Here at RoofSnap, we concentrate on improving things with technology, whether that’s beating the heat during the summer sales season or making it easier to keep your notes organized. We also don’t speak poorly of the “traditional” ways of doing business. We know old-school methods have been proven useful, and new ways of doing things aren’t always the best approach. But when it comes to getting your roof measurements, we can assure you that climbing on a roof for manual measurements is less safe, less accurate, and much slower than measuring digitally. It’s time that the industry, and, more importantly, your business, move forward. We’ll show you how you’ll benefit in this week’s blog.
Safety First
The roofing industry comes with many inherent dangers. Any industry that involves putting people more than ten feet in the air regularly with a bunch of tools strapped to their waist is going to have its share of injuries. Even single-story buildings can pose what OSHA calls “a significant hazard” to employees, with over half of falls resulting in a fracture of some sort. That’s why making the choice to have your salespeople get up on ladders to run tape on a roof is a risk you don’t need.
Climbing ladders and roofs is already dangerous. But having your salespeople and estimators running measuring tape along rakes and trying to get accurate measurements on the small pockets of cornice returns is flat-out unnecessary. The technology needed to obtain precise measurements from aerial imagery has existed for years and has become refined over the last decade. Along with the benefits of speed and accuracy, measuring digitally will lead to safer appointments, ultimately lowering your insurance bills.
Computer-Aided Accuracy
There’s a reason the term “human error” exists, and the manual measurement process is filled with chances for human error. An estimator on a roof might introduce an error by misreading a measurement, writing down the wrong value, or making a math mistake when calculating the roof’s area. Even worse, your estimator might try to “eyeball” the roof, as some seasoned sales reps are known to do. All of these very human possibilities introduce inaccuracies to your manual measurements. Even if your pricing is designed to take some error into account, it’s costing you money in the long run.
Computer-aided measurement tools lower the chance for human error by taking over all of the mathematical calculations involved in roof measurement and minimizing mistakes and oversights. RoofSnap’s tools go a step further and apply your measurements directly to your materials for accurate ordering. That means that there’s no data reentry for your team – another chance for human error – and a faster sales process!
Speedier Sales
One argument that manual-measurement fanatics like to make is that homeowners want to see their contractor hand-measure the roof. The thought being that it gives the customer a feeling that their contractor “really knows what they’re doing.” Our counter-argument is that your clients will know that you are a professional when you arrive at the appointment already having measured their property beforehand.
A common misconception is that roofers who use tools like RoofSnap never end up getting on the roof, and that’s simply not true. Measurement tools like RoofSnap don’t take the place of an on-site inspection. Even though our imagery is some of the most recent available, it still doesn’t negate the need to visually inspect the roof to determine the number of layers or identify penetrations. Our point being: you’ll have a chance to prove your knowledge and authenticity with a quick inspection, while still saving time over hand-measuring.
We strongly believe that there are real, tangible benefits to bringing digital measurements to your business, like safer and faster appointments and more accurate measurements. We understand that many companies are unsure of how to transition away from traditional methods, and we’re here to help. If you need advice or just a walkthrough of how remote measurements work, schedule a demo with our team! We’ve helped thousands of contractors modernize their business, and we can do the same for you.
Thanks for reading and as always,
Happy Snapping!
