Best Roofing Apps for Contractors: The Complete Guide
This guide will cover everything you need to know about roofing apps, how they improve team performance, and how they can help you make more money.
What Is a Roofing App?
Software applications designed for use by roofing contractors—on a desktop or mobile device—are often referred to as roofing applications, or roofing apps for short. Many roofing apps help roofers carry out their everyday tasks, such as capturing customer information and photos at a job site, ordering aerial measurement reports, creating an estimate, or communicating updates about a job from the field to the home office.
Roofing apps are being adopted by companies at a record rate because they help employees work smarter. With better organization and access to information, teams can collaborate more effectively and conduct their work in the most efficient manner. And when you have highly productive and effective teams, you ultimately see growth.
What Apps Do Roofers Use? The Main Types of Roofing Apps
Roofers use apps that help them meet the needs of their business. This can include canvassing, design, photo, measuring, hail report, and crew management apps.
Here are some of the most common types of roofing apps that can give you a competitive advantage.
Canvassing Apps
Finding, tracking, and following up with leads can be challenging. Using a canvassing app is one way to stay organized as you search for new customers. Canvassing apps help roofing contractors find new leads, keep track of existing leads, assign salespeople to geographic areas, and monitor sales performance.
Roofing Design Apps
Roofing elements, such as shingles, are on a house for quite some time, and homeowners want to be certain of their choices before they invest in new ones. Helping customers visualize how solar panels, shingles, skylights, or other design elements will look can give them confidence in their selection. With roofing design apps, you can show homeowners their options in context and display shingle colors without having to carry around sample boards.
Roofing Photo Apps
Photos have become a necessary tool for roofers. Taking photos helps you document damage, provide clear instructions to crews, show homeowners your progress, and keep your team informed. Roofing photo apps help you manage, annotate, and share your job photos, and are especially helpful for roofers who take dozens or hundreds of photos per job.
Roof Measuring Apps
More and more contractors are using aerial measurement technology to get accurate information about roofs without having to climb a ladder—or even visit the job site. These aerial measurement reports often need to be ordered on the go, making roof measuring apps a great solution for getting fast measurements from your preferred aerial provider. The speed and accuracy of aerial measurements from roof measuring apps will also improve the quality and efficiency of your estimating process.
Hail Report Apps
Getting accurate information about hailstorms and other weather events helps roofing contractors identify regions with storm damage. With hail report apps, roofers have access to this information on the go, and can order hail reports directly from their smartphones or tablets.
Subcontractor and Crew Management Apps
In order for roofing contractors to effectively manage subcontractors and crews and give them the most up-to-date instructions, you need to keep the lines of communication open. Subcontractor and crew management apps help you stay in touch with your crews and make communication easier.
Construction/Roofing Business Management Apps
A complete construction or roofing business management app is like carrying around a file cabinet in your pocket. From job details to estimates and contracts, everything you need to run your business is at your fingertips. Choosing a roofing app with these capabilities ensures your team has access to the tools and features they need to work efficiently.
What are the Best Roofing Apps? Top Roofing Apps by Category
Finding the best roofing app to meet your business needs can be a challenge. Here are a few of the top roofing apps in each of categories:
Canvassing Apps
SalesRabbit
SalesRabbit helps roofers track leads and manage sales activities. You can assign salespeople to a given area and collect performance data on their sales activities. SalesRabbit users can add new leads on the go, see homeowner details to help them determine which leads are worth pursuing, and collaborate with the rest of their sales teams. Everyone at your roofing business will have an up-to-date picture of lead flow, sales performance, and appointments with homeowners.
Pricing: $25-59 / User / Month Billed Annually
Capterra User Ratings: 4.2 / 5 Stars
Available Devices: Android, iOS
Spotio
Spotio helps sales teams increase their productivity and performance. You can use Spotio to keep your lead pipeline full and prioritize key prospects. Spotio also enables you to stay on top of sales performance and learn from data to improve your sales process. Sales teams can take advantage of the leaderboard to stay accountable and motivated to sell more.
Pricing: Available Via the Spotio Website
Capterra User Ratings: 4.4 / 5 Stars
Available Devices: iOS
Roofing Design Apps
GAF Roofing Wizard® and Colors App
If you use GAF shingles, the company offers two apps to help you show homeowners their options. The Roofing Wizard® app walks homeowners through the GAF roofing system options, such as available warranties, shingle designs, and color options. Customers can make selections directly within the app, which can be emailed instantly to them for final review.
The Colors App is a replacement for sample boards. Instead of showing or sending a homeowner samples, the GAF Colors App lets contractors show images of available shingle types on a smartphone or tablet.
