TradesRoofers

Build a Roofing Business That Holds Its MarginYou can climb a two-storey pitch in a gale. The part that scares you is the June cashflow.

This is for the owner of an Australian or New Zealand roofing business: metal, tile, restorations, storm work, the lot. Not the apprentice on the ladder. You already know how to lay a roof. This page is about the business that sits under it.

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A painted scene of two roofers stripping old tile off a suburban roof, battens and sarking exposed, rooftops behind

The week this is about

Running A Roofing Business Looks Like This.

Three days of rain and the whole week is gone

Monday looks fine. By Tuesday the forecast turns, the sheets stay on the trailer, and the scaffold sits hired and idle on a job you cannot touch. You push four customers back a week, and the crew still gets paid Thursday.

You quoted that roof off a photo and a hunch

The customer sent three phone pictures, you scaled it in your head, and priced it to win. Then you got up there and found rusted battens, three layers of old tile and a flashing detail nobody mentioned. That job now pays you nothing.

Storm season pays the year, then it stops

A hail cell comes through and the phone does not stop for six weeks. You take on labour, chase insurer make-safes, and turn work away. Then it goes quiet, the assessors move on, and you are back to chasing gutter cleans in March.

Another decade of trading weather for money, where the good months rescue the bad ones and there is never enough left over to stop climbing.

How we help

Seven Ways We Help Roofers.

Every one of these is a way roofing business owners get out from under the business and start running it properly. Start wherever it hurts most.

Training

Roofer Business Training

Structured training that turns what roofers know on the tools into a business that runs properly.

Coaching

Roofer Business Coaching

A coach who has run a trade business, in your corner, holding roofers to the plan.

Systems

Roofer Business Systems

The documented process that lets the work happen properly when roofers are not standing there.

The free app

Roofer Business App

Lessons, tools and a room full of other owners, free for roofers with an active ABN.

Marketing and leads

Roofer Business Marketing

How roofers get the phone ringing with the jobs worth having, not just the cheap ones.

Pricing and profit

Roofer Business Pricing

The number roofers should actually be charging, worked out properly rather than guessed.

Hiring and team

Roofer Business Hiring

How roofers build a crew that does it right without being watched.

Worth knowing

Two Things Every Roofer Running A Business Should Know.

Roof plumbers are covered by the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award MA000036 and roof tilers by the Building and Construction Award MA000020, so one roofing crew can sit across two awards.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, MA000036 and MA000020 award summaries
In NSW, roof plumbing work over $5,000 needs a licence, and working unlicensed carries penalties of up to $22,000 for an individual and $110,000 for a company.
Source: NSW Government, roof plumbing work licence
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Questions

Roofers Ask Us These.

Do I need a licence to run a roofing business in Australia?
It depends on the state and the line of work. NSW licenses roof plumbing work over $5,000, with penalties up to $22,000 for an individual. Queensland splits roof and wall cladding from roof tiling under QBCC. Victoria registers roofing (stormwater) through the VBA. Western Australia has no roofing licence at all. Check your regulator before you quote interstate.
Which award covers my roofers, and does it change if they tile?
Yes, and almost nobody explains it. Roof plumbers sit under the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award MA000036. Roof tilers sit under the Building and Construction Award MA000020, per Fair Work Ombudsman award summaries. One mixed crew on one job can be covered by two awards with different rates and allowances. Get it wrong and it is a back-pay bill. TSA hiring training walks you through it.
When does my crew legally need a SWMS and scaffolding on a roof?
Roof work is high risk construction work once there is a fall risk of two metres, which means a Safe Work Australia compliant SWMS before you start. Scaffold above four metres has to go up under a licensed scaffolder. Price both into the job, because retro-fitting safety after you have quoted comes straight out of your margin. Systems training in the Learning Hub makes that repeatable.
My roofing business is flat out but I am not making money. Why?
Almost always the rate. Most roofers price off what the last bloke charged per square metre, not their own numbers. Award wages, scaffold hire, insurance, ute costs and dead weather days all have to sit inside it. The Profitable Pricing Masterclass walks you through building that rate from your own costs up.

Other trades

Not Your Trade?

Electricians

You are quoting at 9pm, chasing a builder for progress claims, and still on the tools.

See how we help

Plumbers

You are still taking the 2am blocked drain call, because nobody else in the business can.

See how we help

Builders

Carrying the cost escalation, the unsigned variations and the progress claim nobody has paid.

See how we help

Carpenters

You can frame a house in a week. Getting paid for it takes months of chasing.

See how we help

HVAC Technicians

Flat out through summer, dead through winter, and the licence paperwork never lets up.

See how we help

Landscapers

Quoting off a sloping block, chasing green waste fees, and the spring rush eating your margin.

See how we help
See all twelve trades

Two Doors. Both Cost Nothing.

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The Crew, daily Q&A, starter courses and your complimentary coaching session. Free with an active ABN. No card, no trial clock.

Turning over $20k a month or more? Thirty minutes, one on one with a trade business coach, on what is capping the business and what to fix first.