It seems that Florida has become the land of blue tarps. Literally tens of thousands of roofs still remain to be repaired after the hurricanes of 2004, and now we have the ’05 season making headlines, doing it all over again.
The weather channel reports that annual nasty hurricanes may be a long term trend for Florida.
Why wouldn’t a young contractor with business acumen not go to Florida to attempt to become a licenced roofing contractor, and get some of that business? What are the barriers to entry down there, other than the licensing aspect?
There are services in Florida that will sell you all the books that prep you for the exams, and provide you with classroom instruction leading up to the tests.
It seems to me that with a license, and with Spanish as a second language, one could succeed and prosper in Florida as a roofer.
Gene Davis, Davis Housewrights, Inc., Lake Placid, NY
Replies
You are 100% correct.
I hear it's hard to make enough money down there to keep a roof over your head... bada bum!
The only problem I see with roofing in Florida, is trying to get all the work done in the two weeks it's not raining while you are answering the irrate calls for the ones you finished last week that already blew off.
For the life of me I can't understand shingles on a Florida roof...
If we fail to catch a cosmic fish it may be a trillion years before the opportunity comes again
You ever done insurance work? They pay what the adjuster says they'll pay, not necessarily what the job's worth. There's plenty of work, but the profit's pretty slim.
edit: see this-http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=60412.1
I'm not green anymore.
Edited 7/11/2005 7:44 pm ET by cu
Golden, son Tom bought out son Pete about 3-4 years ago. Tom now lives in a house worth a million bucks, and you already know my labor rate. I pay my new employee $23/hr PLUS a $7.00 allowance per hour for his truck and tool expense. I’ll probably give him more once he gets more familiar with our area and the nuances of how I operate. The guy before him was being paid a total of $35/hr and after about 3 months or so I increased it to $40/hr.Son Tom pays his project managers at least $1000/wk, plus a new truck, plus medical coverage, plus many holidays, plus other perks, and their hours are from 8 - 4:30, M - F.During our rainy season, it rains nearly every day somewhere between 2-4 for about a half hour. A half hour later it’s dried up. Most roofers start around 7 AM and knock off when the rain hits, then resume until about 7-8 and I've seen then until dark - around 9-9:30. And our rainy season starts around June and runs until around Sept. or early Oct.So much for not making money here. In fact, HERE is where the money is to be made. And as with any other work, if done right, there are no irate calls.And 3-tab shingles because of cost. The same reasons why you probably do not own a Mercedes convertible. A “regular†car suffices just as “regular†3-tabs here, suffice. Realistically, 3-tab fiberglass shingles here are good for about 20 years or so. It’s the constant UV rays that eventually deteriorate them.Ima, in Michigan I made a ton of money on insurance jobs, and at one point about 80% of our sales were insurance jobs. I’ve only done about 4-5 ins. jobs here and they were all approved at my price.
wrong way of looking at that. You work for the owner, not the insurance company. sell to the owner, work for the owner, and collect from the owner. If his insurance is poor, that is his problem.My doctors don't work for the amt the insurance company is willing to pay. I pay the dif. HOs have to do the same with roof claims.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Yeah, I understand, but I've got a bad taste in my mouth from doing tornado repairs about a year ago. The adjuster was wearing big shoes and a red rubber nose. I think his name was Mr. Bozo, if I remember correctly. The book he was getting his numbers from was dust covered and written with a quill pen. The allowance he tried to give me was $22 something a square to purchase 30 year dimensional shingles. Hell, three tabs were $19/sq when I started 25 years ago.
I just voluntereed for this work to help people get back in their homes, ASAP. I didn't go into it to make a profit, but breaking even would have ben nice. I'm not green anymore.
I think you're right.
But you still can't pay me enough to be on a roof covered in asphalt shingles everyday in the Florida sun. Everyday. Think about it.
I hope roofers in Florida are making a freakin' killing. Cuz they sure earn it.