Pricing: Free
Capterra User Ratings: Not Available
Devices Available: Android, iOS
Owens Corning Design EyeQ® Snapshot™
The Design EyeQ® Snapshot™ app lets Owens Corning users show customers their options for roofing design. You can use a photo of your customer’s home to help them visualize how a shingle color or design will look. The app lets you compare up to three shingle colors at a time and view all available options for your area in the Shingle Colors Catalog. Like the GAF app, Design EyeQ® Snapshot™ keeps you from having to use sample boards to showcase shingle options to your customers.
Pricing: Free
Capterra User Ratings: Not Available
Available Devices: iOS
Roofing Photo Apps
AccuLynx Mobile Camera App
The AccuLynx mobile Camera App is a powerful photo editor and camera designed to sync seamlessly with your AccuLynx account. All of your photos and updates will be instantly available to the rest of your team through AccuLynx so everyone can stay on the same page. With the easy-to-use tools in the mobile Camera App, you can edit, tag, view, organize, and share your job photos and videos from anywhere.
Pricing: Free with Your AccuLynx Account
Capterra User Ratings: 4.5 / 5 Stars & 2021 Top Performer
Available Devices: Android, iOS
CompanyCam
CompanyCam helps roofers keep their job photos organized. The app automatically tags your photos by job site, so you’ll always be able to find the ones you’re looking for. Using CompanyCam, you can mark up, annotate, and comment on job site photos. It also features a live photo feed so you can see what’s happening at the job site in real time.
Pricing: $0-19+ / User / Month
Capterra User Ratings: 4.6 / 5 Stars
Available Devices: Android, iOS
Roof Measuring Apps
EagleView
If you’re an EagleView user, the roofing app version of their aerial measurement technology can help you order reports more quickly and request measurements from anywhere. The app also includes a 3D Visualizer to help you see the roof measurements in context, as well as access to EagleView property imagery.
Pricing: Priced Per Report
Capterra User Ratings: 4.4 / 5 Stars
Download: Android, iOS
Hail Apps
HailTrace
HailTrace is a hail reporting app that allows contractors to locate areas of hail damage and see maps of the affected areas. With the HailTrace app, you have access to comprehensive storm data from anywhere. Their meteorology experts analyze hailstorms across the country to give you the most accurate information about hail size, storm intensity, and other essential data.
Pricing: $94 – 162+ / Month
Capterra User Ratings: Not Available
Available Devices: Android, iOS
Subcontractor and Crew Management Apps
Mobile Crew App
The mobile Crew App by AccuLynx keeps roofing companies and crews on the same page. It eliminates the need for phone calls and trips back and forth between the office and the job site. Contractors can use AccuLynx to assign crews to jobs, share work orders, instructions, photos, and documents through the app.
Crews can provide updates back to the office in real time by checking in and out of the job site, sharing photos, sending messages, and completing tasks on their work order checklist. There’s also an English-Spanish translation option for Spanish-speaking crews.
Pricing: Based on # of Linked Subcontractors/Crew Users; Free for Internal Crews
Capterra User Ratings: 4.5 / 5 Stars & 2021 Top Performer
Available Devices: Android, iOS
Construction/Roofing Business Management Apps
AccuLynx Field App
The AccuLynx Field App is a mobile version of the powerful desktop app. From updating job files to sharing photos to sending estimates, contractors can use the Field App to work on the go. You don’t have to wait until you are back in the office to deliver paperwork or update your CRM. It can be done from anywhere, saving you time and giving you more flexibility.
Pricing: Free with Your AccuLynx Account
Capterra User Ratings: 4.5 / 5 Stars & 2021 Top Performer
Available Devices: Android, iOS
Benefits of Roofing Apps
Using technology apps as part of your roofing plan can improve your productivity, help your company grow, and ultimately, make more money. Here’s why many roofing companies are using all-in-one roofing apps, like AccuLynx.
Benefit #1: Increased Efficiency and Time Savings
As a roofing contractor, your time is valuable. Increasing efficiency and reducing time spent on each job can add hours to your day, allowing you to focus on growing your business.
Roofing apps simplify everyday tasks like measuring a roof or keeping photos organized. By utilizing a tool designed specifically to solve problems that are unique to roofing companies, you will be able to complete projects more quickly. For example, being able to update job information while in the field using a roofing app saves time that would otherwise be spent on calling or making trips back and forth to the office. Contractors that use roofing apps to manage their day-to-day work spend much less time and energy on repetitive tasks such as entering data into a spreadsheet or making copies of contracts.
Benefit #2: Ability to Work From Anywhere
Today’s roofing contractors need the ability to be productive wherever they are. When contractors can work from anywhere, they never have to wait to complete essential tasks, and the efficiency of the business increases as a result. In addition, having the flexibility to work remotely if needed helps your roofing business adapt to changing circumstances without compromising your success.
