This $500K Roofing Business is on the Brink of Collapse!

We're paying $14,000 in loans a month, man.

I might not be able to make payrolls next Monday. He said he was pretty much gonna have the law involved if I don't pay. All this, all this crap back at square one again.

We got 14,000 in like, short term. It's killing us debt.

Nobody wants to mess with me because.

My credit, like, you have to be doing 80 grand a month just to break even. But so far we've got zero accepted estimates from that.

No jobs are getting sold.

And so why do we have him?

You most likely will not sell. Stay clean if you don't surrender to God.

Sobriety is everything.

So I'm realizing I can't be a hero and run a profitable business. I want to leave them a legacy.

Regards the camera. Like, I am concerned for you. Things start to break down. Body relationships, business, you know?

Yep.

We are in Phoenix, Arizona, trying to help this roofing company turn around. Why does it need to turn around? Because they're paying $600 per day in just payments on their debt. They had to go both their employees and sell a truck just to make those payments. And we are literally days, if not weeks away from insolvency.

Oh, man. Thanks for letting us come out, man.

No problem.

I appreciate it.

My name is Sean. I own Universal Roofing Specialist LLC out of Maricopa, Arizona. Most of our work is service jobs.

Okay. You know, repairs, smaller jobs. What's like the average ticket size of each job?

So for residential, it's about. About one to $2,000.

Okay.

Yep.

And then that. Would that be like a days long job to build?

No, that's like a couple hours, maybe three or four hours. So you could hit two to three jobs a day. You know, you can make about four or five grand a day, but, you know, it's about setting those up, you know, the right way.

Right.

And then so how I've been doing it, how I started doing it, was because I used to work for two of the largest roofing companies.

And they're commercial.

Yes, they're. They're commercial. They did about 10% residential, but they did put through, you know, shingle and tile, you know, certification, trainings and all that. So I helped run the service part. And so I found out that they make. They make all their profit and take care of all their overhead and service, and all the reroof jobs is profit. And so that's how I was trying to run it. So at first I was subbing everything out, you know, subbing everything out, which was Working. And then I had all these service jobs because around here you get monsoons, so monsoons, you get about 90 mile an hour winds with rain, and it's just like it knocks down trees on the roofs and stuff. So swamped with service work. So I'm literally doing everything, going over to the job site, making sure they're good. If they need something, go over here, go back to this customer.

Like, what got the business started? So you were working for them. Did you start doing that on the side and then kind of merge into it? Or was it like, I'm done with these people, I'm out. Like, what did that look like?

So, yeah, so I was working for them. I was a supervisor. We were doing this SWAT facility in Flagstaff, and I was supervising it. And the guy. So there's security guards that had to hold, like, aka, you know, for every guy that's on the route. It's very strict. And so this guy was like, hey, you know, I need some stuff on my house fixed. You know, you come look at it. I'm like, yeah. So I go over there. He had the material, made $2,000 in a day. And I'm like, this is more money than I make all week at my company. So after that, you know, for three years after that, after work, I do side jobs. On Saturdays and Sundays, I'm doing side jobs. And then, you know, just. Just here local in Maricopa. And people kept telling me, hey, you should start your own company. You do great work. You know, you. You speak with us when you're on the way. And communication is great. With a large company, I realized, like, they don't really care about their clients as much. They don't care about their employees. I mean, I know it's a company. It's about profit and money. And so I'm like, you know, I could do this better. I've been a, you know, supervisor for large, large roofing companies and always struggled with my addiction throughout that. And, you know, I figured that if I can work my way from a laborer up to a supervisor over the years while I was using, you know, and then also it was starting some tension and everything at home, you know, so decided, you know, enough's enough, and went to rehab. While I was in rehab is when I changed my mind and decided to open the business. And with. With the people in there is where I wrote my business plan. And then I got out and within two weeks started studying for my contractor's license. And then it was just. It just was from there Is where I made my mind up that I do not want to be. I don't want to be living this life forever. I don't want to be stuck in this. In this bubble.

He turned his addiction from something bad into something good and became, like, got addicted to wanting to build something, and that's all. All he needed was the right moment at the right time to turn his addiction into something else and something positive. And he did.

I came from pretty much nothing and being strung out most of my life for 16 years and, you know, recently changed my life. And so this. I've put my all into this. And so I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make this succeed for my kids future.

Deshawn's worked for some of the top 10 roofing companies in the country. He still has contacts. They're like, oh, yeah, we're friends and woo, woo, woo, guess what? When we started our own and we needed help, those friends, nothing. Didn't want to help us. Nothing.

So that's the ultimate reason why I'm doing this, and I will not let it fail.

So.

I got let go actually, right before Christmas of last year.

Really?

Two days. Two days before Christmas? Yeah.

2022.

Yep.

Okay. So literally, look, we're like, almost just one year in.

Yeah, I'm like 11 months. Wow.

So.

So I started it on December 31, 2022.

Okay, good for you.

