What separates a roofing business from a roofing job?

In this replay episode, Dave Sullivan sits down with Tommy Mello, founder of A1 Garage Door Service and one of the most influential entrepreneurs in the home service industry.

Tommy shares lessons learned while building a highly valuable company, including how to create a business that works without you, why profit must come before growth, how to hire and retain great people, and why most contractors never build a company that can actually be sold.

Whether you’re trying to grow your roofing company, improve profitability, or build a business that gives you more freedom, this episode is packed with practical insights.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• The difference between owning a business and owning a job
• Why most contractors struggle to build a sellable company
• How EBITDA impacts business value
• The importance of profit before growth
• Why hiring A-players changes everything
• How to create accountability with KPIs and scorecards
• The power of delegation and building systems
• Why culture is one of your greatest competitive advantages
• How successful contractors build teams that operate without them
• Lessons from scaling a home service company

• Tommy Mello
• A1 Garage Door Service
• Home Service Millionaire
• The E-Myth Revisited
• Rocket Fuel
• The Dream Manager
• The One Thing

ProLine CRM: theroofercoach.com/proline

Built specifically for contractors to help manage leads, sales, production, follow-up, and customer communication.

SMA Support: theroofercoach.com/sma

Virtual team members for lead management, appointment setting, customer follow-up, CRM management, and administrative support.

Website:

https://theroofercoach.com

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@DaveSullivanRooferShow

Subscribe to The Roofer Show for weekly conversations focused on the business end of the roofing business

About The Roofer Show

The Roofer Show Podcast helps roofing contractors grow their businesses, make more money, and have more free time.

Hosted by Dave Sullivan, The Roofer Coach, the show shares practical advice on roofing sales, marketing, operations, leadership, and financial management.

Thinking about starting a roofing business in 2026 — or trying to grow the one you already have?

In this episode, Dave Sullivan sits down with former Roofer Show co-host John DeLaurier to break down what it actually takes to build a profitable roofing company in today’s market.

John started a roofing business from scratch, built it into a successful company, eventually sold it, and now works with roofing contractors across the country through ProLine CRM. Together, Dave and John discuss the systems, numbers, leadership, marketing, customer experience, and technology that separate successful roofing businesses from the ones that struggle.

They cover:

• Why profit matters more than revenue
• How to reverse engineer your business goals
• The importance of branding and customer experience
• Speed to lead and follow-up systems
• Hiring and building a sales team
• Marketing strategies that actually work
• CRM systems, automations, and KPIs
• What most roofing contractors get wrong when starting out

If you want to build a roofing business that’s profitable, scalable, and less dependent on you — this episode is packed with practical advice.

As your roofing company grows, the chaos usually grows with it: production tracking, supplements, admin work, scheduling, follow-up, and more.

SMA Support helps roofing companies simplify operations with trained virtual assistants, inside sales support, CRM management, and back-office help so owners can focus on growing the business instead of constantly putting out fires.

Learn more at:

https://theroofercoach.com/sma

ProLine CRM

Most roofing companies don’t have a lead problem — they have a follow-up problem.

ProLine CRM helps roofing contractors automate follow-up, manage pipelines, track leads, build proposals, and sell more jobs without the chaos.

Learn more at:

https://theroofercoach.com/proline

WEBSITE:

https://theroofercoach.com

https://www.youtube.com/@TheRooferShow

Looking for guidance and accountability to help build a more profitable roofing business?

Schedule a strategy call at:

https://davesullivan.as.me/free-strategy-call

The Roofer Show Podcast helps roofing contractors grow their businesses, make more money, and have more free time.

Hosted by Dave Sullivan, The Roofer Coach, the show shares practical advice on roofing sales, marketing, operations, leadership, and financial management.

Selling the job is only the beginning.

In Part 2 of this conversation, Dave Sullivan and John DeLaurie get into the next two legs of the stool:

• doing the work
• and keeping score

• where roofing companies start losing money
• communication breakdowns with homeowners
• production handoff problems
• customer experience and reviews
• job costing
• dashboards and KPIs
• bookkeeping and cash flow
• accountability and ownership
• AI and operational systems

This episode focuses on what actually happens after the sale — and why so many roofing companies struggle operationally even when sales are strong.

Looking for help building a more profitable roofing business with better systems and accountability? Let’s talk.

Take the Profit Leak Audit:

https://theroofercoach.com/audit

ProLine CRM – Know your numbers and close more jobs.

Track your leads, follow-ups, and pipeline so nothing falls through the cracks.

