Most of the time, a roofing contractor is hustling, trying to buy their supplies from you and get back into the field. Roofing distributors play an important role in keeping their customers’ business moving along smoothly, but with a little extra effort, they can be so much more.

In this brief video chat, Wade Baughn, vice president of American Home Specialists, provides a couple of tips on how distributors can improve their customers' operations. He recounts his experience asking suppliers about loose shingle bundle sales and how distributors can teach contractors about scoring more replacement jobs versus repairs.

Are you Doing Your Roofing Customers a Disservice?

Instead of being the middleman, roofing distributors can help their contractor customers by giving them more business and avoid potential problems. In this episode, Wade Baughn, vice president of American Home Specialists, provides simple examples of how distributors can go above and beyond just selling supplies.

As he explains, repairs can cause problems for the homeowner if they’re not done right, such as the homeowner themselves patching things up. When an adjuster comes out to inspect it after a storm, for example, this might create problems for the homeowner and lost business for the contractor.

“What we're seeing [on] the insurance side is when we do that repair, the homeowner only has the ability to repair,” he said. “They don't get full replacement because they've accepted that previous repair. So if you look at all that and you take that into your business as a supplier and you teach a contractor, you're talking life-altering business.”

Baughn, an avid reader, also takes a moment to speak about how cracking open literature like code books now and again can help distributors become even more of a resource for their customers.

Watch the full video or download the podcast version here.