Roofing apps enable you to take your important business management tools with you wherever you go. As long as you have your mobile device, you’ll always be able to:
- Order an aerial measurement
- View a map of a hailstorm
- Update job information
- Access your leads
- And more
This is especially true for roofing apps like the AccuLynx Field App, which give you the functionality of your company’s complete business management software even when you’re not in front of a computer. You can rely on these applications to help you work effectively in a variety of situations and locations.
Benefit #3: Improved Collaboration with Staff and Customers
Flawless coordination and constant communication are essential to providing the best service to your customers. If everyone at the company is on the same page, important information won’t get lost in the shuffle.
Roofing apps provide an easily accessible source of accurate information, helping teams coordinate work and keeping them informed. They can streamline and standardize communications with crews and subcontractors and provide visibility into how work is progressing, ultimately keeping everyone in the business connected.
How to Get Your Crews to Use a Roofing App
Whenever roofing businesses use an app for the first time, it can be challenging to get buy-in from the entire team. Here are some techniques to help your crew adopt their new roofing app and ensure they’re using it effectively.
Choose Apps That Are Simple to Use
Even the best app will not be adopted by your crews if it is too difficult to understand how it works. When choosing an app for your team, it’s important to understand how they’ll be using it, and what barriers might hinder their successful usage.
Before you pull the trigger on new technology, take a moment to walk through it from the point of view of a crew member. The easiest app to adopt will be the one that is intuitive and straightforward to use, and contains all the elements your crews need to support their work.
Train Your Leaders
Your crew leaders and foremen are your allies in implementing any new tools. If you have these leaders on board, it’ll be easier to get the rest of the crews using the technology, so use them strategically to help with app adoption.
You can equip your crew leaders to not only use the app well, but help their crews use it:
- Show them the ins and outs of the app so they’re experts in how it works
- Walk them through how to troubleshoot the app for a crew member who’s having difficulty
- Give them answers to questions that crews might have about the new technology
Since crew leaders are the ones most closely communicating with crews, they will be the best advocates and trainers for crews as they navigate this new technology.
Create a Culture of Consistency
One of the biggest barriers to technology adoption is internal expectations. If not everyone in the roofing company is using an app in the same way, or it’s not clear what the app should be used for, it will be difficult to implement that app in your processes.
Stay consistent and clear with your message to help your teams adopt a new roofing app. Use the technology yourself the way you want it to be used by the rest of your team.
For example, if you used to communicate job instructions through emails or phone calls, but you want crew members to use a roofing app to view instructions, make sure you start sharing crew instructions with the labor order. You can even send them a message to remind them where instructions can be found. When you set the standard for how an app should be used, the rest of your teams will follow your lead.
Be Mindful of Language Barriers
Many crews communicate more effectively in their native language. In order for crews to utilize a roofing app, this has to be kept in mind. Fortunately, some new roofing technology is able to help you overcome language barriers.
The AccuLynx Crew App has a Spanish-English translation function that enables bilingual usage of the app. Data in English can be translated into Spanish in the app for your crews, and anything they enter in Spanish can be translated to English. With features like these, your crew will be able to comfortably use an app, no matter their English fluency.
Help Crews Understand the Benefits
Onboarding your crews to a roofing app is easier when you focus on the benefits of the new technology. The app isn’t just another tool—it’s a solution to an issue that’s made work more difficult. Since your crews are experiencing this difficulty firsthand, it’s important for you to emphasize that the new app is intended to make their lives easier.
Clearly lay out the problems, the ways the app will solve them, and the changes to the processes that will result. By framing app adoption in terms of how it helps the end user and why it’s important, crews will be more willing to make the switch.
How Sales Teams Can Benefit From Roofing Apps
Sales teams spend a lot of time in the field, so finding the right roofing apps can make a big impact on their productivity and success. Here are a few ways that roofing apps can help sales teams work more effectively in the field.
Generate Estimates More Quickly
The length of time it takes to create an estimate can make a major difference in a sale. Contractors who are able to efficiently and accurately generate an estimate and pass it along to the potential customer have an advantage over the competition.
Aerial measurement apps help salespeople produce an accurate estimate quickly. Taking roof measurements no longer requires climbing on a ladder—with a roofing business management app like the AccuLynx Field App, you have easy access to aerial measurements on your mobile device. Those measurements can also be used to automatically populate your estimate.
Customers no longer have to wait for days to receive a quote after you visit a potential job site. Instead, you can draw up estimates directly from your mobile device and get customer feedback faster.
Stay Connected to the Office
When you’re out in the field all day, talking to customers and leads, it can be hard to keep track of what’s going on back at the office. It can also be a challenge to make sure that you’re keeping the rest of the team updated.
With a roofing app, it’s easy to stay connected to the rest of your team, no matter where you are. A business management app like the AccuLynx Field App lets you facilitate communication by:
- Creating new contact records
- Taking notes on jobs and customer interactions
- Uploading photos of the job site
- Associating notes and photos with an existing job record
This way, there is no need to make lots of calls, wait until you’re back in the office to give an update, or scroll through text messages to remember a specific detail—the roofing app makes it simple to stay in touch with the office staff.
