Spring 2011 Hail: We Are Not Hiring !!

Hail has pounded much of the Northern End of the Greater Dallas Area. Prosper, Coppell, and countless other areas. If you want a job in roofing, now is the time! I am reasonably plugged into social media. On twitter there are Tweets about sales positions and crews all over the place. In fact one of our best Project Managers was recently offered a new truck to jump ship to one of my competitors. He stayed put.

Despite a large influx of work, we will not be hiring. Even though a few added bodies would certainly increase our bottom line we will fight the temptation. There is just not time to properly train and supervise new estimators and crews during a hail event. Roofing has takes experience and on the job training. You don't just throw a newbie into the middle of things during a hail storm. The will lack technical roofing knowledge and practical skills to make sure an adjuster writes up a claim properly.

You obviously don't want a newbie taking care of you roof, but how can you spot one?

• Real roofers don't drive cars. They drive trucks. 
• Ask questions...the rookie will only have a memorized pitch, not a deep working knowledge. 
• Did they get up on your roof? No is not the good answer.
• Did the offer an estimate to you? Many are quick to want nothing more than to see the insurance papers.
• Did they knock on your door? Good roofing companies have more than they can handle right now. It is a new guy that has the time to go door to door.
• Is their sales pitch more about how much of your deductible they can save you (an unethical and likely illegal act which is a future blog post) or the quality of the job and how qualified they are?
• Do they have Texas plates on their truck? If they are out of State, the are at a minimum new to our area.
• Go to Craigs list - find out who is hiring. 

If you want a roofing career Bert Roofing Inc. might be for you. Just not right now.