Roofing is a cash-flow problem wearing a trade's clothes
The technical part of roofing is well understood. The part that puts contractors out of business is the money: you commit to material for a job that has not paid you a cent, the crew is on site for two or three days, and the invoice lands after everything has already been spent. One slow-paying customer on a $22,000 re-roof is not an inconvenience — it is a month.
So the useful question about roofing software is not whether it can produce a tidy PDF. It is whether it shortens the gap between agreeing on a price and having money in the account, and whether it leaves a record clear enough that the final invoice does not turn into a negotiation.
What a roofing quote should break out
Roofing is one of the few trades where the client genuinely cannot inspect the work — it is above their head and mostly hidden. That makes the quote the main thing they judge you on. Lines worth having as a saved template:
- Tear-off — by layer count, because two layers is not twice the work but it is not the same work either
- Disposal — bin rental and tipping, on its own line; it is a real cost and it varies by municipality
- Deck repair — priced per sheet as a stated allowance, so replacement is a known rate rather than an argument mid-job
- Underlayment and ice & water shield — the eave and valley coverage is worth stating, since it is a common place cheaper quotes cut
- Shingles — by square, with the product named; if you are offering good/better/best, that is three lines, not three quotes
- Flashing, vents, drip edge, ridge cap — the details that separate a real quote from a number scribbled on a card
- Access and complexity — steep-slope surcharge, multiple storeys, restricted access for the bin
- Warranty terms — the manufacturer's on material, yours on labour, both stated plainly
Deposit, progress and final
Once a quote is approved, CrewQuote will issue a deposit invoice against it and a balance invoice at completion, both linked to the same job so nothing has to be re-entered. Payments run through Stripe and are tracked against the job, so the dashboard shows what has actually landed rather than what has been invoiced.
Be aware of the consumer-protection side in Ontario: for contracts signed at the customer's home, direct-agreement rules apply, including a written contract with specific required content and a ten-day cooling-off period during which the consumer can cancel without reason. Deposit terms need to sit inside those rules. CrewQuote produces your quotes and invoices; it does not draft your contract terms or confirm they comply. If most of your work is signed at kitchen tables, have a lawyer look at your agreement once — it is a cheap afternoon.
Documenting what was actually up there
Crew accounts can upload photos against the job straight from the roof: existing condition before tear-off, the deck once it is exposed, the ice-and-water at the eaves, the finished ridge. Where there is no signal the photos queue on the device and upload once there is.
Two things this buys you. First, the change-order conversation stops being your word against theirs. Second, when a manufacturer's warranty claim comes up in year six, you have installation photos rather than a memory.
What CrewQuote does not do
It does not measure roofs. There is no satellite takeoff and no aerial measurement — you bring your own square count, from a site measure, from drawings, or from a dedicated measurement service, and CrewQuote prices and bills from it. It also does not do supplier ordering, crew payroll or insurance-claim workflows. If storm restoration and adjuster supplements are the core of your business, a specialist restoration platform is a better fit and will cost you more than we do.
What it is good at is the stretch between the walk-around and the money: a quote built from your own rate card in minutes, approved from the client's phone, converted to a deposit and a final invoice, exported as CSV into QuickBooks or Wave at month end, with HST applied at whatever rate you set once.