So, you know, just all in. And so they let everybody go. And then So I had $1,500. And I'm like, I'm doing this. All I had was an suv, my family suv. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I know that I wanted to.

Sean is clearly dedicated to providing for his family. Starting the business with just $1,500, that takes a lot of guts. However, it's very risky to be running the business with so little cash in the bank.

So that fifteen hundred dollars. The first job we came across after. After I got let go was this lady, and we're still close friends this day, but. So she didn't have the money to do the roof. She had this old car. So it was a Toyota Prius.

Estimate car, I assume it was a blue Toyota Prius.

And so I started using that, and so I did the job for the car.

Okay, so you got your Prius, your family suv roofing company. Let's go.

Yep.

So with the Toyota Prius for about four months, with that ladder that I have in the back of my truck, I would stuff it, like, sideways in the back of the Prius, like, kind of strap the back.

You can kind of get away with that with repairs, though, right?

Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, so with repairs, it was fine, you know, and then I became good friends with the guy at Maricopa Auto Outlet. He's part of some events that I've been going to. So he hooked me up with the truck, you know, and so then I sold the Prius. You know, we started getting a lot of work, and since it was just me, like, there's not much overhead.

Right, right. So then spring came. You got a couple employees for the field?

I got one employee.

Got one employee for the field. Okay. And then that was kind of like what was revenue peak for like a month in 20? 23?

Like the highest?

Yeah.

70 grand. About 75 grand.

Good for you. Just you, one employee out in the field. I'm assuming you're kind of like half in the field, half doing sales.

Yep.

Making 70,000. Great job. Let's go, dude. Good for you. Now it's a matter though, of it sounds like we got customer didn't pay.

Yeah. And so insurance jobs. Okay, so I've been in this industry about 15 years, and I've never heard about insurance roofing jobs. Right, Got it. And so explain that.

So is that like, someone's roof goes bad, you're like, I'll fix it. And then they're like, you got to go get money for my insurance company.

So what, what happens is, you know, some storm comes by, messes up a whole roof, the shingles are missing or whatever, then they file a claim. So these storm chaser companies, what they do is every time the storm, they go state to state and following storms, and they pretty much talk the homeowner into letting us help you throughout the process of your insurance claim. And we could talk to the insurance company for you. And so, you know, you get them to file the claim, set up an inspect inspection with the insurance company, and then you, you meet the insurance company there because they don't want to approve roofs. You know, they're trained not to approve.

And you're gonna be like, it's horrible. This whole roof needs to be replaced because that one shingle is gone. Yeah.

And so I, I, I really like the concept because I like to help people. Like, you know, I'm really big on that. And so the issue I'm dealing with that is there's about now like, four jobs that, like, I'm trying to call insurance company. It's been a few months. We've done the Roof, was it trying.

To get the second, like was it approved?

Yep, it was approved from the insurance company and everything. So they send half check up front for labor material and then they take like a month, I've heard like four to six weeks to send the check, but it's been a couple of months. I'm calling the homeowner, they can't get in touch with them. Right.

They don't have a new.

Yeah, yep. And so now my lawyer is saying that I need to put a lien on the homeowner's house.

Right.

You know, like the homeowner didn't, you know, do anything. So this is the position that I'm stuck in. So I'm just trying to get either out of the insurance or.

So how much do they owe you right now, the insurance company?

A total, like 30 grand.

Okay.

Between the four jobs.

Got it. And so that's really tied up working capital.

Yeah.

And so to kind of bridge that gap right now we've cut overhead by letting the employee go.

I brought them on, helped them stay clean for about six months. And not everybody can stay clean forever. I understand that, you know, but they started to relapse and there was jobs that we had to go back on and spend more time on and it was just becoming a liability. Tried to pull them aside a few times, but you know, that didn't work. So now I need some experienced guys that are not users. Because in the roofing industry, sad to say, a lot of them do are abusing drugs. Cuz it's really physical, hard labor, intensive work. And you know, these guys want the energy, you know, to do it and then they just, you know, get hooked on it. So a good roofer is a sober one. I know that for sure. Yeah.

And then we have sold the other truck.

Yep. Having to sell the truck, it was hard. You know, that's the first truck I bought for the company.

You know, walk me through that process. Like, was it a matter of the invoices not getting paid and like, hey, we have, wait, we don't have enough working capital. Like when was that? Was that in the summer?

So that was two weeks ago.

So two weeks ago, basically you now are in the place if they haven't paid you for two months. Yeah, we have really low working capital. We let the employee go and then we sold the other truck.

