The Winter Roofer - February 2016
The Newfoundland , Winter Roofer.
First blog. . . Not hard to tell it's winter time when a roofer is blogging...
2016... the economy is at a new low , as the cost of oil retreats from outer space , contractors, business owners and pretty much anyone with a economic conscience is taking a bit more time to consider the very surreal possibility of a depression.
Winter season for the roofing industry has always been a famine , following the spring/summer/fall feast. This year's bout left me no choice but to spend my days online or at Chapter's, reading and researching marketing and advertising strategies, business tips and studying any basic principles for self-employed business owners, all to justify my freeze of intensive grueling physical labor.
It's for "work" I tell my girlfriend, " I work every day " I naively tell my friends and family.
Whether it's updating my online social presence through google business, kijiji or any other online advertising I come across, free estimates, keeping in touch with old clients, vetting new ones, the repairs/leaks which never seem to yield any substantial financial weight, paying for advertising, to stressing about whether my company is the only one struggling.
This winter, I feel more exhausted from lack of work than all my years of working in full blown roofing seasons combined - from British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador then back , and across again.
The industry is on pause. It will come back, most likely with some major changes but I am ready to adapt.
Conclusion and Solution
The age of "get'er done" is over, statistics on successful construction companies show that the quantity of work/jobs completed is an improper way to measure your companies success - the proper route is setting a dollar goal to achieve through profits from jobs carried out in a specific time period.
Customer's who agree to hire you on to carry out a contract, are the ones paying, so aside from your professional opinions and techniques, they are the only boss of your company so treat them like so - stay on budget , and on time
blogged by Alex Callanan