👉 Check it out: https://theroofercoach.com/proline

SMA Support – Never miss another call or follow-up.

They handle your calls and lead follow-up so you stop losing the jobs you’re already paying for.

👉 Learn more: https://theroofercoach.com/sma

About The Roofer Show

The Roofer Show Podcast helps roofing contractors grow their businesses, make more money, and have more free time.

Hosted by Dave Sullivan, The Roofer Coach, the show shares practical advice on roofing sales, marketing, operations, leadership, and financial management.

Most roofing companies don’t have a lead problem — they have a systems problem.

In this episode, Dave Sullivan sits down with John DeLaurie to talk about:

• what top roofing contractors are doing differently
• why so many companies stay stuck operationally
• lead generation that actually works
• sales process and follow-up
• answering the phone and speed to lead CRM systems and automations
• building a roofing business that runs profitably

John also shares insights from talking with contractors around the country and what separates companies that are growing from those that stay stuck.

Next week, Dave and John get into the next two legs of the stool — doing the work and keeping score — where most roofing companies really start losing money.

Looking for help building a more profitable roofing business with better systems and accountability? Let’s talk.

Take the Profit Leak Audit:

https://theroofercoach.com/audit

Recommended Tools

ProLine CRM – Know your numbers and close more jobs.

Track your leads, follow-ups, and pipeline so nothing falls through the cracks.

👉 Check it out: https://useproline.com/

SMA Support – Never miss another call or follow-up.

They handle your calls and lead follow-up so you stop losing the jobs you’re already paying for.

👉 Learn more: https://funnels.smasupport.us/the-roofer-show

About The Roofer Show

The Roofer Show Podcast helps roofing contractors grow their businesses, make more money, and have more free time.

Hosted by Dave Sullivan, The Roofer Coach, the show shares practical advice on roofing sales, marketing, operations, leadership, and financial management.

If you’re a roofing contractor tired of chasing jobs and inconsistent revenue… this episode will change how you think about your business.

In this episode, I sit down with Bryan Mitchell to break down how to build a profitable repair and maintenance division—and why it can be one of the most overlooked opportunities in roofing.

1. We walk through it step-by-step:
2. Why only 5–7% of roofs get replaced each year
3. How service creates recurring revenue
4. What a service division actually looks like
5. How to start (even if you’re small)
6. The numbers behind a $500K service truck
7. How to find opportunities and win the work
8. The biggest mistakes contractors make

This isn’t theory—this is how real roofing businesses build profit, stability, and long-term value.

Learn more about Bryan Mitchell:

https://serviceadvantedge.net

Looking for a mentor to help build a more profitable roofing business?

https://theroofercoach.com

SMA Support

https://theroofercoach.com/sma

The Roofer Show Podcast helps roofing contractors grow their businesses, make more money, and have more free time.

Hosted by Dave Sullivan, The Roofer Coach, the show shares practical advice on roofing sales, marketing, operations, leadership, and financial management.

If you had to step away from your business for two weeks… would it run—or fall apart?

In this episode, I break down the “2-Week Vacation Test”—a simple way to see whether you actually own a business… or just a job.

Most contractors don’t have a lead problem. They have a structure problem.

If everything depends on you—calls, sales, production, decisions—your business can’t grow.

We walk through the 3 core areas every roofing business needs to function without the owner:

1. Selling the work (lead handling & follow-up)
2. Doing the work (production & accountability)
3. Keeping score (financial visibility)

I’ll also show you where most contractors are leaking money—and how to start fixing it.

If you want to know exactly where your business is breaking, download the Roofing Business Success Audit below.

👉 Roofing Business Success Audit:

https://theroofercoach.com/audit

👉 Learn more about SMA Support:

https://theroofercoach.com/sma

👉 Learn more about ProLine CRM:

https://theroofercoach.com/proline

00:00 – The 2-Week Vacation Test

00:30 – Welcome to The Roofer Show

01:15 – The Real Problem (You Are the System)

03:30 – The 3-Legged Stool Explained

07:00 – Run the Test on Your Business

10:00 – Fixing the Bottlenecks

10:30 – SMA (Lead Handling & Follow-Up)

11:45 – ProLine CRM (Systems & Pipeline)

13:00 – Why This Actually Matters

16:00 – Download the Audit

18:30 – Final Thoughts

Download the Roofing Business Success Audit:

https://theroofercoach.com/download-audit

The Roofer Show Podcast helps roofing contractors grow their businesses, make more money, and have more free time.

Hosted by Dave Sullivan, The Roofer Coach, the show shares practical advice on roofing sales, marketing, operations, leadership, and financial management.

