Book your free consultation

Send us an email and we will get back to you within the next 24 hours to schedule an appointment.

Roo Roofing Blog

DIY & HOME OWNER TIPS

19
Jul

What Does it Really Cost to get a Free Quote for Roof Replacement or Roof Restoration Services?


A message from the Director of Roo Roofing.

Free Quote… We have all seen it plastered over most trade business websites and advertising. But is it really free? 

The short answer – No. Somebody is paying for it one way or another. So what is the real cost and who really pays for that quote?

 

What's the real cost?

An experienced tradesperson with the skills significant enough to quote on works as complicated as Roof Replacement, Roof Restoration with associated Building Renovations are difficult to find. So, most quoting done in a small trade business of this nature is more often than not done by the business owner. But when done by an employee, this employee is usually a highly paid professional that is costing the business anywhere from $55 to $80 per hour.  There is also the cost of managing staff, the cost of staffing incoming enquires and questions from potential and current customers as well as advertising costs to generate the leads and book in the initial customer enquiry. 

An estimator will usually be able to do 8 to 16 quotes a week depending on their complexity. Estimators will require at least one visit to site to assess the job, discuss the requirements of the works with the potential customer and then spend some time offsite working out and typing up the quote in a format that makes it easy for the customer to understand.  The estimator also needs to ensure the supervisors and tradespeople can facilitate the works from the scope of works successfully and without error.

Driving and the associated fuel, toll, and vehicle costs are a big part of an estimators job. An estimator can have 2 to 4 appointments in a day but rarely are they in the same suburbs. Three or four on the South side of Brisbane, say Mt Gravatt, Holland Park, Camp Hill and Coorparoo would be great. But this is not the norm. Customers don’t always fit into the businesses schedule. Greenslopes, Paddington, Gailes near Ipswich and then somewhere like Scarborough is more likely. Lots of driving and sitting in traffic.

If you presume an estimator would work an average of 38 hours a week (most would work more) then that would cost approximately $130 on the low end and up to $380 on the higher end per quote. This excludes lead generation, vehicle costs, administration and general overhead costs.  This is for all quotes, successful or not.  Considering that most quotes are not successful then the cost for a successful quote can be generally 3 to 5 times higher as most businesses will only have a 1 in 3 conversion rate, which is considered reasonable, with a 1 in 5 or worse conversion rate more likely. This is now taking the mere quoting expense for one successful acquired job ranging from the low range cost of $390 to $1900 on the top end or worse per sold job. Ouch. 

 

So who’s paying?

Well, initially the business pays as an investment in the potential of a return at a later date. Ultimately, if a business is successful, this cost is proportionately spread around all the jobs as a general cost of business. These costs, if not successfully covered in the general cost of jobs, can very easily send a business broke. What’s worse is if a business does not have a successful track record of winning quotes then this too can be to the detriment of the trade business. 

This is why a more professional and experienced estimator in this role can actually bring that cost down for a business. A good estimator can also lower the risk of misquoting and underquoting that can have significant liability for a trade business.  As you can imagine an estimator that makes mistakes in the costing, not successful in fulfilling the requirements of the customer or doesn’t have a high conversion rate can also cost a trade business a small fortune. 

Roo Roofing has spent many years honing its craft in providing detailed, precise and competitive quotes for its potential customers. This is evident by its track record and many years of operation. 

Our estimators, which can include myself (Matthew) and our General Manager (Damien) are highly skilled in the construction industry and in recognising the needs of the customer. And in turn, communicate this in a way that provides clear choices and outcomes to meet the potential client’s needs.   

We are also skilled in not wasting the time of our customers or our time. This ultimately keeps costs down for our customers. This occasionally means recommending some customers to other businesses more suited to the scope of works being requested. This is for the ultimate benefit of Roo Roofing’s future customers to ensure the quoting overhead is minimised, which in turn ultimately provides Roo Roofing’s future customers with a better and more relevant customer experience and ultimately keeps our quotes better value for money.

 

 

New Call-to-action