RoofSnap is a software company, but we were founded by roofers, so we like to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the industry. Some things are unchanging, customers are always going to want more for less, they’re always going to be suspicious of storm restoration companies, and other companies shoddy work will always be held against the whole industry.
The big change since the turn of the century is customers’ ability to share the shoddy work they receive in open forums. If you subscribe to any roofing forums on the web, you’ll be familiar with this situation. Though most forums like Roofing.com and Roofer’s groups on facebook do a good job of keeping out non-contractors, you’ll see a disgruntled customer pop in every once in awhile with a picture like this:
Usually the customer is looking for some context, “Why does this look strange?”, “Is this going to cause a problem long-term?”, or “Should I get someone else out here?” Our questions is, how should those in the industry respond?
We’re not above doing a little pointing and laughing ourselves. If you’ve seen our social posts, we love to post pictures of a bad job from time to time, but we’re careful to do it with no connection to the company responsible. When you respond to a customer’s direct post, where they obviously know their roofer, are you careful with your comments?
From our observations, the vast majority of online roofers are… not.
Take a look at this Reddit post in R/Roofing if you need an example.
Our thoughts are it’s absolutely fair to provide your opinions on work that people post, but that it’s best not to name names or ASK customers to post that information. The goal is to educate consumers, provide good work, and maintain the industry’s good name. If that can be accomplished, it ultimately means more work for everyone, and better work for the customer, which we think we can all agree is the best outcome.
Remember to keep it classy out there, and try not to have any of your own jobs show up online!
(But if you see any crazy jobs out there, send them our way. We love a good laugh.)
