Getting Your Trade Business Ready for Storm Season Callouts

Storm season does not arrive politely. One afternoon of hail or heavy wind and the phone starts and does not stop, sometimes for a week. The businesses that come through it in good shape are rarely the ones that answered every call. They are the ones that worked out beforehand which jobs they wanted, what they would charge, and how much they could realistically get through.

Decide what storm work you actually want

Write it down before the first front comes through. Emergency make-safe work is fast, well paid and thankless. Full repairs and replacements are slower and better money. Insurance jobs bring volume but also paperwork and waiting. Doing all three at once with a small crew usually means doing all three badly.

Pick one or two and be honest about the rest. A roofer who decides to do make-safe and tarping through the peak, then quote replacements in the fortnight after, will finish the month better off than one who tries to run both at the same time.

Write a triage script before you need it

When the phone is ringing every few minutes you do not have the headspace to work out priority on the fly. Have three or four questions ready that tell you, in under a minute, whether a job is an emergency, a same-week repair or something that can wait.

• Is water getting inside the building right now?
• Is there any risk to people, such as live wiring, loose sheeting or a hanging limb?
• Is the property occupied?
• Has a claim been lodged, and with whom?

Anyone answering the phone should have the same list and the same three buckets to sort calls into. That is the difference between a full diary and a chaotic one.

Set your storm rates and say them out loud

Decide your after-hours and emergency rate before the busy period, not in the middle of a call at nine at night. Then say it plainly when you are booking the job. Most people accept a higher rate for immediate attendance in bad weather. What they do not accept is finding out about it on the invoice.

Give the customer a figure for the attendance and make-safe, and be clear that the repair will be quoted separately once you can see the damage properly. Trying to price a whole repair from a phone description in the middle of a storm is how you end up carrying the difference.

Sort the insurance paperwork in advance

Insurance work moves on documentation. If you plan to take it on, know before the season starts what each insurer or assessor wants from you: photos, a scope, a written report, particular forms. Set up a folder structure and a photo habit now so you are not reconstructing a job three weeks later from memory.

Also decide what you will do about the gap between doing the work and getting paid. Insurance jobs can sit for weeks. That is manageable if you planned for it and painful if you did not.

Stage the gear you will run out of

Every trade has two or three consumables that disappear in the first forty-eight hours of a storm: tarps, battens, fixings, cable, silicone, sandbags. Suppliers run short exactly when everyone needs them. Work out from last season what you burned through, and hold a reasonable buffer before the weather turns rather than joining the queue.

The same goes for equipment. A second generator, a spare ladder, a working head torch for every person: all cheap compared with a day lost to being short one item.

Protect a recovery window

The mistake most owners make is booking the diary solid through the surge and straight into the following weeks. Then the callbacks land, the assessor wants a re-attendance, and there is nowhere to put any of it.

Leave gaps. A half day a week held open during and after a storm period absorbs the follow-up work that always comes, and stops one variation from pushing every other customer back.

Look after the crew

Storm work is long hours, wet conditions and height access in wind. Fatigue is the real risk, not the weather. Set a limit on how many hours in a row you will run, roster a proper break, and be willing to tell a customer they are on tomorrow's list. A crew that works eighteen hours and then makes a mistake on a roof has cost you far more than the job was worth.

The short version

• Choose which storm work you want and decline the rest early
• Have a written triage script everyone answering the phone can use
• Set and state your emergency rates before the season
• Know each insurer's paperwork requirements in advance
• Hold a buffer of the consumables you always run short on
• Keep gaps in the diary for callbacks and re-attendance
• Cap hours and roster breaks, because fatigue is the biggest hazard

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I put my prices up during storm season?

Charging a defined emergency or after-hours rate for immediate attendance is normal and generally accepted. What causes trouble is not telling the customer the rate before you attend, or applying a surcharge they only discover on the invoice. Decide the figure ahead of time and say it when you book the job.

Is insurance work worth taking on as a small operator?

It can be, but it suits businesses that can handle both the paperwork and the wait for payment. If your cash position depends on invoices being paid within a fortnight, a diary full of insurance jobs will squeeze you. Many small operators do better taking make-safe and private repair work during the peak and picking up insurance jobs selectively.

How do I handle callbacks from storm work?

Expect them and leave room for them. Make-safe work is temporary by definition, so some of it will need attention again. Record what you did and photograph it at the time, so when a customer rings back you know exactly what was and was not part of the original attendance, and can have a straightforward conversation about who pays for the return visit.