Well, no. So it went like this. The insurance jobs, like that's fine. Like I've been being able to keep up. But we did, we did that large commercial job, but we so we had to get signed up with the property management company and the largest property management company, and we kind of rolled up on an accident. The owner wanted us to do the roof, so we had to get signed up through their property management company. And they're in 60 countries. They have hundreds. 60 countries. They're the largest property management company. And this is exactly, you know, what I was trying to do. You get, like, four of those, and they send you leads right automatically. And so. So we do that job. We do it. And I was like. Because they told me that they pay instantly, whatever. And so I sent them the invoice, and it takes two weeks. Like, it's in the processing, and they're like, oh, it's gonna take 12 to 14 days. This is the first. First payment for you guys. So it takes a little longer. And then my payroll was due, like, four days after the job was done. And so that's what I was counting on, paying payroll. And then. So. So at this time, I had two field guys. I trained them. You know, they're fresh out of high school. I trained them, helped them out. And then, you know, I told them in advance, like, hey, man, I might not be able to make payroll. Just want to let you guys know in advance. I try to be very transparent because I don't want to be, you know, anyone to be shocked. And so then Friday, I told them. I'm like, look, man, it hasn't came in yet. You know, if you want to stay in, wait, that's. You know, I appreciate that, but if not, it is what it is. The next Monday, he said he was pretty much going to have the law involved if I don't pay all this. All this crap. So I had to sell that truck that they were using to pay them just to, you know, be done. And then my.

So that's a couple weeks ago.

Yeah, that was a couple weeks ago. Yeah. Yeah. Just had to, you know, I had to do what I had to do. And it does. It is hard, but my wife is there to keep me up and pick me up.

My husband had a rough upbringing, so.

I've always been his biggest cheerleader.

You know, we've been together 12 years, and she's seen me struggle. Anytime I'm down, she's there to pick me up, you know, and then vice versa. You know, we've always been. Always been a strong team.

So I, you know, kept giving him the drive and pushing him and told him he could do it. You know, his sobriety is everything.

Sean has a big heart, and he wants to help these homeowners that are in the middle of this insurance debacle and get their roofs done. However, his business is just not set up for it correct and it's not mature enough. And honestly it's lucky he hasn't bankrupted himself already because he's down a truck and he's already lost two employees, employees over this.

And then, and then the check came in from the big job. So it was 27 grand. But at that point I still had to pay my other sales guy and then I had to pay my secretary and then pay the materials and then pay myself. And then back at square one again.

Right now we took out some short term debt to kind of fill in the gap. What is that total principal?

That total is about 14,000 right now.

And that's, that's the short term debt. Is that all debt on the business right now or what is that kind of.

So we have some supplier debt because you know, these insurance jobs and with the material and the hold up on the money. So we got supplier debt, about 40 grand in supplier debt.

40, supplier debt, 14,000. Is that like a payday loan kind of thing or like from Stripe or. Where does that come from?

So it's an mca.

Okay.

So it's a daily, daily.

And so how much on that every day right now?

So it's a total of two different loans.

Okay.

And it's, it's about $600 a day, which is, that's what's killing me. So when I first got the, the MCA loans, which is the daily payments is, I was like, oh, that's no problem. I could handle that because of the volume of work that was coming in at that time. And then when it started slowing down, where I needed a bank payroll, then I don't think I was gonna be able to make the loans like that stress, that stress.

It was, it's almost too much. So we literally had to call them and put it on a two week hold until we get, you know, this other check coming in, final stuff. And now it takes effect back in about four days on Monday. So, you know, the stress is already building up from that. Again, just trying to figure out what I gotta do.

As Sean is finding out, a profitable business can go completely bankrupt if they don't manage their cash flow correctly. Although he likes to do these type of insurance jobs, these type of projects that don't pay for 60, 90, 120 days potentially might put him out of business.

I thought, I thought we were going to have to shut Down. My wife and I sat down and we just cried one night and was like, you know, we're going to have to shut this down. And then the next morning, I woke up, and I didn't accept that. I wouldn't accept shutting it down. So that's when I decided to let those guys go. You know what? I'll just do it how I did do it. It'll be just me.

I don't think Sean understands just how bad the situation is with the debt. It's not like you let these guys go, you couldn't afford to pay them, and you almost got sued for.

So regardless how bad this fails, I'm not willing to stop it unless absolutely has to.

You know, I was able to catch.

Up with Sean's wife at the house.

And I really wanted to see if she could help me understand the debt issue, since, really, she's been the one working in the office.

Where I think we messed up was we started trying to take insurance work to keep our guys busy. And then because the cash flow was. So it was halted.

Right.

You know, waiting for the second payment. By the time we got the money, we needed already to get a couple of working capital loans, which kind of tanked us because we're paying, like, 600 bucks a day. We're paying $3,500 a week.

Yeah.

And at the time, it, like, bailed us out, but now we're like, okay, we're paying out more. Paying $14,000 in loans a month.

Like, that's doesn't include the truck or the vendor loans either. No.

And so that's where that comes in.

Yeah.

Then I've chopped a lot of our stress right now. I've chopped it up to, like.

God's testing our resolve. God's testing us to see how much we can handle before he hits us with the next blessing.

