Finding reliable, skilled roofing crews can be one of the most challenging parts of running a roofing business. Before you begin hiring roofing crews, it’s important to have a clear understanding of who you are looking for and how to keep them happy with your company.
This blog gives you insights into how to find roofing crews and subcontractors, as well as how AccuLynx simplifies managing them.
Where to find roofing crews and subcontractors
Excellent roofing crews are out there—you just need to know where to look. Here are six places to try when you being hiring roofing crews:
1. Local trade schools
Many trade schools offer courses in roofing and construction-related trades. These students have a clear interest in the industry and will be looking for professional work experience. Many of these schools incorporate a co-op program that you can utilize to find skilled and qualified workers.
2. Online job boards
Websites such as Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, and Monster allow you to post job listings to target potential candidates. Since these platforms can reach a large audience, be sure to have a clear job description so you attract the right people.
3. Local unions
Contact your local roofing union to ask for recommendations on reliable crews. This can lead to finding some of the best workers in the area.
4. Referrals
Consider leaning on your crews for referrals. They can recommend their friends in the industry and share their positive experience working for your company. You can encourage crew members to provide referrals by implementing an incentive program.
5. Industry associations
Many industry associations like NRCA have job boards and recruitment tools to help find top employees. These associations are often member-only so you can be confident you’re finding qualified crews.
6. Social media
Social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn have strong communities where you can share open positions. Be sure to look for local and roofing industry-specific groups.
Pro tip: Hire a foreman or a general manager to oversee all of your crews. They will help enforce procedures, direct workflow, manage employee time, and ensure deadlines are met. This can take the burden of managing multiple crews off of you.
How to retain roofing crews and subcontractors
Hiring roofing crews is only half the battle—keeping them working for your company is the other. Maintaining positive relationships with good crews can have a big impact on retention.
Learn what motivates them
Understanding what motivates your crews will help you create a positive work environment. Some common motivators include:
- Being challenged with a new task: If someone on the crew is looking for increased responsibilities, give them some where you see fit. This can be a great way to show trust.
- Positive reinforcement: Making your crews feel valued can go a long way. Use positive reinforcement to tell crew members they’re doing a good job.
- Constructive criticism: When giving criticism, make sure it is constructive. Give crew members tips or advice where needed to improve project efficiency.
- Opportunities to grow their career: Get to know your crew members and see what their career goals are. Maybe they want to be a crew leader or even grow into higher-level positions within your company. Supporting them on their aspirations will show that you value them on the team.
While it is important to create a positive environment for your crews, most would say that money is their greatest motivator. Your crews will expect to be compensated for the level of work they put in.
Pay your crews what they’re worth
While you may think you’ll be saving money by hiring a less expensive crew, keep in mind that you will get what you pay for. Paying for C+ work and expecting A+ work is unrealistic. While it can be more expensive to hire an A+ roofing crew, the investment is worth it to have trustworthy, skilled workers.
Workers who are paid well are more likely to stay because they know their hard work will be compensated. For crews that have provided reliable, quality work, or have been working for you for an extended period of time, consider rewarding them with:
- Bonuses
- Raises
- Promotions
- Providing lunches and drinks onsite
You don’t need to break the bank, but acknowledging hard-working crews with financial incentives is a great way to retain them.
Define expectations
You need to set expectations with your crews right away. This will help get ahead of any potential misunderstandings and lay the groundwork for how they should operate. Consider informing them of these areas:
- Standard procedures: Inform your crews of your company’s procedures for roof removal, installation, and post-job documentation.
- Communication: Describe your communication preferences—do you prefer texts, emails, or in-app messages? Let them know how you expect communication to occur, what information should be shared during a job, and how frequently updates should be provided.
- Job-site expectations: Detail what you expect from them when working on a property. This can include where and when to take breaks, as well as the procedures for setting up and cleaning up.
Be fair and honest
Once you’ve laid out your expectations, you need to stick to them and be clear if things change. Being fair and honest also means:
- Being transparent on the workload: Tell your crews how many jobs they should expect to be on, how long jobs should take, and additional work that may be required. Don’t try to squeeze extra work out of them.
- Being willing to meet their expectations: Skilled, qualified workers seek a roofing company that is fair, honest, and pays what they said they would. If you can’t meet some of their basic expectations, you can’t expect them to uphold yours.
- Keeping an open line of communication: Your crews need to feel comfortable coming to you, especially if problems arise. If they make a mistake and are honest about it, allow them to fix it and talk with them so it doesn’t happen again. If you make a mistake, give them the same respect.
How AccuLynx makes managing crews a breeze
Once you have a great roofing crew on board, you need to equip them with everything they need to do their best work. AccuLynx all-in-one roofing software has all the tools and features you need for managing roofing crews and subcontractors.
With AccuLynx, you can:
- Store crew information for your records: You can have access to your crew’s entire job history, including the job profits and the labor total sum. This helps you track performance, manage payroll, and make informed business decisions when it comes to hiring them again.
- Send automated messages: You can send your crews automated texts and emails to give them project updates. You can also send manual messages, ensuring timely and effective communication.
- Schedule labor: Use the Labor Manager to easily schedule labor and see all of your crews’ schedules at a glance in a shared Production Calendar. You can reschedule labor by clicking and dragging it to a new date, which instantly notifies the crew of the change.
- Use a mobile app: The mobile Crew App allows you to communicate with crews and give them instructions on job sites. Crews have access to a checklist of tasks so nothing gets missed. The Crew App also includes an English-Spanish translation feature to help improve roofing crew communication, as well as photo features to document and share project progress.
If you’d like to learn more about how AccuLynx can help manage your crews, schedule a demo today.
