Is it worth writing a long business plan for your roofing startup? Business plan preparation can be time consuming and many entrepreneurs are tempted to go ahead without one unless they really need it to demonstrate the feasibility of ideas to partners or investors.
Your roofing business won’t be a huge and complicated business for a few years anyway, so why bother? Well, while I wouldn’t suggest spending months writing a 100 page report, it might be helpful to have a 10-20 page document on your PC that can be the blueprint for your company’s success. You can make changes to it as you learn more about the business.
It will be the key document that sets out exactly how your business is run. If done correctly, you should basically be able to hand this document over to someone when you buy your business and they can take over with very little time to explain things to them.
Here’s a short business roofing business plan template to give you some ideas on putting together your own.
Content page and executive summary
This should be a summary of your entire roofing business plan. If you are going to present the plan to stakeholders, inform them of the content. Include a basic summary of your plans to start a roofing business. Describe the opportunities you see in the market and what you plan to do to capture a piece of the pie for yourself.
Background in the roofing business
Show yourself or others why you are cut out for this business. Please list details about your education and any relevant experience you have had in the roofing industry or business in general. Describe your reasons for wanting to start a roofing business.
mission status
State your company’s mission or philosophy in a few words or a short phrase. Try to think about what you want to achieve with your business besides profit. You must be motivated by a desire to provide quality service to people in a way that satisfies them and provides great value while allowing you to achieve your goals. What kind of products and services do you want to deliver? How will you be different from all other roofing companies?
business objectives
Set the goals you have for your business in its early years. Set realistic goals that you know are achievable so you don’t get discouraged if you don’t meet them. Success can be measured by a number of metrics, such as the total number of roofing jobs completed per month, the percentage of leads that convert to new customers, or the productivity of your employees, for example.
startup requirements
List all the products and services your business will offer, and then come up with a list of equipment and inventory you’ll need to get started. If you need to buy a truck, you’ll be looking for minimum startup costs of around $20,000.
Startup requirements will also include compliance costs. Depending on the state you’re operating in, you may need a contractor’s license, insurance, a bond, or comply with a number of other relevant regulations.
Don’t forget that in addition to purchasing all the necessary roofing equipment, you will also need to purchase materials for your first job. Clients will typically pay a large portion of your total bill upon completion of the job, so you’ll have to pay the bill until you get funds when they pay your bill in full.
Structure, Ownership and Management
There are four basic options to consider for your business structure and they include sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or limited liability corporation (LLC).
Describe how your business will be owned and take note of the various parties that may have an ownership interest.
Establish a management structure so that there is no confusion among those involved in the business as to who is responsible for running which part of the business.
Marketing plan
Identify your target market both by location and other demographic factors, and describe the type of people or property that make up your target market. Include the results of any market research you conduct or any local industry statistics you may collect.
Establish a detailed plan for marketing your roofing business. This should include how you plan to receive inquiries, convert them into new accounts, and maintain them for the long term. It should also include branding, pricing, advertising, a sales approach, and other marketing methods.
competitive analysis
Write profiles of your main local competitors and try to understand how they run their businesses. Borrow and adapt the features of your business that work and look for weaknesses in your business models that you can capitalize on. Find out how you will differentiate your brand from theirs in a way that allows you to stand out in the marketplace.
Operations
Include details of the daily operations of the proposed roofing business. Take note of your office location, business management and record-keeping systems, plans for hiring employees, and procedures related to roofing installation or repair.
Financial analysis
Describe some of the methods you could use to obtain financing for your new business.
Create a spreadsheet showing anticipated cash flow forecasts for the first few years of business for a variety of scenarios. You can then determine how profitable you think the business will be in several different economic climates.
You can find many free sample business plans online, but it can be more difficult to find a specific sample roofing business plan. There are some business planning software programs you can buy, but these are usually just generic business plans that have been adapted anyway.
Unless you can persuade other roofing business owners to share their plan with you, then you really have to look at templates from other industries and model your roofing business plan on them.