Now when things are, like, starting to fall apart, you know, like, just somehow God comes through with something to where I don't know how I'm gonna make payroll. Then all of a sudden, like, something comes through where, like, I don't know, something just happens where things will keep just being fine and being fine. And now we just getting these opportunities, you know? So I just completely put my faith in him, and I know that. I know that we'll be all right.

God has had his hands on our life for a very long time in a way that every blessing and every stressing point was made for a lesson to take us all the way up to here. And I really, truly believe that.

And so is that all interest in 600 or is that like a two month prepaid off kind of thing?

So that's. So that's with interest in it.

And how long does that take to pay off? Technically at 600.

So like another. Another two months?

Couple months, yeah.

Yeah, but that's what's killing. Because 600 a day, it's almost three, I think. Almost three grand? Yeah. That's crazy. And so like, at first when I had all these jobs, like, it was fine because I wasn't even seeing it kind of coming out, you know, doing all these jobs and then, you know, now in crunch time. And so I am in the process, we, we might be getting a business loan because I think that's, you know, my only option here.

I really don't think that getting more debt is the answer to getting out of debt. The interest alone right now is killing the business every single day.

So you got 14,000 in like short term, it's killing us debt.

Yeah.

We have 40,000 of supplier debt.

Yeah.

Are you paying interest on that right now or is that like it just certain terms. Like, what does that look like?

So we're paying weekly on it, small chunks. So they don't add monthly, you know, onto it.

But that's essentially interest.

Yeah.

Okay. All right, and then we have how much for trucks and equipment right now?

Like how much in trucks debt? Oh, there's, there's no debt.

So no debt on the trucks?

No.

So really, like.

Well, I'm paying month to month on this dodge right here.

Okay.

About 500amonth.

But is that like 20 grand? Like the principal of that?

25.

Okay. So we basically have 14,000 short term. We have $40,000 in supplier debt. We got about 25,000 in debt on equipment, I. E. The trucks. Any other debt on the business, like credit card debt, anything like that?

Nope, nope. No credit card debt. Nothing.

All right. But yeah, that 14,000 is killer. What are you looking at in terms of the, the loan?

Well, so I've been trying to get a loan for four months. Nobody wants to mess with me because.

My credit and so year long, my.

Credit and I'm not over two years. And so that's why the only ones I can get was these MCA ones. Like, oh, yeah, I can get you 25,000 today.

Today? Yeah.

Like, yeah, but you're not telling me you're going to take out daily, you know. Yeah, and so that's, that's all I could get. But what I'm looking for is, you know, like 100 grand, 200 grand to get out of debt, have a little working capital going into this next year.

I'm very concerned that Sean's going to take out these long term loans at such crazy interest rates just to solve his short term cash problems. Now I understand the acute pain that comes with not having enough cash in the bank. And an alternative solution is to go grow the business and make more revenue. And right now 100% of our revenue has been coming from residential work. So in order to pay these five, six hundred dollars per day of just interest payments, let's go grow the business and focus on that residential customer.

In the very short term, 14 grand is like relatively negligible. Right. In the long term. But 600 a day?

Yeah, I've been doing that for three months now.

But, but we have, we like the working capital, personal capital, etc. Has been going this the whole time.

Yeah, yeah.

That's what I'm concerned about.

And then I caught it late, you.

Know, that it wasn't a cheap problem.

Yeah, yeah.

Because like right now you're paying 20 over 20 grand a month in just debt.

Yeah.

Like you have to be doing 80 grand a month just to break even.

Yeah, yeah.

Long term I think you're okay because I think we pay off the 14 grand, then we're fine.

Yeah.

But like $600 a day in the next three weeks, what are we doing? Like, I, I, like that's my most biggest concern.

Yeah.

Like when I was. Because I only have like very small numbers when I show up here and it's like $600 a day. We're basically working by ourself and sell the truck to bank payroll.

Yeah.

So like in the next three weeks, if we don't get the loan, what's, what's our plan?

Well, I was planning on going and advertising again through here, you know, for residential going, marketing on Facebook and a couple other programs. Part of just trying to do what I have to, you know, do whatever I can to get, you know, to get some jobs.

I consistently see Sean just getting ahead of himself and trying to think about growing this business to this massive size. And in order to do so, he's trying to go after these big projects and massive commercial jobs when reality he just needs to focus on these simple jobs that are printing cash for him. These massive commercial jobs are gonna take months to pay him. And unless you have a commercial line of credit or some loan or a bunch of cash set aside, you can literally go bankrupt just waiting for them to pay you. Now he's paying the consequences by not having a truck. He's down to employees, and he's drowning in debt. $600 a day would basically pay for three employees to be working full time. It's time to see if there's any fat we can possibly trim from the business to make it more profitable and keep the business alive.

So I do have a sales guy now. He sold insurance to big corporate companies. Been a salesman for 20 years. He's done human resources. So he. He wears multiple hats and helps me.

And so walk me kind of through what his role for the sales on the sales side is. Like, what is he doing on a daily basis? Is he getting the leads coming in and, like, taking the calls? Is he going out and doing the estimates? What's his role?

