When homeowners do their homework

By Emma Peterson. 

With more homeowners researching roofing systems before making a purchase, contractors must be ready to provide deeper insights and expert guidance. 

In the last few years, more and more homeowners have begun doing their own research about roofing materials and products. This is in large part due to the rise of digital literacy and the development of new research tools like artificial intelligence. To learn how this impacts roofing contractors in the field, we sat down with Scott Kim of WGM Contracting and Brian Ricci of Adco South Roofing for a Roofing Road Trips® all about customer education. 

Scott shared his initial thoughts on how pre-research changes his homeowner interactions, saying, “Sometimes the internet leads them to misinformation, other times they come knowing more and it makes our job easier. Overall, I think this rise of research is nice, because it gives us a starting point to supplement their knowledge and give more in-depth knowledge.”   

This type of supplementing information is something that Brian also incorporates into his homeowner interactions. He shared, “The key to working with clients is working with what they know. Sometimes I’ll ask them point blank, ‘What do you do for a living?’ and then bring roofing into their world to better explain it.”  

What comes up the most in these types of educational conversations? Scott said he spends a lot of time talking about return on investment (ROI):  

I get a lot of calls from homeowners who have asphalt roofing and they're debating whether to transition to something high-quality like a DaVinci composite. And as we all know it's about three to four times higher cost compared to traditional shingles. So, they’re hesitant. What a lot of them don’t realize is that with that extra cost, you are buying a longer-lasting roof and ultimately saving money. 

How exactly does paying more up front equate to saving money? Someone who paid more up front for composite won’t have to reroof for probably 50 years. In that same time, someone who chose an asphalt roof because it’s cheaper will have had at least one roof replacement. And that replacement will be at a higher price tag than their first asphalt roof because of inflation. When you do the math, paying for that composite up front is far more economical than buying the same roof twice.  

By taking the time to educate homeowners and clients about this type of consideration, roofers like Brian and Scott are able to build trusting relationships that turn into high-value sales.  

Learn more about the value of providing homeowners with deeper insights and expert guidance by Listening to the whole episode or Watching the recording.