Starting a new company is an incredibly exciting time, but it can also be challenging, especially if this is your first venture. There are legal loopholes to jump through, creative decisions to make and that’s all before you start marketing your services. However, you’re not the first person looking to start a roofing company, and you won’t be the last which means that there are plenty of people you can learn from and plans like this which you can follow.
In this guide, we’ll show you the first steps that you need to take to start a roofing company and different tactics you can use to bring in more business like creating a website. Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
Start with a Business Plan
Before you spend a single dollar to start a roofing company, you should have a business plan in place. A business plan doesn’t need to include complex graphs or pieces of data, but you should at least have an idea of what you can bring to the table to separate yourself from other roofing companies and a simple spreadsheet to show how much you think you can profit from your work.
Your business plan should include a set of realistic goals for three years into the future, broken down to a quarter by the quarter plan which will show how you intend to reach those goals. By creating a simple spreadsheet, you can also calculate how much money you’ll have coming in and out which allows you to predict your growth more precisely.
Choose a Name
Every business needs a name, and new owners often don’t realize the importance of a business name. If you’re unsure about what name to choose, you should try to follow these simple tips:
- Avoid names that are more than a few words long or tough to spell
- Say the word out loud to a few people and ask them to spell it, if they can’t you have a problem
- Wait until you have a sizable list of potential names before asking for advice from others
- Ensure that your name isn’t trademarked
- Ensure that you can purchase the exact domain name for your business
Register with the Government
To run a business, you will need to register with the government. In the United States, the vast majority of companies will be registered as a Limited Liability Company or an LLC. This is a corporate structure which limits the liability of the shareholders to the money they put into the business.
In simple terms, it means that if your business goes into debt or somebody sues you, you have far more protection, and it’s very unlikely that your personal or family assets will be touched. This is incredibly important because it gives you protection when you start a roofing company.
Understand Your Legal Obligations
Different businesses have different legal obligations from state to state, and depending on where you’re located you may need to apply for permits or complete certain training. Most towns or cities will have a small business agency where you can contact local business mentors or get advice on your legal obligations as a roofer.
Buy the Right Equipment
If you’ve worked as a roofer before, most likely you used equipment that was supplied to you, but as a business owner, you’ll need to purchase all of your equipment. These tools should be up to the job, and the cheapest options might not necessarily be the safest or most efficient ones for the job.
Create a Website
In this day and age, it’s unrealistic to run a business without a website. Even if you do offline marketing or somebody hears about your company from a friend, they’ll want to go online and search for your business to learn more about you and what you offer. If you don’t have an online presence they’ll find somebody else, it’s that simple.
Creating a website doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg, nor does it need to take you tens of hours. We create quality websites for our customers at an incredibly affordable price and get them live as soon as possible so that you can start bringing in clients. Get in contact with us today and find out how we can help you to take your roofing business to the next level and give you an advantage over your competition by creating you a roofing website.
Invest in SEO
If you’ve never heard of the acronym SEO, it stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it’s the process of trying to rank your website higher in the Google search results. At the Hook Agency, we’re SEO experts and have been ranking our clients at the top of Google for years. By doing this, we can bring more people to their website and get your phone ringing off the hook.
SEO can bring in more leads for your business which means more revenue and a bigger paycheck for you and your family at the end of the month. We pride ourselves on our quality SEO work and our affordability, which is why we go above and beyond to use the most effective and safe tactics so that your website ranks better in Google for years, not weeks.
With the vast majority of customers looking for businesses online rather than in the Yellow Pages or the back of newspapers, don’t you want to appear at the top of Google? If more hot leads and more interested customers sound good to you, get in contact with us today and ask us how we can bring in more website traffic and make you more money.
Use Your Local Network
When you’re first starting your roofing business, you should take advantage of your local network as much as possible. Most likely you have hundreds of friends, family members and acquaintances in your area each of whom has their network. Your goal is to become the company that comes out of their mouth when their friends ask them “do you know a roofer” in the area.
The only way this is going to happen is if you tell everybody and anybody about your business, even if it means doing some work cheaper than usual, to begin with. Word of mouth marketing can’t be overstated, it’s incredibly important especially in the roofing industry and can bring in thousands of customers over the lifetime of your business.
Don’t Forget About Traditional Marketing
We truly believe that digital marketing is the future, but that doesn’t mean that all traditional marketing methods are a waste of money. While TV and radio shouldn’t even be on your radar, leaving business cards are unrelated company offices in your area and sending out flyers is often a worthwhile investment.
While these flyers and business cards might not convert people into customers straight away, they’ll remember you and call you first when their roof starts leaking or needs replacing. Along with word of mouth marketing and SEO, posting flyers through the letterboxes of people in your area can generate more business for you each month.
If you’re smart, you can even decide to leave flyers and business cards in certain areas rather than others. Realistically, getting a roof done is an expensive home improvement task, and therefore you want to target customers who have more money. This means putting flyers through the letterboxes of families in wealthier neighborhoods, not those who are more concerned with having money at the end of the week for their rent rather than a roofing job.