Okay, so like, our ads, when those leads come in. Yeah, he will call, set up the appointment. I'll go do the. The estimate, and then I'll go over it with him, and then he'll, like, follow up and follow up and close it.

But how many leads have come into him every day or week?

Well, so the ads, like, 10amonth? Got around 10amonth.

But those are the big jobs.

Yeah, got it. Yeah, yeah. So those are ones where people are looking up roofer near me, and they see my ad and that, they click on it, put in their information. I get an email. Got it. And these other ones are just walking around to apartment complexes, fries, wherever, and just talking to the manager, talking to him about the roof. Do you already have somebody you use that's him.

And he's doing that?

Yep. Yep, he's doing that. So.

And so there's 10amonth. How many. Like, how long has he been working with you now?

Three months.

Okay, and how many leads does he close every month? Is he closing six or seven? Out of those 10? Like, what is that?

We didn't close any of those. And so that's another thing, like, closing. So my experience is I never did sales. You know, I kind of did a little estimating, but I never did closing, you know, anything like that. So that's, I think, a weakness.

But basically, the hero of revenues coming from those leads or like, that sales process is really coming from people calling, like, I have a roof repair. Yeah, there's a leak. And then you're just going out. I'm guessing that's going to your secretary and they're setting up appointments for you.

Yeah, yeah, got it. Yeah.

And so right now, is that salesperson on salary? Is it a commission? What's that looking like?

So it's a. It's a salary on a 25 hour a week.

Okay, so it's kind of part time.

Yeah, yeah, it's part time. So. So she pretty much answers all the phone calls, enters everything in CRM. If there's any issues, she, you know, helps me figure it out.

That's the secretary.

Yep.

But is the salesperson. Are they working 25 hours a week?

What's.

No, he's working his salary, working 40 hours a week.

Okay, but. But so far we've got zero accepted estimates from that.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right, and so why do we have him?

So let me get this straight.

You laid off your team members that bring in revenue for the business, and yet at the same time kept a full time salaried salesperson on staff, and they haven't brought in a single job?

Like, what does he do every day? Like, you only have 10 leads a month.

Yeah, I mean, he.

I don't know, you know.

All right, is it more a matter of, like, you know, that in order to have the big jobs, you need a salesperson and you just feel incompetent in that area?

Yeah. So I think what it is, is, so I don't know sales. And he's been in sales 20 years. Even though it's not roofing. He's.

Yeah, but you're bringing all the revenue right now.

Yeah.

You're bringing 100% of the revenue, but you're paying him a salary.

Yeah.

And there's no results right now of that salary. There's no return on investment.

No, you make sense. Yeah. I just wanted a sales guy on the team because I know that I don't know everything that I'm doing as far as the sales part. And so I just figured, you know, to bring someone on, because if I bring someone in that knows roofing already, like, they're gonna be pricey. Very pricey.

Yeah.

You know, so I just figured I just need a sales guy on the team to help me out.

Okay, well, but having zero percent.

No, I know, I know. I know.

The reason why he doesn't have any roofing experience. Right. Like, honestly, in my opinion, it'd be a better move for you to train up guys out in the field, get them rolling and like, oh, they have the ability to sell. Like, they have the personality and I'm not gonna be able to keep them out in the field. I'm going to train them on how to sell the. The jobs on the roof and like, well, I don't know how to sell. You sold 100% of your revenue versus and you're not even doing it full time.

Yeah.

You're doing all the work.

Yeah.

In my opinion, it would be better sign someone full time to do the work. You then have time to go do the selling.

Yeah.

And regardless of whether or not you feel confident in that area, you're bringing in 100% of the sales right now. And if you can, if you can do 45, $50,000 by yourself every month, that's pretty good.

Yeah. I was wanting to do that, but instead I hired a sales guy because in order to hire like roofers that know their, you know, their stuff already, where I can just let them go do jobs, I gotta have a pipeline.

But even for sure work, even if they literally were with you, but they are skilled enough to like just work alongside of you, you'd take your 12 hour day of work, convert it down to an eight hour day and give you three extra hours to go out and do sales yourself or do the S or not be up at 3:00am yeah.

Yeah.

Because that's killing. Like that doesn't last long before things start to break down. Body relationships, business, you know, does he think he's doing a good job? Does he think he's learning? Does he, like, where does he, how does he calibrate himself? Because he's getting 10 leads a month. Like, if you only have 10 leads a month, that means you have two solid full days to do one lead. Which means if I only have one lead every two days, I should be like literally at their door knocking. I should be phone calls, I should be on their roof. I should literally be polishing things for them for free because I'm not paying my, like a salesperson, their only job is to bring in revenue. If that's not happening, there should be like red alarms going off in their brain. Is that happening for him right now?

No, no, no. I mean, no jobs are getting sold. So, you know, since he's been on.

Does he see that as a problem?

Yes.

Okay.

