Should You Offer Emergency Roof Repair Services?
A roofing emergency can occur at any time of the day or night, weekdays or weekends — even on holidays. It might involve a minor maintenance problem or damage from severe weather conditions. Whatever the cause, if your client's roof is leaking or damaged, they will want to get it repaired quickly and affordably. Here are some areas to consider when thinking about offering emergency roof repair services.
Providing Emergency Roof Repair Improves Client Relationships
Providing your existing customers with a service that is available 24/7, 365 days a year is often a major benefit. One call can get them an emergency response team to contain and minimize any damage.
Potential clients may be more likely to choose your business if they know they can call at any time. Offering an emergency roof repair service is all about maintaining and nurturing relationships with your clients, providing them with the services they need to keep them coming back and referring business to you.
Staffing for After-Hours and Emergency Repair Work
Offering customers an emergency roof repair service sounds like a great idea, but do you have the right infrastructure to support it? Emergency services will require you to have roofers and other personnel available on an as-needed basis at all times. If you don't have an on-call crew now, are you able to build one and run it effectively? You will need to think through how to manage the program, whether independent contractors or permanent employees will staff the service, how much on-call roofers are paid, acceptable response times and more.
In addition, you'll need to decide who will be answering your phone around the clock. For instance, you may decide to route after-hours calls to an employee's cell phone. But if that person misses a call, they miss a business opportunity. Another option is to use an answering service. Comparing the costs of these two options can help you decide which one to choose. It's possible an answering service can save you money after calculating what you would be paying in benefits, office space and equipment for at least one person for an extra shift or two.
Competitive Pricing and Keeping Your Roofers Safe
While you want to provide affordable services to your clients, you also have to make a profit. What is your normal rate for completing repair work, and what will you charge for an emergency repair? You may decide to charge more for a job that needs to be completed immediately, especially outside normal working hours. Find out what your local competitors are charging for their emergency services and decide if your rates should be lower, higher or comparable based on your time and resources.
You want to make sure emergency repairs are professionally and quickly handled, but you don't want to send your roofers into a potentially dangerous situation. Decide upfront whether you might have to ask customers to wait during extreme circumstances, such as while a storm is still raging.
Emergency roof repair services can be a positive addition to what you already offer your customers. Make sure you think through potential staffing and logistical challenges before you add it to your business model.