Say the Out-of-Pocket Number Out Loud, Early

The problem in one breath

The carrier's money doesn't cover the roof. You know it in the driveway and you don't say the number, because saying it might cost you the job. So it gets said at the end instead, to a homeowner standing under a finished roof who never agreed to pay another dime.

Why it happens

Two words do the damage: "insurance job." They make everybody at the table act like the roof is already paid for — the homeowner because his claim is approved, you because you would rather sell the good news. And there's always a story that lets you skip it: the supplement will cover it, we will sort it at the end, no sense worrying him yet. It never sorts itself out. It moves to the end of the job, where it stops being a conversation and starts being a fight you can't win, because the roof is already on. An unsaid number doesn't shrink while it waits. It gets meaner.

The play

1. Build the gap in the truck, not in your head. Two stacks. Coming in: what the carrier has paid, what it still owes on the original scope, approved supplements it hasn't paid yet, and the deductible. Going out: your price on the signed scope, upgrades he asked for, work outside the claim. Subtract. If you can't fill the first stack, you're not ready to be here — Play 20 is the four questions that fill it.

2. Say it in one sentence, with the number in it. Made-up job, real shape: "Insurance is paying $12,400, your deductible is $2,000, my price is $16,900 — so there's $2,500 on top of your deductible, and here's how we can handle that." Say it in the first ten minutes. A number said early is information; the same number at the end is a bill he never agreed to.

3. Put four honest roads on the table and let him pick. Do the covered scope now and the rest later, in writing, with what isn't being done spelled out. Or phase it, a price and a date on each phase. Or a written payment plan on the difference. Or financing, if your company actually offers it — never a lender you don't have.

4. There's no fifth road. You don't swallow the deductible to make the number look smaller. That's somebody else's money, it comes out of your profit, and depending on where you work it can be a legal problem on top — know your state's line before storm season.

   Play 16 has the answer you give when it gets asked.

5. Write the gap and how it gets paid onto the page and onto the schedule. The road he picked goes into the contract with the dollars in it (Play 18), and the dates go onto the payment schedule (Play 07) beside the carrier money. A number said and never written down is one you both remember differently in November.

6. Know where an unsaid gap ends up. It lands on the money-owed list (Play 01) and then in the call you keep dodging — and this one is worse than a slow payer, because he isn't dodging you. He never agreed to it. Not a collection problem. A sales problem you made months earlier.

Do this this week

Pick the one open job where you already know there's a number you haven't said out loud. Do the subtraction on paper, then call the homeowner and say the sentence with the number in it. Twenty minutes, and the hardest part of that job is behind you.

The tool

No spreadsheet — the card below is the tool, and the salesman fills it in at the table, not afterward. It stacks every dollar coming in against what the roof costs; the subtraction is the number he says out loud. Under it is the line for him paying it outright and the four roads, with room for the phases or the plan, and two boxes that stay empty until the gap is written into the contract and onto the payment schedule. The homeowner initials it. One copy in the job file, one with him.

THE GAP — where every dollar on this roof comes from

Homeowner ____________________  Job ___________________________
Claim # ______________________  Date __________  Rep __________

WHAT IS COMING IN
  Carrier has paid so far .................. $ ____________
  Carrier owes on the original scope ....... $ ____________
  Approved supplements, not yet paid ....... $ ____________
  Deductible the homeowner brings .......... $ ____________
                                 IN TOTAL    $ ____________

WHAT THE ROOF COSTS
  Our price, signed scope .................. $ ____________
  Upgrades the homeowner asked for ......... $ ____________
  Work outside the claim ................... $ ____________
                                OUT TOTAL    $ ____________

THE GAP   (OUT total minus IN total) ....... $ ____________

SAY IT OUT LOUD, RIGHT NOW
  "Insurance is paying $________, your deductible is $________,
   my price is $________ - so there's $________ on top of
   your deductible. Here's how we can handle that."

HOW THE GAP GETS PAID   (pick one, then write it in the contract)
  [ ] He pays it outright at ________________ (which milestone)

  OR ONE OF THE FOUR ROADS
  [ ] Covered scope now, rest later - not doing ______________
                                     revisit on ____________
  [ ] Phased:  phase 1 $__________   phase 2 $__________
  [ ] Payment plan: $________ x ________ starting ____________
  [ ] Financing through ______________  approved ____________

  Never a road: this company eating the deductible.

  In the contract?  [ ] yes      On the payment schedule?  [ ] yes

  Homeowner initials ________      Rep initials ________
  Copy left with homeowner  [ ]    Copy in the job file  [ ]

If your crew is 1099

If your salesmen are subcontractors you can't stand over them at a kitchen table — so make the page the deliverable. The gap card comes back with the signed contract, filled in and initialed, or the file isn't complete. That's a standard about the work product, and it belongs in the agreement he signs. Field crews aren't in this play at all.

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.