Storm chasers in the news, home owners beware!

RemStar

Really? are you Joking? Volume is meaningless?

Some of the most successful companies in the world operate and find great success operating low margin business platforms.

If there was no money in running a storm chasing business, people wouldn't be doing it.period. Simple simple. Clearly people are doing it, SO there is money being made. Basic economics supply & demand theory in play.

I can understand why people wouldnt do this as a volume based business clearly isn't a good route for a self employed roofer to take as you are not earning top dollar for your time.

On the other hand volume is great for business owners. I know personally I would rather have a crew out working and be making me $500 instead of them sitting at home where I make 0 money but still have all my fixed cost bills coming in. The more money in my account at the end of the week the better. Simple.

ctroofer0930

From the Grumpy website:
"If you sign a direct payment agreement, you will never see a penny of your money and the storm chaser will pocket it all."

In Connecticut, where our A+ Rated, INC 500 "Storm Chasing" company is located, the homeowner is not supposed to pocket any money - that is insurance fraud here. All proceeds from the claim must be used to restore the home. Period. We have assisted homeowners in getting their claims PROPERLY settled for the CORRECT amount based on the damage.

Case in point - adjuster comes out alone to property in Eastern CT, never gets on roof and writes up 2 elevations of aluminum siding for 4000 dollars. We get called through a referral to go out to a second inspection and find EXTENSIVE damage to roof, gutters, metal shutters, window wraps and THIRD elevation (unusual, but true) of siding. Adjuster agrees with our assessment and adds an additional 9500 dollars to claim.

So, how is that wrong??

By the way, we are in 25 states, and 80% of our staff are residents of CT.

PTROOFING

F all storm chasers and thier sub contractors. Ive built my business on reputation and hard work. i WILL GUARANTEE YOU MY ROOF IS BETTER THAN YOUR'S!

Grumpy

Hey we're taking a loss, but we'll make it up in volume. LOL

No volume is not meaningless, it means more liability... unless you plan to go out of business after the storm. yes volume is meaningless! Profit is all that matters. Anyone willing to do two or three times the work for half the profit needs to get their brain checked, because I assure you we are staing as busy as I want us to be charing more than any insurance company is willing to pay, and doing a better than minimum code roof that the insurance companies pay for.

The only money can be made on the cheat. Cutting coirners, minimum code, leave town and don't pay your bills. I see it every storm. New companies pop up, then when the storm is over, oops they are out of business. I have spoken with numerous home owners who had to pay the supply companies and are now paying me to fix their roof. There is no doubt in my mind that these now defunct storm chasing companies made a fortune of money.

Low volume and high margin just doesn't seem very smart in the roofing industry. This isn't retail and carries a high degree of liability. The only way one can be successful in the long long term on high volume and low margin is to have a crew of gods installing the roofs. I mean we try our damndest to always do the best that we can, but we are all humans and we all make mistakes.

I'll negotiate with the insurance companies, sure, but at the end of the day my price is my price... someone's gonna pay it weather it be the property owner or the insurance company. I don't care who. And for the record I'll only negotiate with the insurance company after the customer has signed my proposal and given me a down payment. Otherwise it's not worth my time.... too many tire kickers just trying to get a free roof.

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-Grumpy
Chicago Gutters Chicago Roofing

Grumpy

How's it wrong? Simple. You are negotiating on YOUR behalf and not allowing the customer into the decision making process. How is it wrong? They are giving you full right to spend THEIR money as you see fit.

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-Grumpy
Chicago Gutters Chicago Roofing

insuranceroofer

What do you mean the roofing company is not allowing the customer into the decision making process? The customer has selected what type of roofing materials are going to be on the roof. What else do they need to know?

Surely, they don't need to know all the details of running a financially stable company?

Low profit in insurance work? I make more profit per job than just about anyone else. How much or how little of a profit do you think a company makes when they know how to properly deal with insurance companies?

insuranceroofer

Don't you know that you can have high volume and high profit per each job? If you are smart and you know how to get a financially profitable price from insurance companies.


I also have a process that I go through that works well to upgrade the customer to an even better roof, I don't sell upgrades if I don't make a good profit, even on the upgrades.

With all the work and liability involved in roofing, if you're not make a substantial profit on each job, there are plenty of other business to go into.

jimsonburg

It is possible by picking a reliable roofing contractor.

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Jimson burg,
Home Improvement .

mindfield

Scam or no scam, out of town roofing contractors affect much deeper topics. For example, if a home owner owns a local business, a local roofer will take the money he made from roofing said home owner's house and give some of it back by patronizing that home owners business. Or, at least, make purchases from someone else who will make a purchase from that home owner's business ect... keeping spending local ensures the community's financial success.

vtroofing

As a Professional Roofing Contractor I am regularly called on work that falls under damage covered by Insurance. I think everyone in this business is. Turning those people away because of the situation they are in seems a ridiculously bad business decision.

I live in a small state, and we were recently affected by Hurricane Irene. Flooding and lots of it. Driving through the towns basically devastated by the storm I was able to see first hand, the streets were lined with vehicles- nice vehicles- lettered up and many of them from each company. I think they- these businesses are not just local, but national or semi national only with local offices, growing seems inevitable in the storm business.

I'm not scared, it was a flood not a hail storm LOL. I also know where I fit in the community as a local Contractor. I would say Professional Stormers would be quite intimidating if they were beating on the doors of my potential customers before the HO thought to Contact a Roofer- Right place right time-

I also point out I am not a Insurance Pro- but knowing more than the average HO there is a sense of responsibility- community- and I believe in Karma.