Caleb Gouge started Gouge Quality Roofing in Lancaster, Ohio after working on roofs in college. The company did about $3.2 million in sales in 2021 and has scaled from its modest start to servicing a 75-minute driving radius. The goal now is to serve the entire state. From storm damage to roof repair, and new siding installation, Gouge Quality Roofing prides itself on providing excellent customer service based on trust with a focus on scaling the business.
“With HOVER, each one of our reps now sells $1.5 - $2 million in a year,” says Caleb Gouge, founder and owner of Gouge Quality Roofing. “If they did it the old school way, they wouldn’t sell anywhere near that because they wouldn’t have the time.”
How an improved sales process jumpstarted growth
Caleb was exploring ways to get out of the details of day-to-day operations and into managing the company at a higher level. He shared, “Early on, I held all of the business metrics in my head, which is not a way to scale a business.”
He started by adopting HOVER to support their roofing sales process. According to Caleb, it was easy for the team to learn and helped the reps give more attention to their customers. Now, Gouge Quality Roofing uses HOVER on every residential job. Through HOVER, they don’t spend time hand measuring or returning for a re-measure because that work is done for them by just taking photos with their phone. This increased efficiency isn’t limited to measurements, but improved the speed at which they were generating customer quotes too. Caleb shares that previously, developing an estimate could take up to an hour. Now with HOVER Estimates, it only takes 10 minutes and can be done onsite so the team doesn’t spend precious time at their customer meetings climbing the ladder or crunching numbers.
The impact of these changes didn’t end at the point of sale either. Caleb says, “Previously, to create a material order, we had to translate messy handwriting and fill everything out manually.” Phil Theophilus, who works in vendor development said, “Creating a material order now takes a quarter of the time with HOVER.” That’s because accurate roofing and siding takeoffs are done for the entire team by HOVER; nothing is missed, reducing change orders and trips to get materials during install.
Breaking into siding was made simple and attainable
With HOVER making it simpler to estimate, 2021 was the year Gouge Quality Roofing decided to make a big push into more exterior trades.
“I didn’t like doing siding estimates because it took me hours, but with HOVER, it’s just as quick as the roof.”
It has been particularly helpful as they’ve hired new salespeople because the measurements and estimates are more dependable regardless of who is selling the job. Plus, it’s easier to onboard new employees; new sales reps are selling more accurately and efficiently than ever within hours of training.
“When we trained new reps in the past, they would follow up for a year with questions about how to bid, and still feel uncertain,” says Caleb. “But with HOVER's visual estimate workflow, those reps are making themselves and our company money much faster.”
Automation helps, but customer experience is still the key to success
Gouge Quality Roofing’s attention to homeowner needs is at the core of how they do business. It’s in their motto – ‘We Serve People.’ With their greater aim is to improve the industry, their service is why they win.
“People are spending a lot of money on their roof,” says Caleb, “so we’re focused on providing customers the best experience and product.” That customer experience shines through in the way they introduce their well-trained team as “roofing consultants” and in their attention to detail. For example, the install teams remove the net line that catches debris at the end of each day instead of at the end of the project to keep the site clean. It’s also why they leverage HOVER’s three dimensional property visuals to actually show their customers what the finished project will look like instead of relying on sample boards that are out of context and hard to imagine large-scale. Pairing their strong, customer-minded team with the technology necessary to support them is how they arrived where they are today.
Phil and Caleb agree that HOVER created efficiencies everywhere, from sales to production. “With HOVER, you save on time, and time is money.” As the company aims to expand its reach, HOVER continues to support its growth.
See how HOVER Estimates can help your business quote more accurately to close faster.
