Starting your own roofing business can be more profitable than a standard construction company because the work that you’re doing is more specialist. Most general contractors will hire a company like yours to carry out all of the roofing work because they don’t have the expertise and equipment to do it themselves and that means that you can charge a good rate for roofing work. There are also more risks involved as you’ll be working at heights and that will be factored into the price as well.
However, like any construction business, roofing companies often find that their profit margins are impacted by high running costs. Materials and labor costs can be high and the nature of the work means that there is more potential for problems, which will cost you money. If you’re thinking of starting your own roofing business or maybe you already have one but you’re struggling to deal with the high overheads, these are some of the best cost-cutting techniques that you need to apply.
Don’t Ignore Health And Safety
This is by far the most important piece of advice for anybody that is running a roofing business. Health and safety guidelines are important in any area of construction but they’re particularly important for roofers. When you’re working at height all day, the risk of dangerous and even fatal falls is far greater. There is also the danger of things being dropped from the roof and injuring those that are working below. Workplace accidents like this can be very costly and if you’re not careful they’ll eat into your profits so it’s important that you take steps to avoid them wherever you can.
The first thing that you’ve got to consider when it comes to workplace accidents is the chance of a lawsuit. If somebody is injured on site and the accident could have been avoided if you followed health and safety procedures properly, you’re liable and you could be sued. You should already have liability insurance to cover you so you don’t have to pay the settlement yourself but it will mean that your insurance costs go up considerably so it’s still costing you a lot of money. Damage to the customer’s property as a result of an accident is also a problem because you’ll have to pay for the repairs out of your own pocket and that will eat into your profit margins. In some circumstances, you could end up losing money on a job.
Lost time is an issue as well because if a job takes longer than you anticipated, you’re wasting money on labor costs and you aren’t free to start on your next job. Injuries always lead to lost time and if you’re found to be in breach of health and safety regulations, there is a chance that the site will be closed down until you can sort the problem. On top of that, you’re likely to get a fine as well.
Health and safety regulations can sometimes seem a bit extreme and you might not think that you need to follow them as long as you’re taking care with your work. But if you don’t follow them to the letter, it could cost you a lot of money.
Plan For The Weather
The weather can cause a lot of problems when you’re doing any outside construction work, especially if you’re working on a roof. Bad weather will put a halt to all of your work and if you get hit with bad weather part way through a job, there is a chance that you may get water damage to the building and you’ll have to do everything twice. If you’re constantly being interrupted by the bad weather, you won’t be very efficient and your jobs will take twice as long as you initially planned for, which is costing you a lot of money.
The bad news is, you can never predict the weather with complete accuracy but you do need to plan around it as much as possible. Always keep a close eye on the weather and make sure that you’re not planning to start a job if it’s likely to rain heavily over the next few days.
The good news is, you can actually use the weather to your advantage in some cases. If homes have been hit with severe weather then it’s likely that they’ll need work done on their roofs. If you use sites like www.hailpoint.com, you can keep an eye on areas that have been hit with strong hail storms and severe weather. That means that you can contact people in the area and advertise your services and you should be able to pick up a lot of extra work.
During the winter months, the weather is going to make it difficult for you to get much work done at all and you need to plan your finances accordingly. You need to make sure that you’re putting money aside during the summer months so when the work slows down in the winter, you don’t run into financial trouble. If you have trouble managing your finances well, visit www.freebusinessthinking.com for some handy tips on surviving the winter.
Invest In Quality Tools
Buying tools (like shingle cutting tool) is one of the biggest expenses for any roofing company but a lot of businesses spend more money than they need to because they don’t invest enough in the first place. It makes sense that you would try to save yourself a bit of money initially by opting for cheaper tools and equipment. The problem is, if you buy cheap, you buy twice. It may seem like you’re saving money by getting cheaper tools but you’ll be replacing them all of the time so, over time, you’ll actually be wasting a lot of money. It’s far more cost-effective to invest a bit of money in good quality tools that are going to last you for years to come.
If you’re just starting out and you’re struggling to cover the cost of buying all of your tools, it may be better to hire them out initially. If you hire them for the first few jobs, you can reinvest your profits and buy your own tools later on.
If you can do these simple things to keep your costs down until you can build up a good customer base, you’ll find it a lot easier to keep your roofing business afloat.
