An answering service for roofers that books the free inspection after the storm
You are on a roof, there is no signal, and the phone is ringing. Here is what a missed call costs a roofing company, and how each way of answering handles “water is coming through my ceiling after last night.”
No card needed. Keep your number. One code undoes it.
The problem
Roofing calls come in waves. After a hailstorm or a week of rain the phone rings all day, and a homeowner with a stain on the ceiling calls three roofers and books the first that answers. Many won’t leave a voicemail. The owner is usually on a roof, which is exactly where a phone can’t be answered.
These are the calls a roofing company misses.
The calls you’re missing
- “We had a leak in the bedroom ceiling after the storm. Can someone come look?”
- “Do you do free inspections or estimates?”
- “Shingles blew off last night. Can you tarp it today?”
- “I need a quote to replace my roof. Can someone come out this week?”
- “Do you work with insurance companies?”
What a missed call may cost
About $2,059 a month in missed revenue
An estimate, using the missed-call calculator’s sum with example numbers: 4 missed calls a week, 80% who never call back, 33% of them who would have booked, 450 dollars for the average repair job, times 52 weeks, divided by 12 months.
Roofing isn’t in the calculator’s trade list, so $450 here is a placeholder for an average repair or inspection-led job. A full roof replacement is worth far more, so use your own average, and a storm week can multiply the missed calls. These are not your numbers and not a promise of what any service wins back. GotItDesk is $99 a month ($79 for our first 100 customers): at that average, 1 booking a month brings in revenue equal to the subscription price, before your own costs.
Your four options, side by side
| Voicemail | Answering service | GotItDesk | Front-desk hire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Answers when you’re on a roof | Records only | Depends on the plan | Yes, 24/7 | Office hours |
| Knows your inspection and call-out terms | No | If it’s in the script | From what you wrote and the prices you set | Yes |
| Books the inspection or estimate | No | Some do | Yes: its own calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook | Yes |
| Leak and storm-damage calls | Waits in a mailbox | Passes it on, if scripted | Put through to the numbers you chose, or a message | Yes, in hours |
| Typical cost | Free | Per call or per minute: ask each provider | $99 a month, 1,000 minutes | Wages |
Answering-service prices vary a lot by provider and plan; check each one.
When another option is the better pick
- Voicemail is fine if your work is mostly referrals and repeat builders who ring you directly.
- An answering service is the better pick if you want a person on each call and you do all the scheduling yourself.
- An office hire is the better pick if you run several crews and need someone to schedule, order and chase insurance paperwork all day.
How GotItDesk handles the call
- Greets the callersays it’s the company’s virtual assistant
- What happened?a leak, storm damage, a repair, or a quote for a new roof
- Listens for trouble“leaking” and the other words you chose go to your on-call numbers
- Gets the addressasks where the property is before booking
- Says what you chargean inspection price if you have one, or that it’s free, in your words
- Books the inspectiona column per estimator or crew, spells the name back and emails you the booking
Listen to the sample call: a recorded, scripted ceramic-coating call in the live voice. Your own business is one click away, below.
What’s particular to this trade
- Leaks are put through. “Leaking” is among the default urgent words, and you can add your own, such as “tarp” or “ceiling”. Those calls are put through to the numbers you chose, or taken as a message if nobody picks up. It doesn’t send a crew or promise a tarp today.
- The free inspection is a booking. If you inspect for free, add it as a service with its own length. It books the time at the address and tells the caller what you wrote about it. You look at the roof and give the price on site.
- It doesn’t quote a roof. A new roof is priced on site. It can repeat your call-out or inspection price, and for a replacement it books an estimate or takes a message. It won’t guess a number from a description.
- Insurance questions, in your words. Callers ask whether you work with their insurer. It repeats what you wrote and gives no view on whether a claim will be paid. For anything else it takes a message.
- After a storm. You forward only the calls nobody picks up: busy, no answer or after hours. When the phone rings all week, your own team still answers first and the overflow is answered instead of ringing out.
Set up in about ten minutes, and the price
Paste your website and it suggests your hours, services and prices. You choose a voice, call your new GotItDesk number to hear it answer, and only then dial one code to forward the calls you miss. It says it’s a virtual assistant in its first sentence.
The free trial is your first 10 bookings, up to 14 days or 59 minutes, no card. Then $99 a month with 1,000 minutes ($79 for our first 100 customers). No overage bills. See pricing.
What it doesn’t do yet
Connections to roofing software (AccuLynx, JobNimbus and the like), texts to homeowners, financing, card payments and deposits are not live. Nothing is dispatched. Bookings go to GotItDesk’s own calendar or your Google Calendar or Outlook, and every booking and message is emailed to you. We’d rather you know now.