The phone fills up after a storm. Every caller wants a truck now, but roofing storm damage leads can mean a live hazard, temporary protection, an inspection, a defined repair, or no job at all.
Treat each call as a dispatch decision. Find the danger. Confirm who can approve work. Check access. Then give the call one next action.
Sort roofing storm damage leads into one dispatch lane
Do not leave a storm inquiry marked urgent with no defined task. Put it into a lane that tells the office what to book and the crew what to expect.
Deal with immediate hazards first
Ask whether roofing material is falling, a ceiling is bulging, water is near electrical equipment, or anyone is in immediate danger. Tell the caller to keep people away from the affected area and contact the appropriate emergency service when there is an immediate threat.
A caller may report water beside a ceiling light. Nobody has confirmed that the room or electrical equipment is safe. Do not treat that as a normal roof inspection booking. Deal with the danger before discussing shingles or flashing.
Do not ask the customer to enter a wet attic, touch electrical equipment, climb a ladder, or move loose roofing material.
Book temporary mitigation as limited work
Use this lane when the immediate task is to reduce water entry or secure material that can be reached safely. Write down that the work is temporary. Do not present it as the permanent repair.
Define what the crew may do, how they will access the area, and who may approve extra work. If opening the area reveals a larger defect, stop at the limit of the authorization. Record the finding and request approval for the next scope.
Book an inspection when the defect is unclear
An inspection is for observation, photographs, measurements, access checks, and scope development. It is not a promise that the crew will complete a repair during the visit.
Tell the customer whether the inspection is charged. State what they receive afterward, such as photographs, an inspection record, an estimate, or a quote. Use the roofing job process to keep the inspection and quote attached to the same job.
Send quote-ready work to estimating
A job is quote-ready only when you know the repair area, method, access, materials, exclusions, and person who can authorize the work. A close photograph of a missing shingle does not establish all of those points.
If the work still depends on concealed conditions or safe access, inspect first. Decide whether the customer needs an estimate or a firm quote using the contractor estimate and quote guide.
Decline work that does not fit
Record why you declined the call. Useful reasons include outside service area, work outside your license or trade scope, no safe access option, no authorized customer, or no crew capacity within the requested timing.
Do not label every missed call as a bad lead. No answer, duplicate inquiry, declined work, postponed work, and unqualified work are different outcomes.
Check whether the call is worth sending a truck
A technically possible job can still be a poor dispatch decision. Check service area, work type, timing, crew capacity, authority, access, and whether the customer will accept the required inspection process.
Use one roof repair lead checklist on every call
Write caller statements as reports. Use caller reports missing shingles above rear bedroom. Do not write storm damage confirmed before an inspector has seen the roof.
This distinction protects the inspection record. It also stops an office description from becoming an unsupported statement about cause.
Lead reference: [Reference] Lead source: [Source or campaign] Date and time received: [Date and time] Property address: [Street, city, state, ZIP code] Caller: [Name and contact details] Caller role: [Owner / tenant / policyholder / manager / other] Property owner: [Name and contact details] Policyholder: [Name and contact details] Work authorizer: [Name, role, and contact details] Access contact: [Name and contact details] Caller-reported event: [What the caller says happened] Problem first noticed: [Date and time] Active water entry: [Yes / no / unknown] Immediate hazard reported: [Details] Safety instructions given: [Instructions and time given] Emergency service referral: [Service, time, and reason / not required] Dispatch withheld or changed: [Decision and reason] Affected area: [Room, elevation, and roof section] Roof details: [Type, covering, height, and pitch if known] Access restrictions: [Parking, gates, structures, lines, occupants] Safe photographs supplied: [File names and locations] Dispatch lane: [Hazard / temporary mitigation / inspection / quote-ready repair / outside area / decline] Booked scope: [Exact task] Excluded work: [What is not included] Crew and access equipment: [Requirements] Inspection authorization: [Status / authorizer / scope / limit] Temporary protection authorization: [Status / authorizer / scope / limit] Permanent work authorization: [Status / authorizer / scope / limit] Change order authorization: [Status / authorizer / scope / limit] Next action, owner, and due time: [Task] Outcome code: [Status]
Save the form under one lead reference. Carry that reference into the inspection, quote, work authorization, change order, invoice, and cost record. Yes Foreman can keep that job record together once the lead becomes booked work.
Clear the safety gate before booking roof access
An open calendar slot does not make the roof safe. Check the conditions and required access method before assigning the visit.
Ask about weather, daylight, roof pitch, building height, wet or loose coverings, damaged edges, fragile surfaces, and the area below the work. Note additions, decks, public walkways, landscaping, and overhead obstructions.
Match the job to the crew and access equipment. If the booking needs equipment that is not available, change the timing or the inspection method. Do not send a person to work around the gap.
A crew may arrive for a suspected missing-shingle repair and find a steep wet roof, an addition below the work area, and no suitable access equipment. Stop. Make safe observations from an approved position, record the access problem, and arrange the correct return visit.
Check OSHA (opens in a new tab) for workplace roof-safety requirements, then check OSHA's state-plan directory (opens in a new tab) to find whether federal OSHA or an approved state-plan agency applies.
Check the relevant state or local contractor licensing authority for the contractor license that covers the proposed work and location. Ask the state or city trade licensing office about a trade license only when the scope includes regulated electrical, plumbing, or mechanical work. Write down the answer before accepting work outside your normal scope.
Request useful photographs without creating another hazard
Ask for photographs taken from the ground or a safe position inside the building. Tell the customer not to climb onto the roof, use a ladder, or lean from a window.
