As the busy season starts to pick up, your roofing company is likely looking for ways to grow profits without creating more work for yourselves. Having standardized processes for pitching your services and putting together estimates is key to increasing roofing job profit. Even if you already have strong processes in place, small changes can go a long way, making your roofing business more efficient and profitable.

Here are four ways to increase your roofing job profits this month:

Set and lock waste factors on every estimate

Taking into account the fact that you may need extra materials and setting a waste factor for your jobs will help you predict your costs as accurately as possible. By establishing a set waste factor for your projects, you can account for any additional material you may need for areas where materials overlap, such as valleys or hips, or areas where the materials would be cut off, such as around flashings.

Depending on the roof style or the materials used, it is best to plan for around an extra 10-15% of the roof’s total square footage to go towards waste. By planning for this from the start, you won’t have to worry about lost profits due to roofing material waste.

Some CRM software, AccuLynx included, provides estimating tools that help make planning for material waste easy. The waste factor tool in AccuLynx automatically calculates the number of materials you will need for a job based on the percentage you pre-set. This way, you will never forget to plan for possible material waste when creating a roofing estimate for a homeowner.

Order roofing materials through your CRM

The more accurate your estimates are at the beginning of a job, the less likely it is that you will have to make adjustments throughout the job that could affect your roofing job’s profit. If you are used to placing your material orders over the phone or by faxing your supplier, you may find that the prices or availability might have changed from the last time you ordered, creating headaches for your sales team and inaccurate estimates.

Instead, by investing in a CRM system like AccuLynx that integrates with Beacon Building Products, SRS Distribution and ABC Supply, you can easily see the most updated information from your preferred supplier in real time and include these prices in your estimates. This will help you provide your homeowners with the most accurate estimate possible right from the start and help increase your roofing job profit margins on every roofing job in the future.

Show homeowners alternate or upgraded options during the sales process

Providing your homeowners with different options during the selling process can help increase the roofing job’s profit right from the start. Instead of just showing your customers one project proposal, provide them with good, better, and best options that have a description outlining the benefits of each one.

While these different options may include more premium products, it is also important to address the overall value the other options provide, such as a longer lifespan or warranty. People like options, and by showing your customers the value of each option at every level, they can choose what product they would like while also providing an easy way for your business to earn more on a roofing job.

Get labor sign-offs on your quotes

Be sure not to overlook the cost of labor on your job quotes. Ensuring that the scope of work and the cost for that work is clearly outlined in your estimate can help avoid any labor disputes that might occur following the completion of a job. Not only that, but being sure that you get your customer to sign off on your roofing estimates, including the labor, and keeping your documentation stored in a safe place, is essential for a labor dispute.

A way to help avoid lost or damaged documents is by creating digital documentation using a cloud-based CRM software system such as AccuLynx. This way, your important information will stay in a secure, easily accessible location.

Track roofing job profit and loss trends through reporting

Understanding your performance is essential to help plan for the future and make changes to your processes to help reach your goals, especially profit goals. Reviewing your roofing job profits, and comparing them to other jobs, can help you recognize trends in how your roofing business is performing.

AccuLynx provides many pre-built reports that can help your business track its data, including roofing jobs profit and loss. With the profitability report, you can see all your roofing job profits at a glance, which provides you with a clear picture of how your business is performing.

By knowing this information, you can easily see where you need to make adjustments. For example, if you realize that your jobs are earning a much lower profit than what you expect, you will be able to identify why that may be and adjust your sales strategy or pricing accordingly.

Increase your roofing job profit this month with AccuLynx

Having standardized sales processes is a great way to ensure your team knows what to do and when while pitching your company’s services to a prospective customer. While manual processes alone can help you sell jobs, investing in roofing software can give your company a greater edge over your competitors by providing many tools to help your sales team succeed.

AccuLynx is the number one business management system on the market for roofers. With AccuLynx, you can quickly increase your roofing job profit right away. On average, contractors see a 32% increase in their roofing job profits after implementing AccuLynx. Through our cutting-edge tools and integrations, AccuLynx provides an efficient way to grow.

Interested in learning more? Check out this quick 10-minute demo from one of AccuLynx sales representatives, Erica Lieb, on how AccuLynx can help your business grow.