“We just had it looked at” sounds like a closed door and almost never is one. It usually means somebody stood on the roof. One question tells you whether anything came of it.
A commercial roofer calls a property manager, gets as far as the roof, and hears it. We just had it looked at. Most callers say something polite and get off the phone, because it sounds like the account belongs to somebody else.
It rarely does. Looked at is a description of an event, not a relationship. Somebody was up there. Whether anything was written down, priced, or acted on is a completely separate question, and the manager will answer it if asked.
In short
- The phrase covers at least four different situations, and only one of them is a real incumbent.
- One question sorts them: did they leave you anything in writing?
- No document means no scope, no number, and nothing in a budget. That building is open.
What it actually means
| What they mean | How you can tell | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A repair crew was here for a leak | They can name the leak but not the roof’s condition | Offer to look at the rest of it, once |
| A roofer walked it and said it was fine | Nothing in writing, no number, no date | Ask what they said about the drains |
| A roofer walked it and quoted a replacement | There’s a number, and it was too big to act on | Offer the version that fits a budget year |
| A real contractor holds the account | There’s a document, a history, and a name they trust | Ask for the renewal date and call before it |
Only the last row is somebody else’s building. The first three are all buildings where nothing has actually been decided.
The question that sorts them
“Good. Did they leave you anything in writing, or was it more of a look and a conversation?”
It’s a friendly question and it’s not a challenge, which is why it gets a straight answer. Most of the time the answer is no. Somebody came out, went up, came down, said it looked okay or that it needed work, and left.
That’s worth understanding properly. Without a document there’s no scope, no range, and nothing that can go into a budget request. The manager has an impression of their roof and no way to act on it. Nobody has taken the position you’re about to take.
The follow-up that gets you on the roof
When the answer is no, don’t pitch. Ask a question they will want to know the answer to.
“Did they mention the drains, or how the flashings looked at the rooftop units?”
Almost nobody can answer that. It’s specific, it’s not a trick, and it’s the exact kind of thing a manager expects to have been told. The silence that follows is the manager realizing the visit gave them less than they assumed.
From there the offer is small. A walk, a one-page summary of what you saw, and a rough range on anything that belongs in a budget. No proposal. You’re offering the document the last visit didn’t produce.
Get on more roofs
Abstrakt sets appointments with the property managers, facility managers, and building owners who own the roofing budget, so your estimators spend the day walking roofs instead of dialing. The walkthrough, the number, and the job are yours.
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When there is a number and nothing happened
The third row is the most common paid version of this. A roofer walked the building, came back with a full replacement figure, and the manager put it in a drawer because there was no way to get that approved.
That manager isn’t loyal to the roofer who produced it. They’re stuck. Nothing about that number helps them, and the roof keeps getting worse while they wait for a budget that was never going to appear at that size.
What they need is the same roof described as stages. What is actively causing damage, what will in two or three years, and a range against each. That’s a document a manager can take upward in pieces, and you’re the first person to offer it.
When somebody really does hold the account
Sometimes the answer is yes, there’s a report, and here is the company we use. That’s a real relationship and there’s nothing clever to say to it.
Ask two things and go. When does that agreement come up for renewal, and would they mind if you called a few weeks before it. Both are reasonable requests and most managers say yes, because having a second option costs them nothing.
Write the date down. A building with a real incumbent is a building worth one call a year, made at the right moment, instead of six made at random.
Where commercial roofing leads come from
One question on one call will not fill a schedule. It is worth knowing what does.
Commercial roofing leads come overwhelmingly from property and facility managers, and almost never from a building searching for a roofer. By the time a roof is leaking badly enough to prompt a search, somebody is usually already on site.
So the work goes to whoever made contact first and stayed in touch. That means reaching managers while nothing is wrong, which is slow, unrewarding in the short term, and the reason most roofing companies rely on storms and referrals instead.
The upside is that a building you reach early tends to stay with you, because a roof is a relationship measured in years rather than a single job.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do commercial roofing companies get leads?
Mostly from property and facility managers contacted before anything fails. Buildings rarely search for a commercial roofer until there is an active leak, by which point somebody else is usually already there.
Is cold calling worth it for commercial roofing?
It still works, because property and facility managers are reachable by phone and rarely respond to email from contractors they do not know. It takes consistent volume over months, which is where most roofing companies run out of time.
Should a roofing contractor hire a salesperson or outsource appointment setting?
The in-house comparison is not a salary against a retainer. It is salary plus payroll taxes, benefits, software, ramp time and somebody to manage them. Outsourcing trades that for a fixed monthly cost and a faster start. Which is right depends on whether you can keep a salesperson busy and managed.
Keep going
- Commercial roofing lead generation
- The roof report you leave behind after a walkthrough
- A commercial roofing cold call script, line by line
- Who actually owns the roofing budget in a commercial building
- What to say when you cold call a facility manager
About this article
Jeff Winters is Chief Executive Officer at Abstrakt. Reviewed by Neil Erker, Chief Marketing Officer. Abstrakt sets appointments for commercial roofing contractors and the wider trades, and the patterns here come from that calling.
Jeff Winters is the CEO of Abstrakt Marketing Group, a U.S.-based B2B lead generation and appointment-setting company that books qualified sales meetings for clients across the commercial trades, IT and managed services, manufacturing, and B2B services. He has spent his career building and running outbound sales programs at scale, and he breaks down what actually works in sales and lead generation on Abstrakt's podcast, The Grow Show.
