Maxwell Roofing Says the Estimating Process of the Edge is Key to Consistency

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.

Hear why the company chose to use the Edge estimating software how it has helped their bid accuracy and ability to retain margins.

John Maxwell was the only estimator in the early days at Maxwell Roofing. He had been searching for a solution that could help him work more efficiently but in the same way that he liked to do his estimates. After exhaustive searching John was ready to give up because he couldn’t find anything that sounded like it would work for him and what was even close seemed really expensive. Then he met the Edge. 

“I got a call from John Lombardo and he caught me at the end of the day at about 5 o’clock and he introduced himself,” says John. “So, John was describing the product to me and how it worked on the phone and it sounded like, ‘Yeah. That’s exactly how I work.’ I decided to get right to the point and ask how much it cost.”

“Of course, he hemmed and hawed and did the things that salespeople do like they go back and reiterate all the benefits of it,” says John. “He gave me the price and I thought that either these guys were blooming idiots with no concept of what their product is worth, or this thing must be really something.”

John asked for references and was given four other roofing companies to contact. When the four companies said it was worth it and they would do it all over again, John wondered to himself how he could part with the money because “back then money was pretty tight.”

John Lombardo followed up with John and he agreed to an in-person demo. They sat down and put together the estimate for a Kmart store. “It was everything he said it would be,” says John. “I bought it that day and have been using it ever since.”

John shared that one thing he really likes is that the software requires that you follow a process. This means if you have multiple estimators using the software there will be consistency and a process that works. It communicates well with other project management tools and allows his estimators to be more accurate more quickly.

“It used to take us very long to bid jobs because we’re very careful. With the Edge, we can afford to be very careful because it speeds up our process and it allows us to be that detailed and that careful while still being productive,” explains John.

He’s found that the system has given his roofing company the edge, especially in situations where the geometry of the roof is unusual. “You can’t do it the old-fashion way anymore. If you're not using digital technology, you cannot compete,” states John. Maxwell Roofing has been able to estimate even the complicated roofs more quickly and accurately while preserving margins at the same time.

John is a fan of their training and technical support as well, saying, “Very seldom have we called in the last 25-ish years. I can count on one hand the number of times we called technical support and not gotten a solution to our problem immediately, I mean, immediately.”

Most recently, John sent his son David Maxwell, VP of Services to the Edge offices for in-depth training on the system. Maxwell Roofing will be a customer for many years to come.

Learn more about Estimating Edge in their RCS directory.