Nothing Rolls Until the Job Is Ready

The problem in one breath

Six men stand in a driveway at seven with nothing to put on the roof. No shingles on the ground, no dumpster, and both of the homeowner's cars still in the drive. You pay for that morning either way, and you spend it on the phone.

Why it happens

The sale ended and nobody said out loud where the job went next. The salesman figured the office ordered material. The office figured the salesman called the homeowner. The foreman got an address in a text at nine the night before and drove to it. Nobody lied to you.

The real reason is smaller. A check with no hour on it never happens, and "somebody look at tomorrow" is not a job anybody does. Four o'clock, one name, one list — that is a job.

The play

Run the roll list the afternoon before, on tomorrow's jobs.

1. Pick the name and the hour, and never move either. Four o'clock, one person: the hand that writes the ten-day board (Module 14, Play 1), or a man who tells that hand. He clears tomorrow's jobs and the first job in line behind them — that one is the standby, cleared on the same list, and its homeowner knows she may get pulled up a day. One line open and the job does not roll: it moves on the board, the standby takes its place, all of it before the four-thirty board photo goes to the crews. Caught at four it costs a phone call. Found at seven the next morning it costs a crew-day you can never sell again.

2. Material on the ground, or a delivery window you have in writing. Not "it's ordered." A supplier who doesn't know your start time hasn't given you a window. Then check it's the right material: the spec on the page she signed (Module 6, Play 18), and the color off her signed selection or the order confirmation. Close-enough color is a tear-off you do twice.

3. Somewhere for the old roof to go, in a spot it can actually reach. Walk it in your head: where the truck swings, what the wheels roll over, the low branch, the septic lid. Plywood where it crosses the drive. A dumpster that lands at ten means your crew stacked the tear-off on her lawn all morning.

4. The paper the job needs, pulled and in the truck — not promised. Whatever your city and her HOA want is on that list, and it changes town to town. Ask once, for the towns you work in.

5. The money is where the paper says it is. The deposit that was supposed to land, landed (Module 6, Play 7). On an insurance job, the scope and the approval are in writing before anybody tears anything off. Tearing off on a verbal is how a roof gets finished for less than it cost you.

6. The homeowner has been told, by a person, the day before. The day, the start time, cars out, pets in, where the dumpster lands, how loud it is. She hears it once from the office and she does not call you at seven-fifteen.

7. The crew has been told the night before, in writing. Job, address, start time, what's on the ground, what to watch for, who to call if a line is wrong. That's the night-before message, and it goes out right behind the board photo, carrying the job detail a photo can't.

Do this this week

Tonight, before you eat, run the roll list on tomorrow's jobs and the one behind them. Twenty minutes buys you a quiet seven o'clock.

The tool

Run it off paper — a list in your head is the one you skip on a busy Thursday. The man who runs it signs it and ticks only what he knows, not what he assumes. The bottom block is the night-before message: fill the brackets, send it. Keep the sheets a month and read them: the same line coming up open tells you which part of your shop is broken. Once the list runs, the truck huddle (Module 5, Play 1) stops hunting and just confirms — anything it still finds at six is a line the list missed.

THE ROLL LIST — run it the day before, or the job moves

One sheet per job, per day. Run it at four, on tomorrow's jobs and on
the first job in line behind them — that one is your standby. The board
is set and photographed at four-thirty, so this runs first.

Job / address: __________________________  Start day: ___________
Crew: ______________________  Ran by: ______________  Time: _____

MATERIAL
  [ ] On the ground, or a delivery window we have in writing
  [ ] Spec matches the page she signed, color matches what she picked
  [ ] Underlayment, ice-and-water, drip edge, vents, boots, nails
  [ ] Any steep or special gear this roof needs is on the truck

THE SITE
  [ ] Dumpster or trailer placed where the truck can swing
  [ ] Drive protected, drop spot marked, gate and dog handled
  [ ] Parking figured out, power and water if we need them

PAPER AND MONEY
  [ ] Whatever our city and her HOA want - in hand, not promised
  [ ] Signed page in the job file, change orders signed
  [ ] Deposit landed / insurance scope and approval in writing

THE PEOPLE
  [ ] Homeowner told: day, time, cars, pets, kids, noise, dumpster
  [ ] Crew sent the night-before message
  [ ] Enough men on it, and one of them can talk to her
  [ ] Standby job? She knows she may get pulled up a day

ALL LINES CLEAR = IT ROLLS.   ONE LINE OPEN = IT MOVES.
Moved to: ______   What moved up: ______________________
That job: run on this list too [ ]   Her homeowner was told [ ]

THE NIGHT-BEFORE MESSAGE - send it right behind the board photo
  Tomorrow: [job / address]
  Be on site: [time]     Crew: [names]
  On the ground when you get there: [material, dumpster]
  Watch for: [tight drive, dog, solar, steep section, she's home]
  Something wrong when you pull up? Call [name] at [number]
  before anybody goes up.

If your crew is 1099

A sub company that rolls to a job that isn't ready eats that day out of its own pocket. Do it twice and the crew you wanted is on somebody else's roof next storm, same as paying him late (Module 12, Play 5). Run the list on his jobs too, but what it produces goes to his owner, not his men — the new day, the night-before message, the call-me-before-you-start rule. You are moving a start date you gave a company, not running his morning.

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.