Got a stats sheet from an insurance adjuster that flipped my view on material markup

Last week a claims guy in Dayton handed me a breakdown of what they pay for roofing vs what I charge. I always thought 30% markup was fair, but their data showed the average contractor in our county only pockets 12% after waste and drop fees. That got me asking, are we all just lowballing ourselves to stay competitive, or is that really the honest number? Curious if anyone else has seen actual cost data from an adjuster and changed their pricing over it.

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angela68718d ago

Oh boy, that's an interesting one. But I'd push back a little on the idea that the adjuster's number is the whole truth. That 12% figure almost certainly doesn't count what a contractor makes on the back end, like getting a better price on shingles from a supplier or making up margin on a tear-off fee that wasn't in the original bid. I've seen adjusters' spreadsheets before and they're built to show their own settlement is fair, not to show you your real profit. If you only pocket 12% on every job, you'd be out of business within a year, so that number has to be missing something. I'd treat it as a starting point for your own math, not as the gospel.