Roofing Quote: Can you spot what’s off?
Our roof is approaching 20 years in age, and doesn’t look like it is going to make it much longer. We started calling contractors, my husband and I, about eight weeks ago. It turns out this seasons roofers are hard to come by. You see in Chicagoland it rained all of June, and all the workers are behind with more work than have time to do before the freeze sets in. Most roofers that we called didn’t even call us back. But a few smart ones came out and said they could take the work next spring.
The first quote was abysmally high. I tossed it immediately. The second and only other quote that came in, well, it too was high too. I am convinced work is so abundant that they are quoting people high numbers now because, well, if it comes it, its a boon for them! I don’t think they care if they don’t get more contracts right now. Not lucky for me. That’s for sure!
Anyway, the second contractor sent out a nice looking young guy to quote us. He’s actually the owner I found out.
We had a nice conversation, but unfortunately when he came to do the quote, it was pouring rain. We ran from overhang to overhang and around the house, and he politely asked if he could come back another time. I was happy to oblige because I didn’t want him crawling on a steep wet roof, and he wasn’t any more anxious to take undue risks himself.
He came out again late last week to finally climb on the roof. He was friendly as always, grabbed his ladder and went to work. He measured, inspected, and measured some more. He spent about 15 minutes in total checking measurements. Then he kindly swept off some leaves from the an area that commonly collects them on the roof. Certainly a nice gesture.
When he climbed down the ladder, he said he needed about 15 more minutes to go do the calculations for the quote. He said he would quickly do them in his truck and bring them to me. I offered to meet him at his truck in 15 minutes. When we met, he pulled out his quote and we talked about it. He told me if I wanted different shingles, there would be an up charge and he priced the garage out separately for me as asked.
He then handed me the quote in a nice yellow folder with a sticker on top identifying his company. He was very professional, very approachable and likeable. We shook hands and he left.
I am putting a link to a quote here from another roofing company. This is not the company who quoted me, but so you can see a quote. My quote for all important purposes looked identical to this.
Something felt off though, after he left, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
About an hour later, it hit me like a brick.
Can you tell what it is?
Photos are of the west coast?
That was my first thought too, Mary. Palm trees in Chicago? A perfect “what’s wrong with this picture” answer. I was a bit confused by the slideshow. Didn’t see the receipt until I clicked the link in my email. Couldn’t find it on the website for some reason.
Is it that the receipt was all nicely printed out- so he didn’t just do the calculations then and there?
I don’t see the problem there – many companies make portable printers that can easily fit inside a truck and work just fine. He would have plenty of time to run the numbers and print them out on a nice form. Here’s an article from PCWorld (in 2012) that reviews a lot of portable printers: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2389136,00.asp. They run on batteries and connect via wireless (such as bluetooth) or USB. So the technology has been around for years. For example: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2386697,00.asp
Am I missing something?
Yes, Erin. Exactly!!!
Russ do these printers work for legal sized documents? Really? I didn’t know. If so, you might be correct. I would have learned something new 😉 Thanks!
Absolutely they work for legal sized documents. Here’s an excerpt of a review of a portable printer from 1998:
Have Portable Printer, Will Travel:
“He has used the unit to produce color overheads for presentations, as well as letters, contracts, legal documents, and flyers. In fact, the printer is so versatile it has him considering upgrading his computer. “The BJC-80 has an infrared adapter, which eliminates the need for cables when printing,” he says.”
The specifications in the same article show that all but one of the portable printers reviewed prints legal size documents – and this is 14 years ago!
Source: http://realtormag.realtor.org/buyers-guide/computers-and-printers/article/1998/04/have-portable-printer-will-travel
Now the real question is if the contractor who gave the documents to Eyes printed the documents on the spot, or is lying and had them all pre-printed. I would simply do a test – make a change or correction in what I want to buy and ask for an updated quote – right now on the spot. Maybe add in something like a $1,000 bonus if the work is completed by a certain date. Ask the contractor to put that in a new quote – right now – and we have something to go with. If they return with corrected documents in a couple of minutes, you know how it was done, and they are probably fairly tech savvy. If the contractor will not do it, it’s because they can not do it (think about that!!). In that case she/he is very likely using a template, and that person is now exposed as a scam artist.
Yup, Russ is right. I actually didn’t think any thing of it being printed because these have been around for so long.
I’d imagine that quite a lot of contractors probably don’t bother with this because it’s an additional expense and prone to breakage or malfunction if your employees aren’t tech savvy– probably most contractors don’t hire based on IT experience– and old fashioned quotes and estimates are probably just fine, so they don’t justify spending the money. But since this guy is the owner, it’s more likely that he’d carry something like this. It also sounded like he cared about maintaining a professional image, so something like this would be considered an investment in future business for him.
Here are a couple of examples of portable printers that you can watch in action on YouTube just for reference. These are two different technologies for two different kinds of uses, but they span the gamut pretty well between basic paperwork/contract printing all the way up to at or near professional photo printing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQwoxpDD6dI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcktfZr4YuU
I think the young owner was different to the contractor who gave the printed quote Keith.
