Eye in the Sky

buildpinnacle

I don't see the need. Xactimate sketch puts a very professional roof drawing together based on field measurements, so that aspect of it doesn't appeal to me. Although I am a fan of technology, my concern is that roofers will start estimating site unseen and mailing bids off of requests from their website. This is against everything I believe in and all the principals of our business. If you are going to do a site visit anyway, you are wasting your money IMHO. I see young and upcoming roofing professionals not learning how to properly scope and measure a replacment because they don't have to. This will hurt our industry and drag our reputation as roofers down even further. The same thing happened with all the advancement in single ply membranes. The old school hot roofers retired and the new guys never learned the systems properly because they would rather stay clean and heat weld a TPO roof than sling 500 degree tar all day because it's easier. There's just something about it that I rubs me wrong. I have a bad feeling it's going to create a ton of misleading or bad situations due to not doing proper inspections and our clients overall will be the ones that pay. This will further accelerate the bad reputation we as roofers work so hard to overcome.

Most importantly don't forget the value of personal contact. Clients like to see us up there on our hands and knees looking at details that failed because they know we are going to make them right. If you show up and measure the eaves from the ground or count tabs, go to your truck and write an estimate, you would never get my work.

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user182

I don't see the need for it either; it isn’t going to enable me to switch over to a one visit sales process.

I’m not going to resort to bidding on a job site unseen.

user182

I checked out another measuring service and some of the measurements were off.

I don't see how anyone that is conscientious about there work could use this information to produce a proposal.

Ed the Roofer

Which one?

The One Time sample report I got from EagleView wound up being the wrong house and they didn't respond back to me when I pointed it out initially.

It was only when I made a follow up contact with them, that the owner told me that they have "fixed the problem" and it wouldn't happen again.

I still know that this Will become part of the industry and you better get used to it, because the new guys using the higher technology will find a way to make it work for them.

Instead of pointing out what will Not work for you by utilizing this type of measuring software, you should rather be looking at when and how it could assist you.

Ed

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user182

It was a sample report from Precigeo. Some of the measurement were off by 2-3 feet and the pitch was 8 not 7.

I already know how it will assist me. It will essentially be a weakness for my competitors and I will use that weakness against them to outsell them every time.

Read that book I recommended to you about General George S. Patton. You’ll find the story about an incident when some of his underlings were hesitant to move forward.

They wanted to study maps and wasted a lot of time trying to figure out the best place to cross a river.

The river was not to far away so Patton just walked down there and inspected it in person. He discovered that the river would not be difficult to cross as they had supposed and the troops moved forward.

You do bring up a good point though. Patton also was an innovator and exploiter of new technologies. He even helped with some of the tank designs. You have to know when technology will help you and when it is more of a distraction.

I don’t believe true salesmanship will ever die. In fact the more my competitors rely on computerized technology the easier it will be for me to outsell them.

Why? you ask. Because true selling takes place face to face and eyeball to eyeball. Everyone dislikes rejection so the try to avoid a selling situation that puts them in front of a prospect that might say “no”. I’m not going to let that stop me.

flatrooferstl

Maybe for like Grumpy said earlier to remeasure, but This would take away from meeting with Homeowner,Property Owner, etc which should always be an advantage usually to actually meet the owner or the in charge !

user182

I think I found a useful purpose for this service.

It will help me to estimate complex hip roofs that are steep.

I just used it for a 45 square hip roof with an 11:12 pitch.

I got on the roof wearing my Cougar Paw boots and started getting some of the measurements but it was too difficult.

I ordered an basic report from Eagleview for $35, with that type of report you input the pitch yourself and then get the measurements.

Based on the accuracy of the free report that they gave me I think it is worth the money to get this information.