A roofing company lives and dies by what happens after the phone rings. After a Front Range hailstorm, the office can take more inspection requests in a week than in the previous two months, while canvassers, project managers and the production team all pull at the same few office staff. The work that slips is rarely the roofing. It is callbacks, supplements, certificates of completion and the final insurance check.
InTheory acts as your fractional AI and technology lead. We would start by mapping one expensive workflow, such as storm lead response or the supplement and depreciation process, measuring how it runs today, and choosing a narrow improvement inside the tools you already pay for. People still approve every price, every supplement and every message that goes to a homeowner or an adjuster.
Hail season compresses months of demand into days. Inspection requests arrive by phone, web form, door hanger and Facebook, and the office cannot call everyone back the same day. Leads that wait a day or two often book with whichever crew knocked first, and nobody can say how many were lost.
On restoration jobs, money hides in the paperwork. Comparing the carrier's Xactimate scope to your measurements, writing supplements for missed drip edge, starter or code items, and chasing the depreciation holdback after the certificate of completion all take hours. When that work queues up, jobs sit unbilled and RCV dollars go uncollected.
Sales reps, production managers and crew leads each keep their own notes, photos and texts. CompanyCam has the photos, the CRM has half the job status and the rest lives in someone's phone. Homeowners call the office for updates the office cannot give without calling the field.
Many roofing owners know close rate, average ticket and backlog only roughly, and only after someone rebuilds a spreadsheet. Retail and insurance jobs behave very differently, yet they are often blended in reports. Decisions about canvassing, hiring a second production manager or buying more leads get made on instinct.
We fix one at a time, starting with the one that costs you most. Each page shows the steps, the tools, what stays human and what we would measure.
Answer every inspection request quickly, including storm-week surges, with an immediate text, a short qualifying conversation and a booked inspection slot, so fewer homeowners sign with the first crew that knocks.
See the workflow →Turn EagleView or Hover measurements, photos and your price book into a consistent first draft estimate, with line items checked against the insurance scope so an estimator reviews instead of retyping.
See the workflow →Keep following up on open retail quotes and pending insurance approvals until each one is won, lost or parked, with timed messages your sales reps approve and a clear list of who needs a call.
See the workflow →Tell homeowners what happens next, from material delivery and dumpster drop to install day and final inspection, using job milestones you already track, so the office stops fielding where-are-we calls.
See the workflow →Ask for a review and a neighbor referral at the right moment after the final walkthrough, when the homeowner is happiest, and route any complaint to a person before a public review is requested.
See the workflow →Pull key data from insurance scopes, claim letters, mortgage company forms and supplier invoices so staff stop retyping claim numbers, deductibles and line items into the CRM and accounting system.
See the workflow →Chase deductibles, final balances and depreciation checks on a consistent schedule, with reminders tied to the certificate of completion and mortgage endorsement steps that often stall payment.
See the workflow →See leads, inspections, close rate, backlog, supplements outstanding and days to collect, split by retail and insurance work, without someone rebuilding the same spreadsheet every Monday morning.
See the workflow →How we deliver this: AI automation for small business or fractional CTO leadership, scoped in writing and run over 90 days. See pricing or the sample scope.
We start with what you already pay for. New tools have to earn their place.
Roofing companies handle homeowner contact details, insurance claim numbers, policy information, mortgage company paperwork and property photos. Insurance restoration work brings carrier and adjuster correspondence that should stay in the job file, not in personal phones. Colorado has specific rules for residential roofing contracts and for how contractors handle insurance claims and deductibles, so any automated contract, message or invoice language should be reviewed by your own counsel. We would keep AI tools inside approved accounts and avoid pasting claim data into unmanaged apps.
General information, not legal advice.
Defaults are illustrative for roofing companies (additional roofs sold per month). Change them to your numbers.
a month in staff time, before any lost sales
Illustration only, not a forecast or guarantee. Recovered staff time becomes a cash saving only if spending actually declines or the time goes into paid work. Tool costs are an assumption; we replace every number here with yours before recommending a scope.
Yes, within limits. An automated first response can text every new inquiry within minutes, ask for the address and whether a claim has been filed, and offer inspection times from your calendar. It will not replace a good inspector or office manager. The aim is that nobody waits two days for a callback while your team works through the list in priority order.
Usually. Both are built for roofing workflows and already handle a lot of job tracking, so the first step is often configuring what you own rather than adding software. Where something is missing, we would look at native integrations, then tools like Zapier or Make, and only then anything custom. Sometimes the right answer is turning on a feature you are already paying for.
It can help draft them. A tool can compare the carrier's scope to your measurements and photos and flag likely missing items, such as starter, drip edge, ice and water shield or code upgrades. A person who knows Xactimate and the carrier still decides what to request and writes the final justification. Nothing goes to an adjuster without that review.
Yes, though the priorities change. Retail roofing depends more on fast lead response, clear estimates, financing conversations and quote follow-up than on supplements and depreciation. We would look at where retail jobs stall in your pipeline, such as estimates sent but never followed up, and pick that as the first workflow to improve.
Plans run $2,500, $5,000 or $7,000 per month over an initial 90-day engagement, with a written scope before kickoff. Tools and major builds are budgeted separately. The first 30 days diagnose and pick one pilot, the next 30 build and test it with your team, and the last 30 measure results against the baseline.
In 30 minutes we look at one recurring workflow, what it costs you today and whether there is a credible case to improve it. If there is not, we will say so.
30 minutes with Phil or Martin. No technical brief, no pitch deck. Phil or Martin replies personally, usually within one business day.