Roofing Sales

Roofing can be a great career for a number of reasons. Especially on the Insurance Restoration side, it requires minimal experience, training, and equipment to get started. Roofing is a relatively stable industry that has shown consistent growth over the past 20 years and even performs well during recessions. Overall, roofing offers a great entry level career opportunity, with lots of potential to advance into management and earn a higher annual salary.

Roof installers (also known as roofing crews) typically earn a wage of $16-$22 an hour. Roofing Sales Representatives typically earn $27-$36 an hour when they are starting out. Top Sales Reps or more experienced Sales Reps can earn in the $50-$70 an hour range. Sales Managers also earn in that $50-$70 range and usually do a good amount of selling in addition to managing a team of sales reps.

Each position within a roofing company has its own path to get started.

To become a roof installer or part of a roofing crew, it is typical to start as a general laborer and slowly take on new responsibilities while learning the trade.

To become a Roofing Sales Rep, candidates usually go through some introductory training program that involves learning the basics of roofing components, company sales process, and crafting a sales pitch. New Sales Reps often shadow more seasoned reps or managers to get hands on experience performing inspections.

Roofing Managers typically start out as installers or entry level sales reps and with enough experience and expertise, get promoted to management roles within their companies. 

Roofing can be a hard job, but that’s why it pays so well. For Roofing Installers, the jobs can be hot, dangerous, and physically demanding. For Sales Reps, it can be difficult in different ways. While Sales Reps do have to climb up on roofs to perform inspections, they are not carrying loads of heavy material and equipment or working on bare surfaces for extended periods of time. What makes roofing hard for Sales Reps is that they “Eat What They Kill”, meaning their compensation is mostly determined by how many jobs they sell. Some sales reps get frustrated or discouraged that they are not seeing immediate results, but it is normal, especially in the first couple weeks on the job. 

The most active hailstorm markets are located throughout the Midwest and generally have the normal 4 seasons of weather. In locations where cold weather and snow do occur, roofing is seasonal to some extent. In these markets, roofers work above average number of hours during the summer and earn the majority of their wages during an 8 to 9-month period. It is common for sales reps to take time off during the snowy, winter months to recharge and strategize for the upcoming season. 

Making $100,000 in roofing sales is a numbers game. The best way to approach this end goal is to calculate how many jobs you need to sell based on the average job size in your market, average profitability per job and commission rate that you earn as a sales rep.

$100,000 ÷ (Average Commission Rate) ÷ (Average Job Profitability) = Total Sales.

For example, if the average commission is 40% of the profit and average profitability is 25%, then a rep would need to hit $1,000,000 in sales to earn $100k. ($100,000/0.4/.25 = $1,000,000).

Now divide the $1 million by the average size of a homeowner’s insurance wind/hail claim of $12,000 and you get 83 jobs. Based on these example numbers, a sales rep would need to sell 83 jobs.

From here, you can determine how many jobs need to be sold per week based on the length of the season in a particular market. While some of the numbers in the formula are out of the sales rep’s control, there are things that a salesman can do to increase profitability and also increase the total amount of the claim, which in turn, decreases the number of jobs needed to hit a $100k goal. Performing a better, more thorough inspection can actually lead to identifying more damage on jobs and/or pricing the labor & materials more accurately. Completing a formal Roofing Inspection Training is a great way for a new sales rep to invest in their career. Another way that sales reps can directly impact their earning potential is to use a 3rd party supplementing company to settle their claims. Supplementing can increase the size of a claim by as much as $4,800 per job on average. That means that rather than having to sell 83 jobs per year to reach your sales goal, you may only need to sell 50-55 jobs per year.   

Typically, the Roofing Sales Rep serves as the main point of contact for a homeowner from the time of the initial inspection until the new roof is installed. While some roofing companies may have additional back-office staff to handle specific aspects of the process, the sales rep usually inspects the home for damage, helps the homeowner file a claim, works with the insurance adjuster to settle the claim, helps the homeowner choose new materials/colors, and schedules the installation. 

Roofing Sales Reps usually earn the majority of their wages from commissions on each sale. Commissions are either determined as a percentage of total revenue on the job or a percentage of total profit on the job. Standard ranges for roofing sales commissions are 10-15% on total revenue and 30-50% on total profit. These ranges are somewhat variable as many companies have a Tiered Commission Structure that can increase or decrease depending on the total jobs sold or other performance milestones.

When evaluating a roofing company’s commission structure, it is also important to keep in mind the tradeoffs between the commission number itself versus the support and resources that the company offers. For example, one company might offer a 60% profit split, but the sales rep is completely on their own while another company may offer a lower rate, like 30%, but provides base pay, leads, training, company vehicle, etc. These can be important things to consider, especially if you are a new Roofing Sales Rep.