Yes.

What I think a salesperson should be doing is going door to door talking to homeowners and selling them smaller projects. Oh. And if you're like, well, how am I going to do that? What am I going to use for marketing material? I've made something for you. It's an instant quote door hanger that you can give these homeowners. Go to mikeandys.com roof, download your own template today and start getting roofing jobs now.

For the sales guy. So I kind of, I kind of am encouraged him to let that person go because they haven't really sold anything. Why are we keeping that person on when we, like, he's really, like, really? Right now, desean's doing all the selling in terms of revenue?

Well, yes. However, the work with what we've got, the contracts that we are getting signed this week are the ones that he landed.

Got it. Okay.

He is the. He's never been in the roofing industry, so this was new to him. He, like, went through all the schooling. He went and did all the research. When I say that he was dedicated enough to, okay, I'm not a valid ut right now, but I will go do all my research and I will go do all my schooling so that I can try to help you as best as I can. So then it came to a point where he was going out there and going for walks and walking to apartment complexes on his walks, because he's an older man. So he goes on, you know, morning walks. He went and stopped in, like, five apartment complexes that we currently all have bids up for. Right. So. And because of that, we were able to get on their vendor service. So even if we don't land those ones, we will be the vendor for every other apartment complex under that vendor. He may not have sold jobs to date yet, but he's getting us the exposure, and he's actually dedicated himself. He even wasn't even really hassling us when we couldn't pay him. And when we were able to, he was, like, very grateful because he believes in us. He's willing to work, you know, if there is no money, you know, just because he does believe in us. There's a lot of people that believe in us because what we do, how we do it, we're separate from other roofing companies. We're not. The bottom line isn't the money. The bottom line is community. Bottom line is relationships. We believe in that.

So when I had to talk with my other guy, said, hey, I might not be able to make payroll, I told him the same thing. And that's when. That day, he landed four appointments. So he started working harder and trying to do what he can, you know, And I see his drive, I see his hustle, but he doesn't, you know, doesn't know, you know, the industry. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, okay.

If Sean is working so many crazy hours, and that means his constraint is labor. So instead of focus on getting more leads and hiring salespeople, he should be focusing on getting laborers that are going to perform the work in home services. We get paid for the work done on the property. So if you want to increase revenue, go get more laborers, not more salespeople.

I agree, though, you know, it is. It is eating up my revenue.

Yeah. Because I feel like if we could get a. Even if you had to overpay a little bit in terms of getting someone that did have a touch of experience, but could just be a laborer beside you, if we can go from 45,000amonth, take that to 80,000amonth, because you have someone to do labor beside you, shorten your days so that you can go focus on the selling to go from 40, 50 to 80. Now we have a little bit more money to play with. The business is struggling. We don't have the money to have a salesperson. We don't have the work to have a salesperson. And you only have to go down the road of you have brought in zero revenue. And as a salesperson, if I was.

In that role for three months and.

I brought in zero revenue, there should be lots of warning signs. I'm probably not sticking around.

Yeah.

Why. Why is there that connection?

Because there's something emotionally wrapped up.

I mean, just over time, we just built a relationship. I mean, that's what it is, you know, we built a relationship. Relationship. Yeah. We're just very similar and just built a. Built a relationship, you know, together. So it is. That conversation is going to be tough.

You know, but it's a conversation that needs to be had.

And you kind of almost see him as kind of like he doesn't own equity, but, like, you probably talked about the business. Okay, got it.

Yeah. You know, he's. Since he works in hr, when I need legal documents, he can type it up and, you know, so he wears multiple hats and helps me out. But yeah, so that's. We just built a relationship is what it is.

So how you can close that? I was like, hey, this is not against you. I just don't need a salesperson in the business, and I can't afford one. And maybe one day we work again together. Because I've loved that relationship.

Yeah.

But right now I need to go out and get a laborer so that I can get more revenue. And I would love down the road for us to get bigger and I can get you back.

Yeah.

But, you know, to make it, like, nice leaving it just be like, I'm not going to mention the fact that you have 0% close ratio. You've got no revenue.

Right.

But like, honestly, things like preparing legal documents go on legal Zoom for $200. Don't get someone full time on payroll overhead. Right.

Okay.

Like what you're paying him will easily pay someone out in the field that's pretty experienced. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's probably paid enough to get an experienced person.

Yeah.

And you're going to put that person right beside you and probably increase revenue by 70, 80%.

Okay.

Bring your working hours down and spend that time on going, getting more jobs that you are bringing 100% of right now.

Okay.

Like what's your close ratio like if you go out and get leads and you're giving estimates is like 50, 60% your closing.

So my CRM says my close ratio and it's 65%.

Let's go.

Yeah.

You are the sales guy. Right. Right now we are paying for an overly an overhead position. Probably more of an admin role in my opinion. Slash therapist.

Which is.

There's value to that. There's value of having someone alongside you. And especially for a first time entrepreneur coming from a big company, it's nice to have that.