Now what I wouldn't give to be a framer in Massachusetts. I mean they've got it all, the Red Sox, the Patriots, the four seasons, the good labor rates. Everything a man could want.
Oh wait. I am. So just send all those ambitious hardworking young guns my way and I'll get 'em settled in. :)
At the higher ends, in Florida, it is tile and steel. But the steel gets hot, too. A long time ago, I ran the ironworker crews that put the steel roofing on the dome of Cowboy Stadium in Dallas. Good thing it was a light color.
I have three framing squares, two of which are the old black ones, and one in mill finish aluminum. I won't use the black ones in the summer sun, because of how hot they get.Gene Davis, Davis Housewrights, Inc., Lake Placid, NY
Texas heat mustn't be much fun either. Our three or four months of heat are just about enough for me..... then I welcome the cool fall breezes. Maybe you get used to that kind of heat? Either that or you guys are a whole lot tougher than me!
back then, I could handle the heat OK - untill I had a case of heat exhaustion one time. Since then, I prefer cooler weather. Heat is a dangerous thing
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
They seriously earn it.
I remember tools too hot to touch when left out in the sun
shingles with the consistency of damp paper towels from the sun's heat
heaat waves making the vision dance over tarpapered roofs
rotting out leather belts every six months from the heat and sweat
two gallon jugs of iced tea gone by 2PM
no apetite for lunch other than an apple and a liter of 7-Upbut one advantage, most of the roofs are not steep or high up
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
When I was looking for my birth certificate to apply for passport the other day, I found my old Florida license. Wanna buy it?
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
One thing to consider is the dang cost of living in Florida. I'm in SW Georgia, about a three hour drive from Panama City Beach. I was there over the 4th and picked up a local newspaper. There was a story on the phenomenal increase in property values in Bay County, not just the beach front stuff, but ANY property within 10 miles of the Gulf. The story was about a school teacher and her family that wanted to move to a larger home, but just couldn't afford it.
Sure, her 5 year old home has increased exponentially in value along with everyone else's, but the cost of the larger home shot her right out of the saddle. It's the same in Orlando area. Disney and Universal and Sea World have lots of positions, but the employees can't afford to live there.
Panama City Beach, locally known as "The Redneck Riviera" has really gone up-scale in the last two years. The old Mom & Pop motels are being sold and torn down to make way for 25 story condo developments, with 2 BR units selling for $600,000. One development near my little place is advertising that Starbucks and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse are locating there.
The Corps of Engineers is right in the middle of a 16 mile beach reclamation project, with a huge dredge out in the Gulf, pumping sand onto the beach to renew all the frontage that was lost in the hurricanes last year. $ 1,000,000 per mile is the figure I heard. They last did this in 1997, and it was projected then to last for 20 years. We lost another 50 feet of beach last week.
Greg
Edited 7/13/2005 9:36 am ET by Greg Gibson
My father holds a Florida State Contractor's license. Passed the test first time out. Got a thousand calls in the first month from guys who couldn't get one but wanted to pay him to use his.
I've lived thru a few Hurricanes but I only remember him trying to do repair work after one. I was a teenager at the time and just entering the family business but I remember it well.
Homeowners didn't want to pay more then what the insurance company paid. Insurance company didn't want to pay enoug. When the insurance company did want to pay enough, they didn't want to pay any time soon.
There is a reason all those blue tarps are still up there. Think about it, most anyone in the trades would be all over that if there was any money in it.
This was great reading- brought back memories of visiting my grandparents in FLA around '76 - it seemed like we didn't drive as far, coming to visit them from Boston, as the roofers did coming across town- it was like gods had landed on the roof!
There was an interesting blurb in JLC a month or two ago. It stated that a lot of the roof damage in Florida was not caused by the hurricanes, but by the Army Core of Engineers and the tarps they put on. Many roofs had only minor damage, a few square feet in just one or two spots, maybe a few hours or repair work, but the Core came in and tarped the whole roof putting hundreds of nails everywhere. What would have been an easy / inexpensive repair is now a whole mess / reroof. <!----><!---->