Roofing Technology at Northface Construction

There is so much technology out there it is overwhelming sometimes! Even in the roofing industry, there is a large amount of technology making it hard to figure out what is going to provide high value for the company and for the customer. Here at Northface Construction, we have spent a lot of time researching technology that can be utilized to fulfill our mission of delivering competitive pricing with higher quality and higher customer satisfaction. The main thing we look for in the roofing technology we use is its efficiency to facilitate sustainability.

The Benefits of Using Roofing Technology

When we talk about roofing technology, we mean a plethora of tools and products that can help roofers do a multitude of things faster and more efficiently. Ultimately, these roofing technologies make our lives easier as roofers and can increase transparency with the customers we work with. Here are a number of benefits to utilizing roofing technology from a business perspective.

Lead Generation

The biggest difficulty amongst commercial roofing companies is getting not only enough leads for business, but for them to be qualified leads, and not junk. We’re seeing more and more tools that aid in lead generation in the industry and it will become more common in the coming years. Here are some of the top lead generation tools in 2021. We utilize SEO and other tools that can exclude spam and track calls or other contact forms to ensure we are getting good, quality leads.

Storm Damage Tracking

Knowing when and where severe weather may hit is critical to getting your business ready to get to work and also where to target your storm damage marketing. The weather app on your phone is fine, but there are some actual tracking apps that can pinpoint more accurately where a hail storm or severe wind may hit. Hail Trace is one of the top storm tracking apps used by contractors. They can quickly sign up online and there are even marketing tool options to help those customers in the areas you serve at a moment’s notice.

Better Footage of Properties

One of the biggest ways to attract prospective customers is to have tons of images of the work you’ve done. This could be a before and after photo series, video walk-throughs, or drone footage—which is becoming increasingly popular amongst contractors of all types. Contractors can hire drone companies to film the footage, or some are even purchasing their own drones to do their own aerial views of their properties. Either way, the combination of drone footage and an aerial view really seals the deal for many customers who want to see the true effect of a new roof, siding, or whatever project they’ve had done.

CompanyCam is another roofing technology that contractors utilize, including Northface Construction, that allows for live, on-the-job photos taken and edited as a project management tool. These photos can be sent directly to customers via the app without the need to take photos, email or text them later, and wait to hear back. It’s a game-changer.

More Transparency

In line with CompanyCam and these other tools, the ability to streamline communication with customers is a huge benefit to an increase in roofing technologies. Customers can see every bit of their projects from beginning to end thanks to mobile and high-def apps that keep them in the action. They can get full 3D renderings before a single bit of demolition is even started.

Time-Saving

No other industry is as on-the-go as contractors are. They need to be able to access all kinds of information on the job site. In this day and age of smartphones or devices, roofing technologies have transformed the way contractors can do business in the field. The mobile capabilities of some of these platforms are critical to getting a project done right and on time. There is not even a necessity to visit a job site to get a visual update of the progress. With mobile features, contractors can quickly communicate with the client, send updates right on the job site, and handle all communication in one easy-to-manage software. We’ve listed some of our favorites below.

Now, let’s talk about some of the new roofing technology and products that we have implemented here at Northface Construction and the ones we are looking to add in the future!

• Acculynx

Acculynx is a web based management program designed specifically for roofing, siding and storm damage companies. This management program is designed to follow the process flow of how we structure our operations. By utilizing Acculynx, Northface Construction is able to manage customers, jobs, pricing, billing and operations all at the click of a button. If your roof were to be damaged remember for future references to get your home insured, as well as any other assets such as personal possessions, cars or vans. Its very easy to set up these types of insurance, you can compare your van insurance yearly and you car insurance too, its best to get covered in the case of an incident so you don’t lose anything. With Acculynx there are no customers slipping through the cracks and not being taken care of properly, no wrong amounts of material ordered, no miscommunication in our company. We are able to operate to a high volume capacity and higher quality with less resources and wasted time than than of our competitors because of this program!

