As our industry starts a new decade, we thought we’d take a look at the options that roofers have when it comes to measurements. As a technology provider, we like to stay on top of the latest advances in the industry. Still, we also want to remain aware of the solutions roofers are using daily. In this blog, we’ll take a look at how the industry is getting their measurements, and you can make the most of all available options.
The Old Fashioned Way – Hand Measuring
The old ways die hard, and in some rural areas or homes with enough tree coverage to prevent drone/satellite measurements, measuring by hand may STILL be the only option. But just because your breaking out the tape doesn’t mean you should skip out on using any technology entirely. Math mistakes happen to anyone, even NASA. Record your measurements in a digital form so you can reference them and check your math before moving on to building your estimates.
Scribbling measurements on an old napkin or sketching on some wrinkled graph paper can be a thing of the past.
No one is actually happy to be hand measuring anymore… are they?Ordering Measurements
The measurement ordering industry has exploded in the last decade, with many different providers offering similar products. While most measurement providers will give you accurate results, the critical consideration is making sure the ordering process fits into your sales workflow. Does your provider generally take 48 hours to return a measurement? That means your appointments will need to be planned well in advance if you’d like to have a proposal ready before the appointment.
RoofSnap’s SketchOS measurements are typically turned around in 2 to 4 hours. We like to think that gives you or your sales team the flexibility to order measurements for same-day appointments. We believe the speed of turnaround is likely to be the prominent feature of measurement order services in the next decade.
Measurement Software
The last decade has seen many solutions enter the roofing industry to make measuring roof projects faster, easier, and less expensive than ordering from third parties. Softwares like RoofSnap have gotten more accurate, more convenient, and easier to use as they’ve aged. We’ve also integrated estimation tools and job documentation into our measurements platform, allowing users to sell more jobs with speed and consistency.
We see the industry adopting these solutions much more heavily in the coming years, because of the savings they bring in both time and cost. To make the most of any software solution that you bring to your company, thorough training for any employee that uses it is a MUST. When your team has fully adopted a tool, then you can start to refine your sales processes to make the most out of your efficiency gains.
Training your team brings consistency and efficiency to your entire company.
There’s even more technological advances coming to the roofing industry in the next few years. From drones that use computer learning to discover and document roof damage to augmented reality measuring tools, there are new solutions heading our way in the next decade. However, if you’ve spent any time in the industry, you know it can take a long time for new technology to permeate, so we’re confident that contractors will be using softwares like RoofSnap to measure and order measurements, and yes, some will still be hand-measuring well into the 2020s.
If you have any questions about how RoofSnap can help bring your company into the future with quick, easy measurements that keep your salesmen off their ladders, shoot us an email or give us a call! And follow our blog for updates on the state of tech in the roofing industry.
