Everybody makes mistakes. Albert Einstein once said, “The person that never made a mistake, never tried anything new.” As usual, Einstein is right. However, the bigger misfortune is to make mistakes over and over as a business norm. Having been an active consultant in the roofing industry for over 25 years, I would like to share some of the common blunders I see roofing contractors make.
Roofing is a dangerous business. While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and state inspectors may tend to focus on commercial sites, residential work sites are not exempt. Seventeen percent of disability occupational accidents are from falls. It’s not an issue of if someone falls, but rather when someone falls. Just because you use subcontractors on a residential jobsite or have the “everyone else does it” mentality, does not allow you to break the law. A lot of folks drive under the influence of alcohol, but if you do so and kill someone, telling the judge that everyone does it will not get you off the hook.