When getting quotes for your spray foam roofing project, you might find that the prices are all over the place. There are a few reasons for this.
1. Spray foam roofing installations are a “specialty application”. Starting a spray foam roofing business is very expensive, because of the cost of equipment, materials, workman’s comp insurance & pay rates for experienced foam applicators. There is also marketing costs and like every business, overall operational costs like office, management and contractor responsibilities. The start up costs alone for a spray foam truck, trailer, foam machine, generator, compressor, hoses, spray guns, etc… are typically a minimum of $100,000.00. Spray foam roofing applications are unlike any other roofing installation where the contractor can hire minimum wage employees, buy the materials at Home Depot and bring hammer & nails.
2. Because spray foam roofing is such a technical application, there are only a handful of qualified contractors, so the demand for a spray foam roof is much more dominant than the supply. By June or July, if a spray foam contractor isn’t almost full of work for the season, they will be soon and the prices are going to go up. Way up! Most spray foam roofing contractors are ready to schedule jobs for the next spring by the end of September. The bottom line is, do your due diligence and hire your spray foam contractor as early in the spring as possible.
3. Some spray foam companies operate as “family owned”. This is because the expertise is handed down from generation to generation. Just because they are family owned and have 5-star Yelp! reviews, doesn’t necessarily meant they are the best choice. A lot of family owned spray foam businesses don’t always have family members who want to continue the generational advancement, so as the spray technician in the family might be really good at what they do, the company lacks in internal office affairs and customer service. Often times, scheduling becomes a problem, because one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing. When family owned spray foam businesses are in the same league as “the big guys” who spend a fortune on marketing, the pricing tends to be lower in order to “get the job”.
4. Finally, “the big guys”. Spoiler alert! They’re not always that big. Most foam roofing companies, if “local” only have one or two foam crews even though they spend 10’s of thousands of dollars each year getting the word out. In order to pay for the marketing, they have to appear as though they are the best, but really aren’t any different than the small, family owned business.
Don’t get me wrong, not all family owned spray foam businesses have troubles scheduling and applying great foam roofs, in fact there are multiple small foam roofing companies that have a great reputation and have been in business for years. Typically, you won’t find them on the internet or on Yelp!, because they are so good at what they do, most of their business comes from referrals and word-of-mouth.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to know more about the spray foam roofing companies in your local area, please give us a call at (800) 878-1480 and we can direct you to the best!