Don't Sort It on the Phone — Sort It on the Roof

The problem in one breath

She says her ceiling is wet, and somebody settles it right there on the phone. Either "that's storm damage, that's not us," from twenty miles away, or "don't worry, we'll take care of it" — a repair given away before anybody looked.

Why it happens

She's upset, the man answering wants off the call, and a guess sounds like an answer. Nobody wrote down who goes, what he looks at, or what he may say.

And where water shows inside is almost never where it came in — it lands on the deck, runs down a rafter, and drips out ten feet from the hole.

The play

Call it the callback walk. Same order every time, ending with a bucket and a line in the callback log that day (Play 1).

1. He goes with the file. Before he leaves he pulls up the install photos (Module 3, Play 10) and the day that roof finished. Those shots tell you whether it's yours — the bare deck, the ice-and-water, each penetration flashed.

2. It's still a roof. Run the before-you-climb check (Module 11, Play 1) on a two-hour callback exactly like a tear-off. It's the trip where the ladder goes up wrong because it'll only take a minute.

3. Ground, inside, attic, roof — in that order. From the ground, the elevation and the gutters. Inside: stand where she says it shows and pin it — which room, which wall, how far in from the outside wall. In the attic, the wood: wet sheathing, an old dry ring, daylight, a run down a rafter. Shoot the damage inside the same as you shoot the roof — the ceiling, the drywall, whatever the water got into. He does not answer who pays for the inside standing in her living room. Her contract, your policy and your state decide that, so the line is "the office will call you about the inside" — and then the office does.

4. Trace it uphill. Start above the stain and work up the slope; water runs one way. Pipe boot, the valley above it, step flashing where the wall comes down, the chimney, a lifted tab, ridge and vents. Nothing shows itself? Run water: bottom first, one small area at a time, somebody inside on the phone. Wet the whole roof at once and you learn nothing.

5. What he says, and what he never says. He says, "I'm here to find it, not to argue about it." Before he drives off he shows her the pictures and names what's next. He never says "that's not ours" or "we'll take care of it" before anybody has been up, never quotes a price in the driveway, and never says a word about the last roofer or another trade. What a man promises in a yard can follow your company — your contract, your state and your insurance set how far, so ask your own attorney.

6. Bucket it before he leaves. One of four, and the word he writes is the word the log takes: Ours (our workmanship — we fix it, we don't bill it), Material (the material's own failure — a manufacturer claim, Play 4), Neither (not our work, not the product — a priced repair or her own insurance claim), or Open, where every callback starts and stays until somebody has been on that roof. That word, the cause and the hours go in the log that day. She's sure it's yours when it isn't? Show her the photos, say what it really is, and let the price come from the office (Play 5).

Do this this week

Print the card and put a stack in every foreman's truck today. Twenty minutes, start to finish.

The tool

No spreadsheet — one card per callback, filled in the truck before he pulls away and filed behind its line in the log. The say-this and never-say blocks are word for word, so a new foreman isn't inventing wording with a homeowner watching. The bottom strip is what pays you: the bucket, the cause and the hours, written on the roof instead of "went out, looked at it." Spanish twin on the Spanish cards page.

THE CALLBACK WALK — find it, shoot it, bucket it, before you drive off

Job / address: __________________________  Date: ______
Roof finished: ______  Crew that built it: ______________
Who walked it: __________________________

BEFORE YOU GO UP
  [ ] Before-you-climb check run - a two-hour callback is still a roof
  [ ] Install photos pulled up on your phone
  [ ] You know what she said on the phone, word for word

IN THIS ORDER
  1 [ ] Ground: the elevation, gutters, downspouts, where the water
        is supposed to go
  2 [ ] Inside: stand where it shows. Which room, which wall, how
        far in from the outside wall
  3 [ ] Attic: wet wood, a stain with an old dry ring, daylight,
        matted insulation, a run down a rafter
  4 [ ] Roof: start above the stain, work UPHILL - boot, valley,
        step and wall flashing, chimney, lifted tabs, nails, ridge,
        vents
  5 [ ] Still nothing? Water test. Bottom first, one small area at a
        time, about ten minutes each, somebody inside on the phone
  6 [ ] Hold what you see up against the install photos

SHOOT ALL OF IT
  [ ] The stain inside - wide, then close
  [ ] What the water got into inside - ceiling, drywall, floor, her
      things - wide, then close
  [ ] The attic wood and the insulation
  [ ] Every elevation from the ground
  [ ] The detail you suspect - close, then wide enough to show
      where it sits on the roof
  [ ] What you did today, and how it looked when you left

SAY THIS
  "I'm here to find it, not to argue about it."
  "Here's what I found." - then show her the pictures
  "Here's what happens next, who calls you, and what day."
  Don't know yet? Say you don't know yet, and name the day you will.

NEVER SAY
  X "That's not ours" - not until somebody has been on that roof
  X "We'll take care of it" - same rule, same reason
  X A price, standing in the driveway
  X Who pays for the inside of the house - shoot it, don't answer it.
    The office calls her about that
  X One word about the last roofer, the builder or another trade

BEFORE YOU DRIVE OFF - circle one, and it goes in the log today
      OURS        MATERIAL        NEITHER        OPEN
What failed: ______________________
Hours: ____   Trips: ____   Material $: ______

FOR THE BOARD, NOT THE LOG
Fixed today? [ ] Y  [ ] N - if N, the day it will be: ______

If your crew is 1099

A man of yours still goes and looks: the homeowner called you, the promise is yours, and the diagnosis is yours to make. He walks it, shoots it, buckets it, and the line goes in your log under your name. The fix is the sub company's to make under its own agreement (Module 12, Play 2) — you hand the company the photos, what's wrong and the day it has to be right, and you do not put his men to work yourself. How much you may direct his men, and what may come off his check if he won't make that day (Module 12, Play 4), is set by that agreement and by your state — read yours.

One more thing: this play is how we run a shop — it's not legal advice. Rules change by state and by contract, so before you act on the legal-sounding parts, run them past your own attorney or accountant. It's your business, and what you do with any of this is your call and your responsibility.