There are many factors that influence the cost of re-roofing a building. At first glance, it’s easiest for businesses to compare a group of bids based on the final figure, but the details are very important, as are the business’s success criteria.
In this blog series, I want to help general managers, property managers, building owners and other professionals responsible for roof maintenance understand how Clark’s Quality Roofing approaches the creation of a bid proposal. This should help them as they head into the decision-making process.
In general, to understand the price, you have to understand what you’ll be getting, how easy it will be to maintain, and how long it will last. To get to that point, a roofing specialist needs to take a few steps with you.
Understanding the business’s goals
Our first step is to really listen to the potential client, so we can understand both their building needs as well as their business goals. The scope of work is determined by a mixture of building and roof factors, as well as company financial priorities and constraints, timing concerns, budget planning cycles, and other business plans and needs. This may sound obvious, but often it’s not.
If I receive a request for a bid and I assume that I understand what a potential client is really looking for without taking time to listen, I could offer a wrong solution. I need the whole picture – both in terms of their building needs as well as their business requirements. I need to understand what the criteria are for success from the customer’s perspective, so I can give them a bid that will meet their needs.
Let’s look at some examples:
- Client A works for a large corporation and is in charge of building maintenance. They could be under direction from their management to make the current roof last for a couple years until funding is available for a re-roof.
- Client B might be in charge of re-roofing the building as cheaply as possible.
- Client C might be a building owner that values a high-performance/low maintenance product with a longer warranty.
In each of these situations, the bid request could simply state they are looking for a re-roof. It isn’t until I talk to them directly that I learn what I need to know to match my proposal to their specific need.
Empowering businesses with choices
We’ve all heard of the old adage of comparing apples to oranges. If a competing company submits a re-roof proposal at a certain price, and then I offer a proposal that looks a lot higher at first glance, the client may assume my work is, at best, inaccurate and, at worst, greedy.
A more helpful approach — after I understand what the business is asking for and what they expect — is to draft a proposal that offers a comparably priced solution, but includes other alternatives. When this happens, I’ve hopefully done my job by helping the business to understand the additional factors to be considered as they are making their decision.
For instance, my proposal might show the price to re-roof a building with a 45 mil TPO membrane and a 10-year warranty (the least expensive option), as well as a 60 mil PVC membrane with a 30-year warranty (a more expensive option). While the first option may match the other bids coming in at face value, the second option may be more cost effective in the long run.
Itemizing “the devil in the details”
It is also important that I get very specific about what the customer will be getting for each proposal in order to avoid confusion. Again, nothing should be assumed, and I like to itemize the proposal to show each detail that they would be getting. Examples include: the number of layers and types of insulations to be used, which cover board we would recommend using, the specific type of membrane, how the membrane will be attached, the type of metal work, warranty lengths, any specific requests they’ve included, etc.
As consultants, we need to help our clients know what they need to know so they can make the best, most informed decisions. Not only is this very important during the bidding process, it also leads to a better customer experience should a bid request become a work order. There will be more satisfaction with the end result (including the price paid) and fewer surprises along the way.
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Brian Haddock is a roofing specialist with Clark’s Quality Roofing in Murray, UT. CQR offers expert leak repair and award-winning single-ply roof-installations, including sustainable white “cool” roofs. CQR serves 11 western states and has been involved in roof-related projects in almost every state, as well as internationally. www.clarkroof.com
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