Spend Less Time on Each Sale
Spending less time on administrative or repetitive tasks means more time to spend on meeting with prospects, getting contracts signed and closing deals. However, when you’re out in the field all day, it can be difficult to keep up with these tasks, and often there is a backlog of paperwork that needs to be completed.
Many roofing field apps are designed to make these smaller tasks easier. Here are some examples:
- Use the microphone on your phone’s keyboard to make voice comments on jobs, instead of typing them out
- Complete documents directly from the app instead of waiting to return to the office
- Sort your jobs by priority or last touched so it’s easier to see what’s up next
With a roofing app, administrative work can be done from anywhere, and done more quickly.
Get Contracts Signed Faster
Once you’ve gotten a customer to view an estimate and agree on the work to be done, there can also be delays when it comes to getting a contract signed. Reducing wait times and friction during the contract signing process keeps your work moving efficiently and keeps customers happy.
Roofing apps can be used to input customer information directly into an estimate template, and from there, draw up a contract quickly and accurately in only a few clicks. In addition, contractors can take advantage of the e-signature technology in some roofing apps to get contracts signed on the spot. These signatures are secure and legally binding, protecting your business while eliminating the need to return to the job site to collect a signature.
Roofing Apps Available From AccuLynx
AccuLynx Field App
Pricing: Free with Your AccuLynx Account
Capterra User Ratings: 4.5 / 5 Stars & 2021 Top Performer
Available Devices: Android, iOS
The AccuLynx Field App for roofing contractors lets you take AccuLynx with you wherever you go and run your business from your phone. It’s a simple CRM mobile application that not only unlocks a whole new level of productivity, it also keeps you organized and informed, and eliminates the need for paper files.
With this roofing field app, there’s no need to go back to the office to finish paperwork, deliver signed contracts or enter information into your CRM or accounting system. Save yourself the time and hassle by taking care of it from the field. You’ll get complete access to your leads, job records, and everything else you need to make the sale and manage roofing projects.
AccuLynx Field App Features
Here are some of the things you can do from this roofing contractor mobile app:
- Review contracts, estimates, photos, measurements, and job notes
- View payments and outstanding balances
- Capture, annotate and share job photos
- Order aerial measurement reports
- Enter new leads, update contact/job records, enter notes and log activities
- Deliver estimates on the spot
- Capture digital signatures
- Set tasks and follow up appointments
- Notify team members when an action is needed
- Access to your daily schedule
- Call/email your contacts
- Tap for directions to your next appointment
- See job updates and activities as they happen
- Get alerted when a new lead is assigned to you or when a contract is signed
AccuLynx ReportsPlus Mobile App
Price: Free with ReportsPlus add-on
Capterra User Ratings: 4.5 / 5 Stars & 2021 Top Performer
Available Devices: Android, iOS
The ReportsPlus mobile app lets roofing contractors access AccuLynx’s powerful reports and dashboards from their mobile device. Through real-time data, this intuitive app helps you stay up to date on performance so you can make informed decisions about your roofing jobs.
Whether you want to view charts, graphs or raw data in a report, this is the first reporting app for contractors that provides multiple ways to see the roofing-specific business data that is important to you.
AccuLynx ReportsPlus App Features
Here are some of the things you can do from this roofing contractor mobile app:
- Create, share and customize roofing reports
- Access pre-built reports that offer insight on job milestones, supplements, permits, materials, accounts receivable, estimates, dead leads and more
- Create, view, edit, or share dashboards
- Schedule a report to be automatically
AccuLynx Crew App
Pricing: Based on # of Linked Subcontractors/Crew Users; Free for Internal Crews
Capterra User Reviews: 4.5 / 5 Stars & 2021 Top Performer
Available Devices: Android, iOS
The Mobile Crew App by AccuLynx simplifies the way roofing contractors coordinate and manage work performed by subcontractors and labor crews. It lets them exchange information in real time—such as project details, instructions, photos and documentation—instead of emailing back and forth or placing phone calls.
With this first-of-its kind, easy-to-use application that is available in both English and Spanish, managers can oversee what’s happening at the job site without actually being onsite.
AccuLynx Mobile Crew App Features
Here are some of the things you can do with the Mobile Crew App:
- See a schedule of assigned jobs
- View work orders
- Get directions to a job site
- Check in/out at a job site
- Share photos
- Update labor checklists
- Exchange messages
- Upload documents
Conclusion
Getting started with a roofing contractor app might seem intimidating with all of the functionality and features we just discussed—but it’s actually very easy. AccuLynx is easy for anyone at any level to use. Plus, we offer free training and live tech support whenever you need it. Get a live demo of the industry’s most widely used roofing app.