Author: Rich Prue

Turnover in this trade gets blamed on pay more than anything else, but that’s rarely the real story. Good crew members and office staff usually leave because something else broke first.  Autonomy, trust, or just feeling like every day was another emergency to survive. The “Triple-Win” idea The concept worth borrowing here is simple to state and harder to practice: a decision is only a good one if you, your crew, and your company all come out ahead of it. Too many leadership calls quietly trade one of those against the other two- a schedule that works for the office…

TAMKO Titan XT and Atlas Pinnacle Pristine are unusually close competitors. Both are premium laminated fiberglass-asphalt architectural shingles, both carry UL 2218 Class 3 impact classifications, both have Class A fire ratings, both use an approximately 1½-inch-wide nailing zone, and both carry limited-lifetime warranties for qualifying single-family homeowners. Neither manufacturer publishes a guaranteed physical service-life figure, so “Lifetime” should be understood as a warranty term, not a promise that the roof will last for the homeowner’s lifetime. The biggest differences are straightforward: TAMKO Titan XT has the stronger wind proposition. Its high-wind limited warranty reaches 160 mph when its specific…

Every contractor who’s been in the trade long enough has a story about the job that went sideways- the measurement that was off, the flashing detail that got missed, the material order that showed up wrong. Mistakes aren’t a sign you’re bad at this job. How you handle them is what actually determines whether they cost you a customer or earn you a loyal one. Own it before they have to find it If you catch a mistake before the homeowner does, tell them. It feels counterintuitive.  Why bring up a problem they don’t know about yet? A contractor who…

Material prices go up. It’s not a question of if, only when and by how much. The contractors who protect their margins aren’t the ones who avoid price increases. They’re the ones who have a plan for handling them when they land in an email inbox. Start with a conversation, not an assumption Before you accept a new price sheet, ask your supplier what’s actually driving the increase. Is it raw materials, labor, freight, or all of the above? Understanding the “why” tells you whether there’s room to negotiate or whether the whole market is moving together. Negotiate before you…

Most roofing proposals look the same to a homeowner: a PDF with a price, some line items, and maybe a logo at the top. If you’re sending that same generic document to every prospect, you’re leaving your best sales tool on the table. A customized marketing page, sometimes called a personalized proposal page, is built for one homeowner specifically. It might use their name, their address, before photos of their actual roof, and messaging tailored to what they told you during the inspection. Instead of a static PDF, it feels like it was made for them, because it was. Why…

Homeowners are cautious before they let a stranger up on their roof, and for good reason. The roofing industry has its share of storm chasers and fly-by-night operators who leave a bad taste for everyone else in the trade. One way to signal you’re not one of them is Better Business Bureau accreditation. What BBB accreditation actually signals Accreditation isn’t just a logo for your website footer. It tells a homeowner researching contractors that you’ve agreed to a code of business practices, that you respond to complaints, and that there’s a third party tracking your reputation beyond your own five-star…

If you’re running a roofing company, chances are your days don’t feel like a plan. They feel like triage. A supplier calls about a delivery, a crew texts about a no-show, a homeowner wants a status update, and somewhere in there you’re supposed to be closing new business too. That daily chaos isn’t a sign you’re doing it wrong. It’s just what happens when a growing business outruns the systems holding it together. Centralize before you scale The number one thing that turns chaos into calm is getting everything- leads, job status, invoices, customer notes- out of scattered notebooks, texts,…

Here’s a story worth sitting with: a homeowner needed his driveway repaired, so he called 40 concrete companies. Exactly one answered the phone. That company got the job, not because of price, not because of craftsmanship, but because they picked up. It’s a familiar pattern in roofing too. Most contractors don’t lose jobs because their work is bad. They lose jobs because leads slip through the cracks, follow-ups happen too slowly, or critical information only lives in one person’s head. And here’s the uncomfortable part: the habits that got your business off the ground aren’t necessarily the habits that’ll help…

Any roofer with a few years on ladders can look at a roof and know within thirty seconds whether it needs work. The homeowner standing next to you can’t. That gap is exactly why a solid roof inspection report matters. It’s the bridge between what you see and what they understand, and it’s often the difference between a customer who trusts your recommendation and one who calls three more contractors “just to be sure.” What a report actually needs to do A roof inspection report isn’t a formality, it’s a sales tool, a liability record, and a communication piece all…

(Newton, Mass. – July 28, 2026) — The metal construction workforce is changing, and METALCON is responding with new opportunities designed to meet that evolution. As the show marks its 35th anniversary, METALCON will feature opportunities that reflect the changing face of metal construction and the diverse professionals shaping its future. Taking place Oct. 7-9, 2026, in Orlando, Florida, METALCON will include expanded programming for women, emerging professionals and Latino attendees, including Spanish-language education and hands-on training, leadership development, networking opportunities and career-focused events. These offerings respond to growing demand across the metal construction ecosystem, where a new generation of contractors,…