Roofing is a business of fewer, larger jobs. A plumber might run several calls a day; a roofing crew might spend several days on a single tear-off. That changes how a missed call adds up. You don't lose a little on many calls. You risk losing a lot on a few.
The example below uses invented numbers to show the arithmetic. Replace them with figures from your own business before drawing any conclusion.
The example
- For this example, say a roofing company gets 12 calls a week asking for an inspection or estimate.
- In the example, 3 of those calls go unanswered because the owner is up on a roof or meeting another homeowner.
- For illustration, assume the company signs 2 out of every 10 estimates it gets to give.
- In this example, an average signed job is a $9,000 roof replacement.
In that example, the 3 missed calls a week work out to a little over one lost job every two weeks, or around $5,400 of example revenue a week on average. Small changes to the inputs swing that example a long way, which is exactly why you should use your own close rate and job size rather than anyone else's.
Why roofing calls are different
People don't call a roofer on a whim. Something prompted it: a stain on the ceiling, shingles in the yard after a windy night, a home inspection that flagged the roof, or a neighbor getting theirs replaced. By the time they dial, they've usually decided they need someone to look at it.
That same homeowner is often getting more than one estimate. The companies that get out first set the terms of the conversation. If your line rings out and theirs doesn't, you may never get a chance to climb the ladder.
The long follow-up
Roofing sales can take weeks between first call and signed contract. A missed first call doesn't just cost that conversation; it costs the whole relationship that might have followed, including the homeowner's recommendation to the neighbors who see your crew on the street.
What a text-back does for a roofer
When a call goes unanswered, the caller gets a text from your business within seconds. It can ask what prompted the call, whether there's an active leak, and the address. The reply gives you enough to plan the callback, and the caller knows a real business has their request.
It won't write an estimate or schedule an inspection. It doesn't stop a homeowner from calling other roofers, either. It just replaces silence with a reply while you finish what you're doing. The callback is still where the job is won.
Plug in your own figures
Go through last month's missed calls and estimate how many were real estimate requests. Then use your own close rate and average job size in the missed-call cost calculator. The result is an estimate from your inputs and nothing more.
For a roofing company, even a modest input can produce a large estimate because the jobs are big. That's a reason to be careful with the inputs, not a reason to panic. If you rarely miss a call, you don't need this.
Related reading
Missed-Call Text-Back is a text-back tool: it replies to the calls you can't pick up, and it doesn't answer calls for you. It's $89/mo list, or $49/mo at the founding rate while founding spots last, billed monthly with no contract. If it sounds like a fit, see how Missed-Call Text-Back works.