I figured this part “he priced the garage out separately for me as asked,” suggested that it wasn’t a prefab quote/estimate, but Eyes didn’t mention whether that was something she asked for on the day they came out to do the inspection, or prior to that. It could be either way. Knowing Eyes, I’d guess that she’d have picked up on that if it were something she asked for that day. 🙂
Pretty sure I see the problem but I’ll wait for a while for other people to chime in. 🙂
Dude! He used a website to generate that! ROFL!
>He used a website to generate that! ROFL!
Not quite, but pretty close. The website offers something referred to as SAAS (Software As A Service) – in English this is an application – not a website. They charge $299 for the software (I have no idea if it’s worth it or not). Part of their description: “The Roofing Estimator software is a product that will pay for itself repeatedly. Fast professional estimates, purchase orders or job cost sheets. Built-in warnings to prevent roofers from handing the customer an estimate that is not accurate due to a simple oversight.”
I think the rest of Doux’s points make sense to me, but it appears that it’s SAAS (theroofingestimator app), not a website that generated the form of the estimate. The confusion is very understandable.
It’s extremely believable that someone could enter some numbers into the software, check it to make sure the numbers are OK, print out a nice form while inside the truck, insert it into a folder, and hand it all to Mr. and Mrs. Eyes in 15 minutes or less. People do this every day. Nothing unusual here, this has been possible for years. That’s not a red flag to me, but I’m also the president of a computer club in Chicago so I see how this can be done very easily 🙂
It was the “Free 15 Day Trial” on that website that caught my eye. I could get in my car, sell someone a load of dookey, use that free trial, collect the deposit on the “job,” and then move on to the next sucker, never to be seen twice at any one house. If they use that type of software, fine. Make it transparent. That’s the professional thing to do. Sorry, I can be rather non-linear and should have explained what I meant.
He gave me an actual quote for my home. I’m sorry. You saw different details than I expected. I was trying to show the typed text 🙂
A generic quote from California?
No, the quote I showed was a sample. It showed a typed quote. I didn’t know how he could print that in a truck 🙂
Portable printers are available now. They run on batteries much like laptops and cell phones. So, technically, people can print from a vehicle. Printing from smart phones is becoming increasingly popular as well, and some professionals are using their phones more and more for work. That said, you can’t beat a good old-fashioned gut instinct.
Is it there are no measurements for the roof?
No. He printed it in the truck somehow. I guess it is possible. See Russ’s link above! 🙂
more than possible.. pretty common for that type of thing 🙂 I was totally confused because for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what it was lol.. Was thinking maybe you referring to the 30 day quote, but that seems completely normal stipulation for most companies. Keith brought up another point to me which was you are receiving a quote when they are over saturated with work for a time when they aren’t very saturated with work.. thought that was interesting since they can price very high, and unless you decide to get a secondary quote or they withdraw the original quote after 30 days they can charge you at the over saturated market price vs a lower saturated market price. but then I thought about it, and I figured those probably weren’t what you were referring to so I was clueless. lol ^^
So what’s the final verdict here?
See the top comments. I thought it wasn’t right to be handed a typed contract and quoted amount if he did calculations in his truck. But apparently, you can print things with printers in cars today! Who knew? I certainly didn’t.
It’s the future!
LOL. I was combing over the contract thinking things like “expire after 30 days? Nothing unusual about that. Gable edges, are those even a real thing?”.
My mom bought a HP Office Jet 100 a few years ago for her contracting work for about $300, and just sold it to my aunt for $100, which I hooked up to her laptop a couple weeks ago. It’s just a normal, reliable inkjet printer like almost everyone has that happens to be battery powered with bluetooth. I myself bought a portable Epson photo printer on clearance maybe 4 years ago for $40 (which I never used, who needs physical photos these days). And then there’s the possibility that he has those AC/DC converters in his truck’s cigarette lighter which he plugs a normal $20 printer into. Printing from a truck was the farthest thing from my mind as far as suspicious things go.
I know I’m late to the discussion, but we used to have live on the North Shore and had a (young, good looking) friend who owned a roofing company. I got a feeling it was him and was so sad when I read something was off, because he is a truly honorable guy. Hopefully he was using a portable printer, whether our friend or not. Everything else that you described about his visit seemed to give off good vibes. Best of luck!
I think the second roofer was simply a far better salesperson than his competitors.
He probably didn’t need above 1 minute to workout the cost of repairing the roof – but he took his time and measured properly which communicated that he was a professional and he was doing a proper job.
He also brushed leaves off the roof – he demonstrated attention to detail and subconsciously he implanted the idea that he had already started the job for you.
He discussed with you – how you wanted the quote laid out.
He also provided an immediate printed quote (or call to action) – from a portable printer. You could therefore accept the quote and instruct him to start without delay – as the details of the quote were, what you expected and clear and easy to read.
He also presented the quote in a professional, branded folder – positioning himself and his company in a totally different market space from his competitors.
I think the cognitive confusion is that he was very good at selling – or he was just starting out in business and was still enthused with great customer service.