Request images of:
- The full affected elevation.
- The roofline from ground level.
- Internal staining or active water entry.
- Fallen material where it landed.
- The room or ceiling below the suspected defect.
- Driveways, gates, additions, decks, and access obstructions.
Ask the caller to identify the location and capture time. Keep the original files with the storm damage inquiry rather than copying selected images into an unconnected message thread.
Photographs can help you choose the visit. They cannot reveal every concealed defect, establish safe roof access, or prove what caused the condition. Use them for triage, not remote certainty.
Separate the homeowner, policyholder, adjuster, and work authorizer
These roles may belong to different people. Give each one a separate field in the intake record.
The homeowner may control access. The policyholder may communicate with the insurer. An adjuster may request documents. A property manager may arrange attendance. None of those facts automatically tells you who can approve contractor spending.
Record the name, role, approved scope, and any spending limit for each permission. Permission to enter is not permission to carry out an open-ended repair.
A tenant may book the visit while the owner or property manager has not approved temporary protection. Do not let urgency erase the authority check. Contact the person who can approve the work before the crew starts it.
Keep insurer communication separate from work authorization. You can supply photographs, observed conditions, scope, and pricing. Do not promise coverage, decide causation, interpret the policy, or tell the customer that a claim will be approved.
Define the roof inspection booking before the truck leaves
Write a short visit scope. State whether the booking covers inspection, temporary mitigation, or both.
List the roof areas and methods included. These might cover ground observations, accessible attic observations, close inspection from suitable access, photographs, measurements, and a written record.
List exclusions where they matter. Opening concealed areas, lifting sound coverings, destructive testing, permanent repairs, interior finishes, electrical work, and inaccessible sections should not quietly become part of an inspection booking.
Tell the crew what documents to produce. The inspection record should connect each photograph and finding to a roof area. It should also show areas that could not be reached.
Ask the local building department whether the proposed repair needs a permit or inspection. Do not assume one city follows another city's process.
Record roof findings without turning assumptions into facts
Separate the inspection record into clear buckets:
- Caller-reported damage.
- Conditions directly observed.
- Suspected concealed damage.
- Existing deterioration or unrelated defects.
- Inaccessible or uninspected areas.
- Recommended next work.
Describe the material, location, and condition. Use displaced covering at the rear slope beside the vent. Avoid broad statements that every visible defect came from the reported storm.
Older flashing deterioration may sit beside recently displaced roofing. Record both. Do not merge them into one cause because the paperwork will be easier.
Mark concealed defects as suspected until the crew exposes or tests them within an approved scope. If the required investigation needs different equipment, specialist work, or destructive opening, quote that next step.
Stop when the job exceeds the approved scope. Document the condition, protect the property only where authorized and safe, and send the finding to the work authorizer.
Build the repair quote from the inspected scope
Choose the repair method before applying labor and material pricing. Then cost labor, materials, access equipment, disposal, travel, subcontract work, and other direct job costs.
Choose how you will recover overhead. Allocate it before markup or recover it through markup, then count each overhead cost once.
Markup is the amount added to direct cost to produce the selling price. Margin is profit as a share of that selling price. Mixing them gives you the wrong view of job profitability.
State assumptions about weather, access, matching materials, supporting components, and concealed damage. Write what happens when an assumption is wrong. A clear exclusion should lead to a written change order, not an argument on the roof.
Break the scope down by roof area and task. Repair storm damage is not enough. Identify removal, replacement, flashing work, temporary protection, disposal, access, and the finished condition.
Use the guide to writing a quote to turn inspection findings into a document the customer can approve.
Worked example: control a site discovery with a change order
Oak Street is the house electrical example, but the document rule applies to roofing work.
R. Chen's quote Q-1847 at 14 Oak Street was 1,105 sample currency units. It covered a bathroom exhaust fan, ducted through the roof, and four LED downlights. The ceiling was lined, and chasing was excluded.
Extra cable and chasing were approved on site as a 160 change order. Invoice INV-1847 was 1,265.
Job cost of 850 and profit of 255 are measured against the original quote: 1,105 − 850 = 255. Margin is 255 ÷ 1,105, or about 23%. Markup is 255 ÷ 850, or 30%.
The costs of the 160 change order are not given. Do not calculate profit using the 1,265 invoice or combine that invoice total with the 850 original job cost.
The roofing lesson is simple. When an inspection or repair exposes work outside the approved scope, stop. Describe the added work. Price it. Get written approval. Then continue.
Set a ceiling for paid roofing storm damage leads
There is no useful universal price per lead. Your limit depends on your own qualification rate, close rate, direct job costs, overhead recovery, sales costs, and target profit.
For each completed won job in a closed batch, start with the selling price. Subtract direct job costs, overhead counted once, nonmarketing sales costs such as estimator travel or inspection labor, and target profit. The remainder is the amount left for winning the job.
Wait until every paid lead in the batch has a final outcome. Add the amount left for winning the job from completed won jobs, then divide that total by every paid lead in the closed batch. This handles different job values without dropping open, slow, or unsuccessful leads from the denominator.
Keep marketing spend separate from inspection labor and estimator travel. They are different costs. You need both to understand whether the source works.
For each source, follow roofing storm damage leads through booking, inspection, quote, approval, completion, and final cost tracking. Compare actual vs estimated cost after the roof is finished, not when the customer accepts the quote.
Use the finished-job costing process to measure profit by completed job and lead source. Start with a closed batch of paid leads and calculate its ceiling from your own figures.