Being a roofer is expensive. From the costs associated with spending much of the day driving around to buying and replacing tools, boots, safety equipment, and staff, finding ways to maximize profits can be tricky, especially since simple errors in measurement can result in extra costs that quickly add up.
For roofing contractors interested in increasing their profits and growing their businesses, one of the essential factors in making more money comes from being able to order accurate roofing material quantities for every job. Here’s how to reduce your risks of ordering too few or too many roofing materials for the job at hand.
What Happens if I Don’t Order Accurate Roofing Material Quantities?
In today’s economy, over-ordering anything can hit a business hard. Not only are you finishing up a job with extra material that you then have to find somewhere to store, but you also have to hope that you can find a way to make use of it later, or else you’re essentially losing all the money you invested in that specific roofing job.
On the flip-side, under-ordering materials can leave your company and team in a bind where they have to then wait to finish up the job. This can cause delays and create a scheduling nightmare for your team and the client, leaving everyone unhappy with the job at hand.
Not to mention the fact that nowadays, shipping and manufacturing delays are extremely common, meaning that your wait for a new shipment can take anywhere from a day or two to a few months. This is why getting the right amount of materials for every roofing project today is crucial.
Three Ways to Ensure Accurate Amounts of Roofing Materials
Here are three essential tips to ensure you’re not throwing out any cash when it comes to getting accurate amounts of roofing materials for your next job.
Account for Waste
It’s important to ensure you have enough materials to complete the job, but if you order too much, it’ll be a waste of time and money. Generally speaking, 10% – 15% of the total amount of materials that you order should be considered waste. This should be enough to account for the amount of material that overlaps, as well as the amounts that might need to be trimmed and cut to fit any given roof style.
Of course, if you want to get even more specific, this number can change depending on the type of roofing your company installs and the average roof size/style you work on. Still, you’re the expert at working for your own company, so make any adjustments you feel you need in order to get the most accurate number for your roofing business and needs.
2) Digitize Your Roofing Material Orders
While you can buy your supplies and materials locally, ordering roofing materials online allows you to shop around to always find the best price and availability. Even if you have a trusted local provider, check that you can place orders online for pick-up instead of driving out to grab what you need. Keeping an eye out for sales and stock will save you a lot of travel time and give you the opportunity to price-match before you buy.
Many of the major construction material suppliers offer services, tools, and apps that allow you to upload your roof measurements or BOM in order to quickly pull up the correct amounts or materials needed for a given job, reducing the space for human errors which could lead to ordering too much or too little.
3) Ensure your Initial Roof Measurements are Accurate
When the roofing season starts to pick up, many roofing contractors find themselves in a non-stop “go, go, go!” situation where there’s little time and room for error in their day-to-day workflow.
Because of the seasonality of the roofing business, it could be difficult to balance measuring roofs for new jobs and working on already signed contracts. This leads to a lot of rushing that could result in some pretty costly mistakes.
One of the easiest ways to ensure you’re ordering accurate amounts of roofing materials for your new jobs is to make sure that no matter what, your initial roof measurements are accurate.
By choosing to measure roofs and send proposals with a roof measurement software like Roofgraf, you can be sure that Liz, our A.I. assistant, is working hard to quickly and easily get you the accurate roof measurements you need, identify the pitch and line types, and generate a full roof report and BOM for every job you run through the software.
Not only is this method much faster than driving out to measure each roof, but it’s also safer and much more affordable than paying for gas.
In Conclusion
When it comes to ordering the correct quantities of roofing materials, it’s important to account for waste while also reducing the margin or error that comes with manually measuring roofs and only buying from one supplier on-site. That said, following these three tips should put you in a great place to only order the roofing materials you need in order to save you as much money as possible.
Want accurate roof measurements without heading out to the job site? Try Roofgraf’s free trial and learn more about how we can support your business and help you increase your sales, and ensure accurate material orders today.