Yeah.

But we don't have the money for that right now. Yeah. Right.

Yeah.

And if you able to unlock that immediately have rep of extra 20, 30, 40 grand a month coming in from a laborer because you have the time to go out and do the leads.

Yeah.

Follow up them yourself. Etc. That's. I. That has to be done like.

Yeah.

Asap.

It was going to be a difficult, difficult task. Absolutely. But I got to do what's best for the company at the moment because.

I, I really am like, I'm. Regardless of the camera. Like I am concerned for you just in the fact that right now $600 a month or a day means we have to do 80,000amonth in revenue just to pay that.

Look, I get it. It's difficult firing employees, especially after you've.

Built a good working relationship with them.

But Sean can't afford a full time salaried salesperson, let alone the fact that he hasn't sold anything. I keep hearing that he has a lot of jobs in the pipeline, but honestly the pipeline doesn't pay the bills. Zero closed sales in four months is simply unacceptable.

Are you booked out though right now or is it like as the jobs are come, you're basically like putting them on the schedule.

Yeah. As the jobs are coming, you know we're going so.

But it's not like the phones literally ring off the hook and you are booked out six to eight weeks. Okay. It's not like, okay.

Only when it rains. So if it rains for two days, I'm booked for a month.

Really.

Phone calls just keep coming. But those are all residential.

And so where they. Where the hell they find you because, like your website.

Commercial. Commercial, yeah.

So how.

I just got it revamped. I just revamped it. You know, we have a marketing company now doing my SEO, but mostly from Facebook, but. But like as far as these commercial ones, I'm having a hard time finding them online.

Right.

You know, and so since I've been focusing on commercial, I've just kind of xed out residential and now the cash flow. So I'm thinking, okay, I can't just stop doing that and focus on this because what about the gap in the middle?

Right?

And so now we're thinking, you know, we're going to keep advertising for residential and slowly branch into the commercial market.

Getting more work on the schedule is the only way for Sean and Universal Roofing to be able to afford the debt and the hole they've gotten themselves into. I honestly don't care if it's commercial or residential. You just got to fill the schedule with work that's profitable and you can collect on the invoices.

The new site, like, why is it built as if you are a national company?

Because I want to get those big commercial jobs pretty much, you know, and I know like from the website I had was residential and I was getting all the residential calls. And so since I really want to branch into commercial, I was like, let me revamp the. The website where it's just commercial. Like, I wanted the best roofing website that there is in Arizona. So that's why it looks like when you look at it, we look like a huge, like a huge, huge company.

Right. You know, but this is the thing, like you literally told me the reason people choose you right now is because you are a family owned business. That doesn't scream family owned to me.

That makes sense.

Right? It's like if I was you, I would lean into what makes you unique and different because there's a bunch of other companies that are trying to be the best looking website for commercial in Arizona. Okay. That picture on your website is more representative of what your unique selling proposition is, which is you are family owned. And if everyone's joining and becoming customers because of that, why are we trying to look like this massive company?

Sean needs to play to his strengths right now. 100% of his revenue is coming from residential jobs. These customers are looking for someone that's local, family owned, and that's not what his website is telling me. His website looks like it's a massive $10 million national conglomerate doing huge warehouses and solar panels when 00 of his revenue is actually coming from those types of jobs. This is a mismatch of the brand. And customers are going to come to this and they're going to be confused.

Confused.

This is why we started homeservice web design.com a place where you can get your website built, a cohesive brand where customers can come and not be confused with your brand. And this is one of the best ways to get customers for your business.

And then what's going to happen is people are going to be like, oh, this is a massive company. Great, I have a four million dollar project for you. And you're literally going to like suffer under the weight of that because you're not that. Also what's happening, you're not even here hearing from these people is they're looking for a hometown company that's family owned. They go to your site like, oh, it's not them.

Okay, yeah.

All right. And so right now most of your leads are coming from Facebook, local word of mouth, et cetera. I would lean into that if that's where all of your leads are coming from. You're over 10 on a monthly basis for the commercial big stuff. And we're trying to become that, which maybe one day we do, but we got to make it work, work at the current size and what's currently working. And I think you're turning away people that otherwise want the family owned business when they get to your website.

Look, I appreciate someone that's really motivated and wants to grow their business, but you have to realize that there are stages and steps to growing a large business. And for someone that's always trying to grow, grow, grow their company, a lot of times it leads to impatience and impatience leads to things like taking out massive amounts of debt so you can grow the business fast. Growing a business fast isn't as good as growing a profitable business. Growing it slow over time, but doing so in a much more safe and protected way for you, your family and for the business.

I don't want to say I'm too motivated, but I think my goals are like really, really big. And I'm just trying to skip all this and get there and it's, you know, not possible.

And like some you'll hear the story of the person that did start three years they this massive company.

Right?

