Episode
463: Roofers Who Don’t Know Their Numbers Won’t Survive This Market
- Podcast
- The Roofer Show
- Published
- Jan 16, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3318
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://theroofercoach.com/
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-roofer-show-1115955/episodes/463-roofers-who-don-t-know-their-numbers-won-t-survive-this-market/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-roofer-show-1115955/463-roofers-who-don-t-know-their-numbers-won-t-survive-this-market.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
EPISODE SUMMARY This episode was recorded during the roofing boom—when being busy hid bad numbers. Today, work is slower and margins are tighter. Dave explains why job costing is now the difference between surviving and disappearing, and why “gut feel” leaves contractors broke even even when they’re busy. EPISODE DESCRIPTION This interview was recorded a few years ago when the roofing market was on fire. Phones were ringing, jobs were everywhere, and being busy hid a lot of sins. Today it’s different. Jobs are harder to get. Margins are thinner. And the contractors who don’t truly understand their numbers—what jobs actually make money, what crews are profitable, what their real labor cost is—those companies won’t survive this market. I hear it every week: “Dave, we’re working like crazy… but there’s never any money in the bank.” That’s not bad luck. That’s no job costing. Successful contractors job cost every job. Unsuccessful ones run on gut feel—and in this market, gut feel will put you out of business. In this conversation, Dave Sullivan sits down with construction finance expert Leslie Shiner to break down the simple job costing system profitable roofers use to protect margins and make real decisions. You’ll Learn Why “gut feel” lies—and cash proves it The real reason busy roofers still have no money How to calculate true labor cost (labor burden) Paid hours vs billable hours = labor utilization Why labor overruns destroy profit faster than materials How estimate vs actual fixes bad pricing How to see which crews and job types make money Two KPIs every roofer must track TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Why this matters now 02:20 – Gut feel vs real profit 06:20 – What job costing actually means 10:15 – True labor cost & labor burden 17:30 – Labor utilization explained 24:15 –…