How a 2-Person Roofing Shop Went from 4 Leads a Week to 15 (Without Paying for a Single One)

The Problem With Being Good at Roofing

Marcus had been roofing in the Kansas City metro for 11 years. He ran a tight two-person operation — him and his brother-in-law Danny.

Good work. Five-star Google reviews. Referrals from satisfied customers.

But he had a pipeline problem that no amount of good work was going to fix.

He was getting four or five leads a week. Some weeks, three. Two of those leads would typically go nowhere — either they didn't call back, or they already had someone cheaper lined up, or they were shopping four bids and went with the lowest one.

So he was closing maybe two jobs a week. For a two-person shop, that was enough to keep the lights on. But it wasn't enough to grow, hire, or take a week off without the schedule going empty.

The slow weeks — and there were a lot of them in the fall and early spring — felt like they were going to sink the business every time they happened.

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What He Was Spending

Marcus was paying Angi $1,800 a month. He'd been on the platform for four years because "that's what you do" when you're a contractor trying to get found.

Here's what $1,800 a month was actually getting him:

• 12-15 leads per month
• 6-8 who actually responded to phone calls
• 4-5 who agreed to a site visit
• 2-3 who accepted a bid
• 1-2 who went with Marcus instead of a competitor

So his close rate on Angi leads was somewhere around 10-15%. His cost per booked job? Around $900. On jobs that often ran $4,000-$8,000, that was survivable — but barely.

And the worst part wasn't the cost. It was that the leads were shared with 3-5 other roofers. Marcus was competing in a race he had to run every time someone clicked on Angi.

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The Change

In September 2025, a customer mentioned he'd looked Marcus up on LinkedIn before calling and noticed he hadn't been posting anything. That comment stuck.

Marcus started reading about direct outreach — not social media posting, but actual email outreach to property managers and commercial building owners in the KC metro. He'd always focused on residential. But he started wondering what his margins looked like on commercial work, and whether those customers were as price-sensitive as the residential ones coming through Angi.

They weren't. Not even close.

He signed up for an AI outreach tool and spent an afternoon setting it up. He defined his target — property management companies with commercial buildings in Johnson County, Jackson County, and Clay County. HVAC shops, restaurants, small office buildings. Places with flat or low-slope roofs that needed regular maintenance.

He set up a simple three-email sequence:

Email 1: Introduction — who we are, service area, response time, licensed and insured in Missouri.

Email 2 (day 4): Follow-up — "Wanted to make sure this didn't get buried. Happy to come out and do a free inspection on any of your properties."

Email 3 (day 10): Close the loop — "Last note from me. If timing ever works out, we're at [phone]."

The tool started sending these emails automatically, 40-50 per day, to targets he'd never have found manually.

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The First 30 Days

The first week, Marcus got two replies. Both were polite declines — "we have a vendor, thank you." He almost gave up.

Week two, he got a reply from a property manager who managed 14 apartment buildings in Overland Park. She'd been trying to get her current roofer to do an inspection on three properties with aging membranes. He kept pushing it off. She wanted someone responsive.

Marcus showed up the next morning. Did all three inspections that day. Sent a full photo report with recommended repairs and timelines.

She hired him for two of the three repair jobs and put him on her vendor list for all 14 properties.

That was $22,000 in work from one email.

By the end of month one, Marcus had gotten 11 replies from commercial targets. Three converted to inspections. Two converted to paid work. One was still in conversation.

Meanwhile, he dropped Angi.

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Month 3: The Numbers

By December — 90 days into the outreach system — Marcus's pipeline looked different.

Inbound leads per week: 14-17 (up from 4-5)

Sources:

• Google Business Profile (reviews had grown from 22 to 41): 4-6 leads/week
• Direct commercial outreach: 6-8 leads/week
• Referrals from new commercial clients: 2-4 leads/week

Close rate: 45% (up from 10-15% on Angi leads)

Cost per booked job: Under $50

Average job size: $9,400 (up from $5,200 — because commercial jobs are bigger)

He wasn't spending $1,800 a month on Angi anymore. He was spending $89 a month on the outreach tool.

The gap between his old cost-per-job and his new one was not subtle.

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What He'd Do Differently

I asked Marcus what he'd change if he were starting over.

"I'd have started the Google reviews earlier. The outreach works way better when people can Google you and see 40 reviews instead of 12. Some of those property managers looked us up before they replied. Having the reviews closed the deal."

He also said he'd have targeted commercial from the beginning instead of treating it like an afterthought.

"I spent four years thinking residential was the business. Residential is fine, but commercial is where the repeat work is. A property manager with 10 buildings is worth more than 50 homeowners. They call you when something comes up because you're already their guy."

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The Framework (Use This)

If you want to replicate what Marcus did, here's the playbook in order:

Step 1: Get your Google presence in order first.

Claim your GBP. Add photos. Get your reviews above 25. This makes your outreach convert better because prospects look you up.

Step 2: Define your commercial targets.

Property managers, HOA management companies, commercial building owners, restaurants with flat roofs. Pick a radius — 30 miles is a good start.

Step 3: Set up a three-email sequence.

Email 1: Introduction. Email 2 (day 4): Follow-up with a concrete offer (free inspection). Email 3 (day 10): Final close.

Step 4: Send at volume.

40-50 emails per day is the minimum for commercial roofing to move the needle. Below that, the math doesn't work. An AI outreach tool makes this manageable.

Step 5: When you get replies, move fast.

Property managers are evaluating vendors on responsiveness. If you reply to a lead inquiry within an hour, you're already ahead of 80% of your competition.

Step 6: After every commercial job, ask for a referral.

Not a Google review — an introduction. "Do you know any other property managers in the area who might be looking for a reliable roofer?" This is how the commercial network compounds.

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The Honest Timeline

This isn't a "results overnight" story. Marcus's first meaningful conversion came in week two. His pipeline didn't look genuinely different until month two.

Most roofers who try outreach give up in week two because they got a few polite declines and concluded it doesn't work. It works — but it takes a few weeks for the replies to come in, and another few weeks for those replies to turn into booked jobs.

The math at scale is good. The math in week one looks like nothing.

If you're willing to stick with it through the slow start, the compounding effect is real. Every new commercial client is a relationship that generates work for years, not just one job.

Try LeadClaw free — see how many commercial roofing targets are in your area.