Well, I always tear it back to like, okay, let's actually look at the Math. Did they have a whole bunch of money they could burn in the first couple years? Did they have an investor that just gave them money? How much profit are they actually making? Because like, on the outside, someone could look at you and be like, this is massive company. And they don't know about the struggles. It's like the duck was like the feet underneath the water. Right. And so that, that's. I'd be very careful judging another business based on their growth because you don't know all that back end detail. All we know is that we know that this working. We are closing 50, 60% of these jobs. We're profitable on them. We're making 50 grand per crew member per month, which is fantastic. And it's profitable work. Let's just keep doing more of that.

Yeah.

And then that will give us the confidence and the cash flow and the resources to go do something bigger down the road. But right now you are small, trying to look big. One day you'll be big, trying to look small. Right.

Well, I just, you know, I'm like, you know, I've worked for these companies, so I'm like, I gotta compete with these guys now. Like, they're now my competition. And so, you know, in my mind I'm like, I gotta be either look as good or bigger. Yeah, better. But, you know, now that you've put it in that perspective, you know, because I, I did tell you, you know, people love that we're family owned and now it makes sense. You know, you go right here to our website and it just looks huge.

I looked at this. We actually didn't know it was the right company because I see this, I'm like, oh, that's a four million dollar project, right? Did you install that one?

Those are shutterstock.

Exactly.

Right. Well.

And the Shutterstock doesn't convey the thing that you. That is your unique selling proposition, usp. And that is like this picture here.

Crushes that with Maricopa.

Like a picture of Maricopa. You guys, like, next to the Maricopa sign with a picture of your family, like, family owned in Maricopa since 2021 or whatever it is, crushes.

So we got invited.

We are receiving an award from the Chamber of Commerce for here locally Maricopa, for the fastest growing contracted company. Fastest growing contracted company. But I'm struggling.

Totally.

Right?

But this is the thing, right? New business within the first year, everyone's struggling. First three years is typically hell. Like, I'm not judging you for that. If you would have been in business for 10 years I have a very different way I'm dealing with this because I'd probably like there's other issues that are so bad when you close down, but when your first year, like everyone has these problems. I had times I had, I borrowed ten grand for my brother to make payroll. Right. I took my student loan that I had like I didn't take any student loans when I was going to school. One quarter couldn't make payroll. So I took the student loan to make payroll and then paid off the loan back like a couple months later. So it's just part of the process. But this is the thing. A picture of you receiving that award with like the mayor of Maricopa like handshake smiling right here.

Does a whole lot better than shutterstock.

Of these random solar panels on these. Like that is like probably a million dollar job.

Yeah. That's huge. Yeah.

And have we ever closed a million dollar job?

Not yet.

So why are we.

Right, Like I think, I think, think that like these pictures is like you getting the award. Your family next to the Maricopa sign you on the top of like giving a handshake to the customer in front of a very Maricopa type house.

Okay.

Because that is where exactly 100% of our revenue is coming from right now. And that is our unique selling proposition. It's not that we do one million dollar solar panels on the top of a warehouse. Right. We'll get to this maybe one day, right?

Yeah.

I think now down the road with you could potentially do is have a different residential and commercial brand. Right. Universal roofing specialist does scream multi million dollar company. Right. Sean's roofing seems really, really small. Probably smaller than what we want in the future. Probably don't want to go that small. But something like Maricopa roofing specialist speaks a little more homegrown to me.

I'm not saying you should change the.

Name, but I think down the road if you grew the residential. Okay, now I'm ready for the million dollar projects. Then lean into this branding.

Okay.

But this branding scares away the person looking for a family owned business.

Okay.

Like take away your. Take away the word roofing and you have absolutely. Whoops. You have absolutely no idea what that is. You don't know if it's a roofing company. This looks to me like the UN. This is literally like the UN's logo. Like if I take roofing, it's us. This is like a branch of the Miller Military. It's government. I don't know why there's a universe.

When I created this. I'm like commercial. This has to be look good.

Totally.

Right now it's.

But that's where exactly zero of our revenues come from.

Right. And so I think this can become something down the road. I do believe that. I'm not opposed to doing the million dollar project solar on top of a warehouse, but there are stages to getting there. And I think right now focusing on the residential, focusing on, on the USP unique selling properties that you have in the local community is like you just beat that thing to death.

Sean has a big heart and I truly hope that he's able to turn around universal roofing. In order to do that, they're going to need to increase revenue so they can start chipping away and paying off this debt. How they need to increase revenue is focus on what's already working and that is the residential customer. Instead of trying to go after these massive commercial jobs and warehouses and solar, it's confusing the customer and you need to create a cohesive brand on your website. My biggest concern is that they're trying to solve the problem of their debt with even more debt and that could.

Be very, very fatal.

If you're interested in growing a roofing business, check this other video right here where we took four brothers at Top Dogs Roofing that built a business from zero all the way, $900,000 in annual revenue.

And if it didn't make dollars, it didn't make no sense.

I gotta be careful, I say. Every time I say something like that, Steven pops it to the end of the.