Sub-Contractors - OR - Full Time Crews For Your Roofing Projects?

Over the years (decades), this has been a topic frequently brought up, and understandably so. When our industry had a significant rush of migrant workers enter the roofing profession, conversations raised quickly. Many customers have had concerns of the workers legality/citizenship in our nation, as well as possible communication/language barriers, if they would need to speak to a crew member. Please know this, Amazon Roofing always refrains from political discussions and stances. So we hold no judgment or animosity towards anyone, from any walk of life! But we do understand and respect when customers ask us about the crew that will be installing their roof.

Here in the greater Toledo OH area, most of the roofing companies utilize sub-contractors, with somewhere around a half dozen companies having full time crews. Like anything else, both ways come with advantages and disadvantages. Since our start in 2013, Amazon Roofing has worked with sub-contractors, and I, Robert (the owner) utilized sub-contractors for the 13 years prior, while I was with my previous employer. That timeline shared, adds up to 25 years, and I've worked with only 5 to less than 10 different crews. Whenever we hire a new crew, a thorough screening process occurs. It starts with the reputation of the sub-contractor/installer, Toledo is not that big of a town, so word spreads quickly among everyone in our industry. Then legalities, it's not just the contractor that requires Workman's Comp. & Insurance, the installer needs to have it too. And from there, it moves to performance. No bad roofer will ever admit that they're a bad roofer. So the first few projects are probationary, as we start with smaller projects and move up from there. During this period, which can last from 2 weeks to even 2 months, the process can be taxing, as we hover over the crew throughout the project, from start to final cleanup. This means all of our other tasks, such as meeting with customers for proposals and contract signings, has to be worked around the installs. Sometimes it works into rain days, weekends, late afternoon/early evenings, or very early mornings. Needless to say, this can be an exhausting process, so we work hard to make sure we get it right, and not have to start all over again. Why? Because it's our legality, obligations, and reputation that's on the line! In house, full time roofers, or sub-contractors, it doesn't matter. It's the owner/licensed contractor, that the customer signs the contract with, that holds all of the liability. If any type of issue occurs, it's the company owner that has to answer to the homeowner, and there is absolutely no way to deflect blame on anyone else. Please take note of our comment towards the top of this paragraph, in which we said Toledo isn't that big of a town and word spreads quickly. This applies to entire companies, not just crews, so if a pattern of "sub par" work occurs, with unsatisfied customers, any roofing company could find themselves out of business, and quickly. Throughout my (Robert) career, I have always said "If you do a great job, they'll tell 2 or 3 people, but if you do a bad job, they'll tell 20 to 30 people". So you need to get it right the first time!

If one was to ask, why doesn't Amazon Roofing use full time employees, the answer is simple. We're not one of the larger roofing companies, so we only perform around 100 to 150 roofing projects per year. With the primary roofing season in the Toledo area lasting from Mid-March to Mid-December (weather permitting), that's around 275 days. Most of our installs are complete in 1 day, so we would face a certainty of many days where we would have no work for our crew, but still need to pay them wages for those days. If we denied them their days pay and this happened frequently, they'd leave to find more consistent work elsewhere.

We hope this information shared helps future customers. Whether the installers are sub-contractors or full-time roofer employees, as long as the hiring company/contractor is vigilant with their screening process, the customer will receive the same high quality project.

Thank you, Amazon Roofing - Toledo Ohio

Amazon Roofing Toledo Ohio