq. tear off, $40. on. I'm not trying to cause trouble but I don't think the practices of the first roofer are right.

It will be interesting to see what happens.
Glad I'm not a roofer in these parts.

MJW

Ya, happens up here too. Same crap.

Figure 10 square a day for two guys, that's $800 to split. No taxes, no insurance, no nothin'.

Then people wonder why they get poor quality and they never call back for repairs.

In the mean while, the rest of us suffer for trying to do things correctly and law abiding.

With little work in the other trades and yearly storms, it's just going to get worse.

Slyfox

LOL, I can name 5 roofing 'coffzzz contractors 'coffzzz in my area to fit what you guys are talking about and at least a dozen who kinda walk the straight and narrow, meaning they have a few 'real' employees that they insure and insure themselves but still hire subs that are not insured.

I have seen business cards left on new construction sites stating 30.00 and 35.00 and all they do is double that price for a tear off.

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strathd

Whats coffzzz stand for ?

willworkforbeer

I think he was shooting for coughs

Cole82

I think it is the same thing everywhere. Just drove by one of my roof bids, noticed the home owner mowing. I could see he had a new roof on, so I lost the bid. I stopped and talked to him, he found a guy that roofs any house for $500. Get this this guys name was "cowboy" No biz name just goes by cowboy. If something goes wrong how do you find out where cowboy is or has insurance, license.

Darwin

Storm chasers. Ambulance chasers. What's the dif?

wizendwizard

Did they write his check out to "Cowboy"?

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Patrick

Checks, yea I love that part. We just did a large window and siding job with new construction windows. They hired someone else to install the window trim cause they were half our price.

I happened to be around when he was there picking up a check and he had some fancy name on his card and on his magnetic sign, so the HO asked if he should make it out to the bus name, the dude goes "umm well heres the thing I haven't had time to open up a business account yet so just make it out to me"

PISSES ME OFF

Especially the magnets on his personal vehicle.

I WAS PULLED OVER and WRITTEN A TICKET for driving my PERSONAL TRUCK which had no lettering mind you, because it had a ladder rack on it, and I had picked up a carton of siding the cop said a needed commercial plates that the registry backed him up

And not to steal the thread away here but I am so sick of firemen and police men that get paid good pay from MY tax dollars and then they turn around and do work on the side for next to nothing because they already get full time pay.

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Originally Posted by Celtic
Like I said...I'm sure you are very good at what you do ~ whatever that is and where ever it happens.

747

Whats the latest story on that senators race in your state? I thought the state supreme court heard it. But i didn't hear anything about a ruling.

MJW

Patrick, we just did a job about a month ago that the HO had police officers do his house as a sidejob. It was one of the worst I have seen. Cheapo shingles, nails all over, leaks within the 2 years, on and on. It was a simple rambler. Luckily this guy got our reference from one of his friends and insurance paid to get it redone again. I laughed when I found out that they actually paid someone for the work on their house.


As for the Senator, I honestly haven't been keeping track. I think we enough going already with the wacko pres we have. They are all politicians in the end, right.............


The point of the post was that these guys are out like hawks after every little storm. What happened to being a successful business and people actually calling you instead of going door to door.

A friend of mine called me and said a guy stopped by his house this spring saying they are inspecting for hail damage in the area. He told the guy to take a hike. The "Contractor" came back again a few days later, and didn't realize it was the same house until my friend answered the door. This is in a neighborhood of about 30-40 homes out on a county road.
I just think it's pathetic what a bunch of "salesmen" are doing to our trade. It makes us all look bad, just as bad as others doing shotty work.

MJW

BTW, the 30-40 house neighborhood on a county road had very VERY small hail last year. It didn't even show up on aluminum wrap. I think the reason the guy was there is because that area is listed on the web to have hail damage on a certain company's website.

Slyfox

Sorry, I assumed that was common puter lingo,
yes I was trying to say coughs in a more dramatic/funny way.

You not from ACE or ARROW are you?

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strathd

Really did'nt know. Ace or arrow ?