ace911

Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:55 am

well it looks like I got the job ,not much money ,,50 per sq,, but I need the work,, and got a very high price for the copper dormers,, well an ruff estemate from a metal roofing co in my area,, 2200 per dormer!!!! that with material... still,,, is that right?, I was going to do the dormers[barrel shaped] for 500 each for the labor... some one who knows ,, comment if you can.... and thanks for the other coment @ 1200-1800 per dormer,,,I just feel like I need to be cheep to get work right know because i am the new guy....but I dont want to be taken for granit...and have to wait for the money..after the job is done... well, comments welcome here.

Pride_roofing

Wed Aug 24, 2005 1:41 am

Thing is so many give the job away. Understand this 1 sentence,"your warranty makes you resposible for that roof peroid and the damage it causes" So charge what you want. i have seen people try to explain 130 a square, either way ur takin a hit for tear off on walkable. If you dont have the work. Well make it happen captian. It does not come to you. So many feel cheap is the way to go. Well its not, why are you here? Last i checked everyone wants to be in ti for the long run. Charging nothing gets you nowhere. At 130 a square doing it yourself you have proven 2 things. 1. you cant sell and push paper. 2. you cant add and you go in the red. Its that simple. The insurance will take lets just say 20% so what u have left for labor. Oh you have others so u make nothing for resposiblity. Please for your own sake dont charge less and put yourself into bankrupcy. Think about it and you will understand. BTW good luck on ur new company!

SYS

Wed Aug 24, 2005 2:17 am

Don't be cheep they can't be sure you are the new guy! You could have been around for years and they just might not have heard of you because you rely mostly on word of mouth advertisement.

QRFL

Wed Aug 24, 2005 5:02 am

the time i start beign cheap i always end up loosing even more money...

when i charge extra i always end up getting extra over the extra....

weird if you ask me...

i am finding out more and more that all those jobs i sold i could have probably get more money out of... but we learn.. dont make my old mistakes.

good luck, god bless

dougger222

Wed Aug 24, 2005 5:20 am

When you start low balling you have to be very carefull! I know were your comming from with thinking you have to be the cheapest to get the job. Even three years ago when tear offs were slow I'd bid as low as $150 per square. Now I don't go any lower than $200 and the materials haven't gone up in price much, just the work load.

Getting established does take time, be patient if you want to be a roofer for the long haul and do good work your name will get around. Every year the refferals keep growing and the phone book advertising is still really a waste of money.

I've never done any copper roofing so I don't know the prices, so I can't be of any help there, sorry. But as long as your comfortable making what your charging you should be ok.

Used to think I had to be the cheapest to be the best and get every bid, but why should a home owner get a top quality job for way less then the rest of the roofing bids? I've found that I still get jobs when I'm a grand or two higher than the next bid mostly because quality sells, plus it helps when there told I'm 100% owner operator!!!