Do you walk on hot coals for "ALL" potential customers?

Especially at this time of the year if your from up north? The people who had all year to get their roof replaced , who wait until the last minute, do you get them an estimate immediately after they call, within a day or two? We get a lot of these now, and we ask them a few questions, how many estimates do you plan on getting, when did you want your roof replaced, can you wait until spring 2010?,, etc. etc. How about ones calling for leak repairs, and the roof is completely shot, we don't touch them, I figured out a long time ago, bad expiences from trying to repair un-repairable roofs, once you get up on the roof, it's your problem according to them, even though you told them beforehand, to replace it is the only way you can guarantee it. Just wanted to hear some input on how you handle this. I found out , it is best to only deal with the serious homeowner, and I stay completely away from landlords, and insurance repairs, waste of my life.

Hi, I dont walk on hot coals at all. Those suckers are HOT!!!! lol We give the people who call an estimate as soon as we can. Usually within a few days at most. Sometimes the same day but usually not. I ask a few questions from time to time but i find the majority of people do not like the questions. So i try not to ask too many unless i "detect" something! They usually offer enough info on their own to figure out whats up. If the roof is completely shot then of course we would bid to reroof but rarely ever is a roof totally unrepairable. There is almost always something you can do that will last at least a year or two longer which is all most of these folks with say 12-15 yr. old roofs are looking for. We give a 1 yr. warranty with all repairs. When we do a repair on these "old" roofs they turn into a reroof job within a couple years or less about 50% of the time. We do several jobs a year that are rentals, insurance work, real estate agents, you name it. However i agree with you that the return on these leads is lower. I dont "qualify" customers instead i "prioritize" them. Different strokes for different folks i guess. Best of luck to ya! :)

With tile, there are very few unrepairable roofs. But I do quite a few repairs where I charge more for my labor than the guy that screwed it up did to do the installation. I did have a guy just today respond to me giving him a bid of $2200 by saying "I was hoping for $1100." I told him if he wanted to start over, I'd give him a bid of $4400 and we could play lets make a deal, but I respect my customers enough that I don't usually give bids with enough padding in them to cut it in half.

Hey, I DID walk on hot coals once. It was about 30 years ago at a Tony Robbins seminar. Great way to find out that what you are sure is impossible is maybe not so! I do what I can do with the people calling in late. The price goes up a bit but I still try!