How to Grow a Roofing Company Past One Crew: 9 Moves

In this article

Why roofing companies get stuck at one crew
How to grow a roofing company: 9 moves
Where to start, based on your size
Questions roofers ask about growing a roofing company

Most roofing companies stop growing at the size the owner can carry. You sell the jobs, order the materials, run the crew, answer the phone, and chase the final payment. That works fine for one crew. It falls apart around the second, because there’s still only one of you.

So how to grow a roofing company comes down to this: take yourself out of the work one job at a time, in an order that doesn’t break what’s already working. More leads matter, but a company that can’t handle them turns extra leads into missed calls. The nine moves below are in the order we’d make them.

The short answer

Know what each job actually makes you, write down how a job runs from inspection to final payment, and hire the right way (employees vs. subcontractors, I-9s, workers’ comp). Then build a second crew around a lead you trust, hand off sales gradually, and put your marketing on things that keep working without you, like your Google profile, reviews, and website. Expand into new towns last, and watch cash the whole way.

Why roofing companies get stuck at one crew

At one crew, the owner usually holds five jobs at once:

Sales. Inspections, estimates, and closing.
Production. Scheduling, material orders, and being on the roof.
Office. Phones, permits, invoices, and payroll.
Marketing. Whatever brings the phone to life, often just word of mouth.
Collections. Getting the final check after the job’s done.

Growth means somebody else takes over some of those jobs. For most owners, production or the office goes first, because sales is where the owner’s judgment is hardest to replace. Keep selling while someone else runs the crew and the phone, then hand off sales once the rest holds together.

	Hiring before the work is steady	Growing in order
First hire	A salesperson, to “go get more work”	A crew lead or an office person, to free up your time
How jobs run	In your head	Written checklists anyone can follow
Marketing	Whatever you have time for	Profile, reviews, and pages that keep working
New towns	Wherever a lead came from last week	Next door to towns you already serve well

How to grow a roofing company: 9 moves

1. Know what each job makes you

Before you add people, find out which work pays. Go through your last twenty or so jobs and write down the price, materials, labor, dump fees, permits, and what’s left. Then group them: replacements vs. repairs, insurance vs. retail, town by town.

You may find one type of job carrying the company and another barely covering itself. That’s where you grow from. If you never wrote a plan with these numbers in it, our roofing business plan guide walks through a simple break-even check.

From here on, track leads, inspections, signed jobs, and where each signed job came from, every month.

2. Write down how a job runs

You run every job by steps that live in your head. Write them down as short checklists:

Inspection: what to photograph, what to measure, what to note for the estimate
Estimate and contract: what has to be in writing before anyone signs
Material order: who orders, when, and how it gets checked on delivery
Install day: setup, tear-off, cleanup, magnet sweep
Final walkthrough: what to show the homeowner, and when the invoice goes out

A one-page checklist in the truck beats a binder nobody opens. It’s what lets someone else run a job without calling you six times.

3. Hire the right way

Every person you bring on is either an employee or a subcontractor, and you don’t get to pick based on what’s easier.

Worker classification rules

The IRS looks at the whole relationship, grouped into behavioral control, financial control, and the type of relationship, and says “all information that provides evidence of the degree of control and independence must be considered” (IRS guide to independent contractors vs. employees (opens in a new tab)). If it’s still unclear, either side can file Form SS-8 for a determination, which the IRS says can take at least six months. Talk to a CPA or employment attorney in your state before you set anyone up as a sub.

A few more things come with every hire:

Form I-9. USCIS says all U.S. employers must complete Form I-9 for every person they hire (USCIS Form I-9 page (opens in a new tab)).
Workers’ comp. It runs through the states, and the U.S. Department of Labor points private-sector workers to their state workers’ compensation board (Department of Labor workers’ compensation page (opens in a new tab)). Check your state’s rules and talk to your insurance agent before the new hire’s first day on a roof.
Your license. Ask your state licensing board, and your city if it licenses contractors, what your license covers as the crew grows.

4. Build the second crew around a lead you trust

A second crew works when someone other than you can run a job site the way you would. Usually that’s your best installer, promoted to crew lead and paid like it. Give them the checklists from step 2 and let them run a few jobs while you’re nearby.

Expect to train. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (opens in a new tab) says most roofers learn the trade on the job working with experienced coworkers, and it projects about 12,000 openings for roofers each year, on average, through 2035. Plenty of other companies want the same people, so pay, steady hours, and a path to crew lead matter.

Safety rules grow with the crew

OSHA says falls are among the most common causes of serious work-related injuries and deaths, and it requires fall protection at six feet in the construction industry (OSHA fall protection page (opens in a new tab)). A new crew lead needs to own that on every job, with the training and equipment to back it up.

