Source: JobNimbus
How did we ever run a roofing company without pneumatic nailers, cell phones, or computers?
“When I was young...” is often the beginning of a long conversation with a roofer who remembers the “good old days.” They will talk about how roofers ruled the construction world and how hand saws and hammers were the way to do things.
Times have changed, but roofing contractors still take pride in their work. Today, roofers use advanced technology to build their businesses more efficiently.
Check out seven ways roofing technology can help your profitability and growth.
Huge Advances in New Roofing Technology
We’re witnessing a paradigm shift in technology.
Technology is expanding and accelerating, and roofing contractors are benefiting. Roofers have more tools to make business easier and more efficient than ever.
Roofing technology has moved the industry beyond torch-down, hot tar, and three-tab shingles. In many parts of the country, the old shingle standards like cedar aren’t even an option.
Technological advances in other areas have reached trades like roofing and have made significant changes. Just take a look at synthetic underlayments, liquid sealants, stainless nails, and all the latest products paraded at trade shows that make your job simpler.
Let’s see the other areas of roofing that modern tech has improved the most.
1. Better Organization for Roofing Projects
One of the hardest things about running a roofing company is juggling everything at once. You’ve got new customers to track, old ones to remember, new jobs by the minute, and tasks not getting done on time.
Roofing project management can become a mess, but roofing software technology makes it easy to get — and stay — organized.
With roofing software, you don’t have to question if you sent an invoice, if it was paid, or if the customer only did a partial payment. You can access all your information in one location, so you collect every payment and earn more.
Efficient organization helps you easily spot where jobs are in your process and make sure they’re moving along the pipeline. For example, Donahue Roofing uses roofing software to track their projects. They said: “Our files have customer notes, job pics, all documents, invoices. . . . It keeps us so organized!”
With enhanced organization, you can enjoy a smoother workflow and boost productivity in your company.
2. Faster, More Sustainable Roofing Business Growth
One of the great benefits of new roofing technology is growth.
But growth can be a double-edged sword. If you grow your company too fast, you risk overwhelming your revenue. If you get overwhelmed by volume, you can lose jobs, money, and your reputation.
Roofing software allows you to manage more jobs at the same time, so you can take on more projects.
Let’s say you have multiple leads come in at the same time. With project management software, you can create a contact for each of those leads. Add a new contact and include their phone number, email address, first and last name, lead source, and even insurance information. Once you have the contacts ready to go, you assign each of them to your team members for the next step.
From there, your team members follow up on your customers, schedule appointments, and make work orders for the job. You can see exactly where each of those jobs is and identify any roadblocks.
A roofing CRM gives you instant visibility into how many jobs you’re currently doing, where to improve, and how many more jobs you can take on.
For example, JobNimbus lets you run several reports like the Sales Pipeline Report. Enter the report to see the most recent invoices and estimates for the day, week, or month. You can see the date a job was sold, job total, and close ratio, all in one report.
If you’re noticing sales blocks, check when they happened and who the sales reps were. Once you have that information, you’ll be able to talk to your salespeople and address any problems, so you can grow the right way.
3. Increased Cloud Storage to Store Data
Storage space across the board has increased dramatically over the last few years. Instead of printing or physically storing everything, now you can use unlimited cloud storage that holds everything you need and has room for more as you grow. Save everything from photos and documents to contracts and brochures in a roofing software. You’ll have access to them without ever having to worry about running out of space.
4. Mobile Capabilities for On-the-Go Business
Advancements in roofing tech allow for a smaller, more mobile office.
With high-powered technology, you can access documents, photos, and estimates from anywhere in the world.
Imagine this: You’re at the job site and need to take pictures of the roof. You just pull out the mobile app, snap the shots, and save them to the corresponding project. Then you can even annotate the images to point out areas that need extra attention. Anyone on your team — in the field or the office — can instantly see these images on their end.
Advanced mobile technology in the roofing industry keeps everyone on your team up to date, no matter where they are.
5. Improved Communication so Everyone is on the Same Page
Tech is essential for communicating better with your team and customers.
Quality roofing software platforms often provide email and text capabilities. Since those abilities are incorporated into the software, it’s easier and faster to reach out to customers. The single-platform approach keeps communications in one place for transparency and better customer service.
Within the software, you can look at past conversations with a customer and your response times. You never have to guess if one of your team members replied to a customer email; you’ll be able to see it.
Roofing tech also lets you document information you get during your customer communications. Let's say that one of your sales representatives talks to a lead about installing a new copper roof. Your sales rep can enter notes about the phone call directly into the system, like when and what type of roof the customer wants. Then when the customer sets an appointment with your company, your office staff can look at the notes and have all the information they need.
From beginning to end, your entire team has the same information.
6. Roofing Software Integrations to Simplify Your Workflow
Integrations let you connect all the software you use into one easy-to-access platform. You can get more done without the hassle of switching back and forth between multiple screens.
The best software connects with other industry tools through roofing software integrations. With the right integrations, you can do everything from estimates to paperwork faster, so you can make more money.
7. Automations to Give You More Time
You can automate a variety of roofing-related tasks to have the software do the heavy lifting for you. For example, you can set up an automation to assign a new job when a customer signs their estimate. Then, once you schedule an appointment, you can have another automation automatically send a reminder about the job. After the job is done, another automation can send an invoice to the customer, so you get paid.
Automations can handle several tasks at once, saving you valuable resources and eliminating busywork. You have endless automation possibilities, including:
- Ordering materials
- Creating work orders
- Applying for permits
- Emailing customers
- Sending appointment reminders
- Asking for a review after a job
- Changing a task status
- Following up on partially paid invoices
Automations don’t just make your process more efficient — they make it more consistent too. Using automations turns each task into a clear part of your workflow. With a regular process in place, customers get to enjoy a better, more dependable customer journey.
Save Time, Money, and Resources with Roofing Technology
Technology is here to make our lives easier. Embrace the changes that technology has brought to the roofing industry, and you’ll stand out above the competition.
