roofing consultants

roofer

is there a market in ireland for roofing consultants. someone that builders and owners alike could refer to for advice and audits. any opinion would be much appreciated.

muffler

roofer wrote: »

is there a market in ireland for roofing consultants. someone that builders and owners alike could refer to for advice and audits. any opinion would be much appreciated.

Fancy your chances?

Mellor

I wouldn't really think so. If a builder is having problems with a roof, a designated roofing contractor will look after it. This is standard. I don't see where a consultant would fit in. I assume you are refering to domestic only.

non-dometic if would fall under a structural engineer.

roofer

nah , dont fancy my chances, but it does seem that there are a lot of problems with roofing contractors. the standard just isnt up to scratch. the finish on a lot of the housing estates is appalling. the trade is not formally recognised so clients cannot be sure they are getting experienced tradesmen. to rely on a contractor to sort it out would just be blind faith. there are some very good roofers out there but from my experiences, and i`m in this a while, for every good one there is 3-5 bad ones. we cant all be roofer petes but people like himself should be training and monitoring contractors on behalf of clients and builders. believe me ,when a tradesman thinks hes been watched he does everything by the book. when noone is checking his work he gets a bit relaxed.engineers, like safety people, on private jobs and sites are far and between.i`ve never had anyone formal come and question me while i`m working on a job to make sure i know my stuff. not everyone would like that, i dont think i would , but its not something i fear. a lot of contractors would`nt fear this. but there are alot who would. i see a lot of dodgy jobs like the conservatory on this thread by "confused and dazed" and another thread about peeling tiles and i wonder to myself, if there was a roofing consultant would this have happened, would the supplier have tried to casually dismiss the problems? would the contractor have left the job like that had he known a consultant would check it. from where i stand there seems to be a need for a "consultant" to guide people through the process from start to finish to ensure quality work is carried out and quality materials used. its not enough for an engineer to look at a finished roof and say it looks good, there is too much you cant see. whos to say the guy working on your roof wasnt working in an office last week. you can check up on the company but you cant check the individual.
just some food for thought:p

antoinolachtnai

One think i wonder about is why customers don't demand 'before and after' digital photos from roofers.

roofer

your dead right. this something that i do and has been met with surprise from some customers, all be it a happy one. full disclosure is something i swear by. you cant get in trouble if you fully explain all the options and allow the client to make an informed decision. put everything in writing.

Slates

roofer wrote: »

is there a market in ireland for roofing consultants. someone that builders and owners alike could refer to for advice and audits. any opinion would be much appreciated.

Yes, I'm thinking of doing it myself at the monent so back off

antoinolachtnai

The problem with the business idea is that most people don't want a roofing consultant. They want a decent roofing contractor who will just go and do what needs to be done, no more and no less. Why not build up a regular roofing business and charge a premium?

roofer

the problem is finding a decent roofing contractor. i have the regular roofing business but lose a lot of work to other boys because they do it so cheaply. i tend to get most of the builders after the damage is done.once they use me they usually stay with me. a roofing consultant would be able to bypass this sort of inconvenience for builders and private clients alike.his presence may even stop the dodgy work happening in the first place. how do you know when you have a decent qualified contractor? how do you know the man on the job is experienced enough to do it? when people are parting with their hard earned cash they need to be sure that everything is being done right the first time. with roofing you cannot verify anything formally.

roofer

ah!! a like minded person.

antoinolachtnai

I think you should invest some money in branding and a brochure/website explaining your 'method', i.e., 50 euros for a survey including photographs (or whatever) and then a written docket/report at every stage.

The purpose of the brochure would be to find the right customers. The reason there are so many crap roofing contractors is at least partly that there are so many crap roofing repair customers.

You'd need the references to back this up.

This all assumes that you actually can fix roofs like you say! We're obviously just taking your word for it :-)

I daresay there are commercial clients who will happily pay whatever premium. I presume that is what all the decent roofers are at (because I doubt they are going around doors explaining to householders that they happened to be in the area, doing a big job and had some spare materials).

There is a particular guy around town, whom a friend jokingly refers to as 'roofer to the stars'. I hear he is good, I presume he charges a premium.

roofer

sometimes this site pisses me off. i just spent 15 minutes writing a reply,when i try to post it it tells me i need to log on and i lose all that i have written. the funny thing is..... i`m already logged on!!!.
anyhow your right. a good paper trial is required from my end. i think you have illustrated one of the points i made. you have to take my word for it because there is nothing from a governing body we as roofing contractors can present to you. i deal solely in domestic work, so cant speak on the commercial aspect of things. i do consider commercial roofing more linked to metal decking. while the principles are the same as domestic roofing the two systems rarely cross paths. what we need are like minded contractors to come together to take the trade forward , assist the suppliers in developing better roofing materials, and reward good roofing contractors with membership exclusive to roofers based on their knowledge and ability to roof competently. i have seen these associations listed but i dont think they exist any more, if they do they must have gone underground. fortunately for me i was trade accredited in another country. it may not count for much here but at least i have something formal that can be shown to customers and investigated. when i employ a roofer i too must assume he can do the job. thats a big gamble for me to take. there should be something there that verifies to me that he at least knows the theory of roofing. maybe with some of the above in place there would be no need for "consultants". i also know of one roofer whose knowledge of roofing astounds me. far superior to anyone i have met in the business but sadly his knowledge will stay with him when he decides to get out of the game altogether. hes the type of person who should be consulting. anyway if the economy keeps going in the direction it is there will be no new houses to roof:D

antoinolachtnai

Just grow the business. Be the only decent operator in town!

I'd say it's pretty scary hiring roofers. Quite apart from the not insignificant issue that he could screw up a customer's roof if he doesn't know what he's doing, you must have to worry about the very real possibility that he will fall. Then you're in real problems.

I would say as well that running training could be a goer.

Being a consultant is generally speaking a bad business to be in unless you are near retirement in my opinion. (and even then ...)

roofer

your a wise man/woman. i think i`ll take your advice.
cheers