5. Hand off sales slowly

Sales is usually the last job an owner gives up. Start by having a new salesperson ride along on your inspections. Then they run inspections while you review every estimate. Then they run the whole thing and you review the ones that didn’t close.

Give them the same process you use. Our roofing sales guide covers the steps from setting the appointment to following up, plus the right-to-cancel rules for home sales.

6. Put marketing on things that work without you

Word of mouth may keep one crew busy. Two crews usually need more, so build up the sources that keep working while you’re on a roof:

Your Google Business Profile. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help a business’s local ranking (how Google ranks local results (opens in a new tab)). Google also says there’s no way to pay for a better local ranking.
Reviews from every job. Build the ask into the final walkthrough. Our roofing reviews guide covers how to do it inside Google’s and the FTC’s rules.
A website with a page for each service and town. One page about everything has a hard time matching a search for “roof replacement” in a specific town. See how we approach roofing SEO.

Paid ads can fill the schedule while that builds. Our guide on how to get roofing leads compares ten sources.

7. Go back to past customers

Past customers already trust you, and they’re easy to forget once the final check clears. Keep a list of every job, check in after big storms, and ask for referrals when a job wraps up.

Texting and referral rewards

FCC rules require consent before autodialed calls or texts to a cell phone, and commercial texts require written consent (FCC guide to robocalls and texts (opens in a new tab)). Get the customer’s OK in your contract before you text them, and have an attorney review any texting software. If you offer referral rewards and the job runs through insurance, check your state’s rules first, since some states restrict what contractors can offer.

8. Add new towns next door, not across the state

The easiest new market is the town next to one you already serve well. Your crews know the drive, and homeowners there may already have seen your trucks.

Add each town to your website first with a real page: jobs you’ve done there, common roof types, and the storms that come through. A roofing website built for that has room for every town you want work in.

Google profile rules for new markets

Google says a service-area business should have one profile for its central office with a service area set, and that a virtual office (a rented address you don’t work from) isn’t eligible. You can have a profile for each location only if each one has its own service area and its own staff (Google Business Profile guidelines (opens in a new tab)). So until you open a real, staffed second office, expand your service area instead of creating a new listing.

Moving into a new state is a bigger step. Check with that state’s licensing board, your insurance agent, and the local permit office before you bid a job there.

9. Watch cash at every step

Growth eats cash. A second crew means more payroll and more material bills going out before the final checks come in. The SBA’s guide to managing your finances (opens in a new tab) calls the balance sheet “the foundation of managing your finances,” and says you’ll need a business bank account. Look at yours monthly, not just at tax time.

Invoice the day the job’s done, and keep enough in the bank to make payroll through a rainy month.

Where to start, based on your size

One crew, owner on the roof Steps 1 to 3: know your numbers, write the checklists, and set up hiring correctly. Start asking every customer for a review.
One crew, owner off the roof Steps 4 to 6: promote a crew lead, start handing off sales, and build your Google profile and website.
Two crews or more Steps 7 to 9: work your past customers, add nearby towns, and keep a close eye on cash.

At Roofing Demand Lab, our plans line up with those stages. Foundation ($500 a month) is built for newer roofers and one-crew shops, Growth ($1,250) for established roofers ready to grow, and Market Leader ($2,500) for multi-crew and multi-location roofers. Every plan includes a roofing website and has a 3-month minimum, then runs month to month (compare plans). We can’t promise a set number of jobs, but we can take the marketing off your plate while you build the company.

Questions roofers ask about growing a roofing company

How do you run a roofing business day to day?

Mostly it’s keeping jobs moving: answering leads, running inspections, signing contracts, ordering materials, scheduling crews, and collecting final payments. Write those steps down so someone else can run them, and check your numbers monthly.

How do I scale a roofing business without losing quality?

Grow the people before the work. Promote a crew lead who runs jobs the way you would, give them written checklists, and review their first few jobs in person.

How do I expand my roofing business to a new city?

Start with towns next to the ones you already serve, and add a real page on your website for each. Google’s guidelines allow one Business Profile per real, staffed location, so add the new towns to your service area instead of creating a new listing. If the new city is in another state, check with that state’s licensing board and your insurance agent before you bid.

Should a roofing company hire employees or subcontractors?

It depends on how much control you have over the work, not on which is cheaper. The IRS looks at behavioral control, financial control, and the type of relationship to decide. Talk to a CPA or employment attorney in your state before you set anyone up as a subcontractor.

How to Grow a Roofing Company Past One Crew: 9 Moves in Order