• EagleView Technologies

Eagleview Technologies is a satellite imagery software company that utilizes satellites to do measurements and scopes on roofs, siding and more! We have been utilizing this technology for quite some time. There are a lot of jobs that we run across that are quite large or even dangerous to spend that amount of time measuring with a tape measure. They are able to take high quality photos and measure the roof with an amazingly impressive degree of accuracy. Of course as responsible contractors we always do in person site inspections to verify measurements and verify there are no site situations that could increase job cost or can sometimes decrease the job cost! There are other companies who have adopted various technologies to streamline the process. Many top corporations have been investing heavily in robotic process automation.

• Xactimate

Xactimate is an estimating program that most insurance companies use for estimating claim losses on real property today. The program is based on surveyed regional data from trade contractor and pricing is structured based on that data. This program as an amazing amount of information and pricing when looking at loss claims on real property. The benefit of using this software is that when we are on an insurance claim, we are using the exact same pricing, proposal structure and resources to propose our repairs as the insurance company. It makes for a quicker, easier and more accurate way of making sure that our clients are fully compensated for their loss on the property.

• Interactive Hail Maps

This platform is made specifically for storm damage remodeling companies who do work associated with hail damage. When meeting with an insurance adjuster to go over a claim it is best to be prepared with the day the storm came through and a report on the wind strength and hail sizes that affected the area. The more tools and information that we can utilize the better for our clients in seeking to serve them fully. Also, this technology allows us to know which past clients of ours might have been affected by adverse weather conditions and reach out to them to make sure they know we are happy to be of resource for them again. Whether it be a free property inspection or storm damage estimate.

NEW technology we are adding in 2016

• Drone Technology

With drones becoming more capable and technologically advanced, there are many ways in which we can improve our services to our clients by using drones. One way is to investigate damage on properties and document the damage in video footage. We can use the drone to minimize risk and time spent on these investigations, provide more detailed documentation and pass our savings onto our client. This is especially important when looking at large scale projects such as town homes, businesses, homeowners associations, apartments and co-ops. It will provide faster and more accurate service while minimizing liability of going up and down the ladder all day and walking around on possibly dangerous roofs. This roofing technology that we are implementing will help serve our clients to a higher capacity than that of other companies in the market today.

• Insurance Scope Roofing Technology (Undisclosed company)

The roofing technology that is undisclosed is a VERY exciting add on for us this year. This company combines satellite imagery and Xactimate insurance pricing into one fast, accurate and awesome resource. What it does is utilizes satellite measuring tools and directly inputs the sizes and scope observed by our on the ground team and cloud information and develops a full report with pricing at a faster pace and more accurate than current practices. People are human and they make mistakes and miss things no matter how many procedures are made to follow. This roofing technology eliminates the risk of missing important items in an insurance claim estimate that might be overlooked in past. It uses Xactimate pricing and sets the estimate up with minimal input from our consultants to produce an accurate estimate that follows the procedures of most insurance companies. This is another way that we can maintain efficiency to pass savings on to our clients.

• Inspection Roofing Technology (Undisclosed company)

We are in the BETA testing phase with the nations largest roofing manufacturer and another technology firm testing out new inspection technology. This roofing technology allows us to inspect roofs in a highly detailed format for clients that want an overall inspection of the life of their roof. It also helps minimize waste when we are building new roofs by doing pre-job roofing inspections and post-job roofing inspections. We are able to maintain that the right material and labor is on the job BEFORE it starts and a quality assurance procedure with in depth documentation at the end of the roofing installation to make sure everything is produced up to our standards. We will be able to maintain our quality and efficiency to a MUCH higher level than competitors by far!

• Product Roofing Technology

We cannot forget the products that we install and offer to our clients. There are so many on the market that we have a lot of the hard work for you in finding new roofing technology in our products to provide. This year we have been working hard on implementing new products that reflect our mission and vision of sustainability and efficiency. It is very important when choosing products to offer that they not only are high quality products but also fulfill our sustainable vision. We look at the life of the product, cost-benefit analysis, the value driving features and the local availability and what effect these products have on our community as a whole. It is important to always be pursuing such things otherwise we are not moving forward and serving our customers the way we want to.

As aforementioned in all the points and roofing technology we went over in the article. We are constantly pursuing ways in which Northface Construction can find efficiency and quality procedures, roofing technology and products to serve our clients better than others. If you would like to request a FREE consultation regarding your upcoming roofing project call us today or click GET A QUOTE We would be happy to come and show you how our roofing technology can serve you!