Most roofing contractors think they need more leads…

But the real problem is what happens AFTER the lead comes in.

In this episode, we break down what it actually costs to get a customer — and why chasing more leads is probably costing you thousands.

If you’ve been spending money on Google Ads, SEO, or lead services and not seeing the results you want… this will change how you look at your business.

👉 Find your biggest profit leak in 2 minutes:

https://theroofercoach.com/audit

1. The real cost per lead and cost per customer
2. Why most contractors don’t know their close rate
3. How one job should create multiple opportunities
4. The simple referral system most companies skip
5. How to grow without relying on more leads

Looking for a mentor to help guide you and accountability to building a more profitable roofing business? Let’s talk.

https://theroofercoach.com/audit

ProLine CRM – Know your numbers and close more jobs.

Track your leads, follow-ups, and pipeline so nothing falls through the cracks.

👉 Check it out: https://useproline.com/

SMA Support – Never miss another call or follow-up.

They handle your calls and lead follow-up so you stop losing the jobs you’re already paying for.

👉 Learn more: https://funnels.smasupport.us/the-roofer-show

Most roofing contractors don’t go out of business because of lack of leads.

They go out of business because they don’t understand their numbers.

In this episode, Dave Sullivan breaks down why contractors stay busy but still go broke—and what to fix before it’s too late.

Featuring insights from Michael Stone from Markup and Profit , this episode covers:

• Why 9 out of 10 contractors fail
• The biggest pricing mistakes roofers make
• The difference between markup and margin
• Why more sales can actually make things worse
• The minimum profit you need to stay in business

If you’re not clear on your numbers, none of the marketing or leads matter.

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube (recommended to see the slides and numbers):

Watch Now

📊 Want help breaking down your business?

Book a Free Roofing Business Review:

https://davesullivan.as.me/free-strategy-call

🔧 ProLine CRM (built for roofing contractors):

Track your leads, follow up consistently, and close more jobs

👉https://useproline.com

📞 SMA Support:

Never miss calls or follow-ups again—turn more leads into jobs

👉 https://www.smasupport.us/contractor-back-office-outsourcing-bpo-services-about/contact/

📚 Learn more from Michael Stone:

https://markupandprofit.com

🎧 More from The Roofer Show:

https://theroofercoach.com

The Roofer Show Podcast helps roofing contractors grow their businesses, make more money, and have more free time.

Hosted by Dave Sullivan, The Roofer Coach, the show shares practical advice on roofing sales, marketing, operations, leadership, and financial management.

Most roofing contractors don’t have a lead problem—they’re losing money in their follow-up, systems, and execution.

In this episode, I sit down with Chris Diroll from SMA Support to break down 5 profit leaks that are quietly costing roofing businesses serious revenue.

1. The 1-minute rule (speed to lead)
2. Mining your CRM graveyard (rehash opportunities)
3. Keeping your reps focused on selling
4. Neighborhood marketing for free leads
5. Building a referral system that actually work

If you fix these, you don’t need more leads—you just need to convert better.

Take the Profit Leak Audit:

https://theroofercoach.com/sma

Book a Free Strategy Call:

Schedule Now

ProLine (Recommended Tool):

https://useproline.com/

Watch on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/YVmloP2au3k

The Roofer Show Podcast helps roofing contractors grow their businesses, make more money, and have more free time.

Hosted by Dave Sullivan, The Roofer Coach, the show shares practical advice on roofing sales, marketing, operations, leadership, and financial management.

Most roofing contractors think hiring a salesperson will solve their problems.

In reality… it usually creates new ones.

In this episode, I break down why your first sales hire often costs you money, how it impacts your margins, and what you need in place before you even think about bringing someone on.

If you’re doing $1M–$4M and thinking about hiring—or already have salespeople and things aren’t working the way you expected—this episode will help you take back control.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why most contractors screw up their first sales hire
• The truth about “commission-only” salespeople
• How hiring too early actually reduces your profit
• The math behind what a salesperson really needs to produce
• Why this is a control problem—not a sales problem
• What needs to be in place before you hire

Free 1-Page Business Plan:

https://theroofercoach.com

2026 Roofing Business Success Audit:

https://theroofercoach.com/resources/

ProLine CRM:

https://useproline.com

SMA Support:

https://smasupport.us

The Roofer Show Podcast helps roofing contractors grow their businesses, make more money, and have more free time.

Hosted by Dave Sullivan, The Roofer Coach, the show shares practical advice on roofing sales, marketing, operations, leadership, and financial management.