There are over 1,200 roofing businesses in Sydney. Since most of these businesses are small players doing repair work, there must be a big demand for roof repair work in Sydney – to support that many businesses. “] (roofing service businesses estimated from
ibisworld)
The large companies look after all the commercial roofing work – leaving the smaller players picking up the residential sector. That still means over a thousand roofing service businesses doing some sort of roof repair work.
“My problem is a deluge of roof repair work and a shortage of smart roofers available to me to cope with this demand” JACK
Jack’s story.
Who are roofing business owners?
If 5,000 roofing businesses employ 12,000 (according to ibisworld), then there are only 2.4 workers in the average roofing business.
Jack was average when he started. There was just him, a veteran roofer, and a labourer. The standard of work provided by the business was also very average.
People can stay average for a long period and Jack followed this trend. It took him over 10 years before it dawned on him that he had to get uncomfortable. Growth was uncomfortable. Taking on more work and putting more roofers on the payroll meant more risk.
Roofers came and went from Jack’s business. The good ones got trained up and left – most of them became independent contractors. About every third roofer is an independent contractor which meant jack always had some contractors working for him.
Independent contractors are not totally self-sufficient. Most have the option of working anywhere and for anybody. But not many have the ability to generate a continuous stream of work. So, they are usually forced to spend some time working for a bigger roofing company to make ends meet.
The legacy problem with independent roofing contractors.
Working for yourself means working alone.
An independent contractor drags a huge anchor amongst onlookers who are unwilling or incapable of help. Growth demands continuous high-quality learning. It is the only way to jettison the anchor and level up.
Learning is percolation. You need drip torture to slowly force open your mind to see things in a new light. Call off the lesson early and you will be in a position of “knowing just enough to be dangerous.”
Jack supported many roofers through their initial learning, and very quickly, they all thought they had learnt enough. Off to the lucrative roofing market they went, fully confident that they would make a killing.
Every single one of them ended up in their own version of Jack’s traumatic first decade in business. They did not see the anchor they were tethered to. They thought they knew enough to be successful.
There is technical knowledge and business knowledge.
Most independent roofing contractors have some grasp of the technical side but are no more than virgins in the business world. Virgins in the cut-throat building construction world always get taken advantage of.
The pendulum swing – more roofing problems, and a solution.
Once Jack got the hang of what make businesses tick, he had a fresh problem.
It was now the other side of the pendulum swing. He was getting too much roof repair work from homeowners who (having discovered the one roofer who could deliver the goods) desperately wanted a final solution to their roof problems – leaking roofs that many other roofers had failed to repair.
Jack was a ‘Wanted Man”. But one man only has one pair of arms and 8 hours in a day. And for someone in his mid sixties, the arms were getting tired.
Jack knew that the solution was not to grow his company like every other business owner. A growing collection of independent contractors each with their own limited knowledge base and agendas is just too hard to control and scale properly.
What if he could build a roofing community with roofers who yearned for a place with a culture of mutual support and strict continuous learning? A community that grows with its members. Where its natural attraction generates a continuous stream of well-paying roofing work. A place that puts more importance on life than just making a dollar.
This will scale. More happy roofers doing better quality work that they are proud of.
For Jack, this is worth a try.