Roofing companies hit growth spurts, and there’s a natural seasonality of the business that can make finding help difficult. When things are busy, should you hire more employees, hire third party services, or to place heavier workloads on current employees? One question to ask yourself before you hire new people and reallocate workforce hours is whether you’re taking advantage of the latest tools to improve efficiency. Automated roofing drones are the latest tools making waves for roofers nationwide, and they’re providing some stellar benefits. Let’s dig into some of the perks.
Make Estimators More Efficient
If a roofing contractor has more leads than usual, they need a way to get bids out fast or risk seeing work go to competitors. This puts a lot of pressure on estimators to assess roofs, gather measurements, and send bids quickly. Traditional methods require a lot of equipment and can take hours depending on the size. Commercial jobs might even require more than one employee. Not to mention that hiring a new employee is time consuming and costs about $4k after advertising, background checks, and labor costs of the hiring process. But estimators that use automated drone solutions can measure and inspect roofs in as little as five minutes, which results in three to four times the output for each estimator. This way, there’s no need to hire more estimators, and existing employees aren’t spread thin.
Ditch the Third Parties for Measurements
Steep and high roofs occasionally require roofers to hire ladder assists or order measurement reports. Ladder assists aren’t always quick, and they can be an expensive way to gather the information you need. Measurement reports are notoriously inaccurate, and sometimes aren’t available for homes with thick tree cover. Drone solutions let roofers keep estimating processes in-house, so they can improve the timelines and costs associated with creating estimates.
Keep Employees Happy and Productive
It’s not a secret that climbing on roofs day after day for estimates can take its toll on a person. Construction often takes place during the hottest months of the year and spending hours on rooftops in direct sunlight is physically draining, mentally taxing, and presents estimators with the risk of heat stroke and falling. In 2015, heat exposure contributed to 37 deaths in the construction industry. Drones help estimators enjoy their job because they are using cutting edge technology, still getting work done, and staying safe on the ground. When estimators avoid feeling mentally and physically burnt out, it helps with overall happiness. Happiness and productivity go hand in hand, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to know that happy employees are 31% more productive across all industries.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a way to tackle more leads, the answer isn’t to hire more people, it’s to help the people you have be more efficient and drones are the best way to do it. Drones give roofing contractors the power to make their estimators more effective on an individual level while also helping them avoid the extra time and costs of third-party involvement. Sometimes the answer isn’t more people. Sometimes the answer is giving existing employees the tools and technology that make their lives easier.
