Company’s Growth Makes Contractor a Happy Camper
July 21, 2010
Chris
Arrington used to do a lot of residential repair work for free. Arrington, who
owns Arrington Roofing Company in Dallas along with his wife, Janni Arrington,
thought he was doing his customers a favor, but he was uneasy about it. He was
stretched so thin it seemed he was always rushing to the next job or the next
bid, and when he got back to the office he was too busy to look at the
financials. The company had been in business since 1983, doing a mix of
residential and commercial work, but the residential work was so frustrating
Arrington was thinking of dropping it entirely.
Arrington eventually realized that in giving work away he was not only hurting
his business, he wasn’t giving his customers the attention they deserved. After
adjusting his pricing and getting a handle on the numbers, he has seen the
residential side of the business flourish, and his business has increased by at
least 20 percent each of the last three years.
He credits his company’s recent growth to the systems and insights gained
through his membership in Roofers’ Success International® (RSI), which he
joined December of 2006.
“It was my wife’s idea,” he said. “I was way too proud. I didn’t want to get
any help at all, even though I was struggling.”
“I found myself going out to repair jobs — and I’m a nice guy — and I’d find myself doing a lot of work for
little or nothing,” he explained. “I thought I was looking out for my
customers. I got to RSI, and they taught me that besides looking out for your
customers, you have to look out for your company, your employees, yourself, and
your family.”
PRICING IT RIGHT
In his spare time, Chris Arrington (left) likes to get together with his band, the Happy Campers. The group auctions off performances to support a local elementary school.
“I just got my pricing right,” he said. “The StraightForward Pricing Guide — it scared me to death, but the first time I used the pricing guide, the person said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ They signed it, and they were as happy as can be.”
He found that for most customers, getting the repair done right was essential — especially if other contractors had failed to address the problem correctly in the past. “We do a lot of repairs, and the customers just want the repair to work,” Arrington said. “Since we charge a fair price, we have more time to do the repair right and eliminate callbacks. And, if we ever do have a callback, we have the resources to handle it. Our average repair ticket is around $2,100.”
Another key for Arrington was getting a handle on the overall numbers. “Before I joined RSI, I didn’t have time to look at the numbers,” he said. “I was just too busy. We were growing, and we were making money, but now that we have more people in place I can concentrate on the business. I was involved in everything — I had a finger in every pie. Now, I’m not doing sales. I’m not doing production. Now I have time to manage the business.”
The company has made modifications to cut costs and ensure profit on every job. “RSI pointed me in the right direction,” Arrington said. “RSI gave me the outline. I’m really good at math, but RSI gave me the template to make the numbers work — to put everything in perspective. It’s great to have a system in place, and we’ve modified it a bit to suit our needs.”
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Arrington
has a degree in architecture, and he thrives on technical training. He now has
the time to make sure his workforce is thoroughly trained in installation
techniques and stays on top of new developments in
technology.
“The unique thing about Arrington Roofing is we receive a lot of education and
training, and that’s what I enjoyed — learning how things worked, doing the
calculations. I’m a technical guy. Last week we toured the Owens Corning
manufacturing plant in Irving, Texas. Now the guys know how shingles are
made.”
Arrington’s crews have done hands-on training with major manufacturers, and
they’re attending an upcoming National Roofing Contractors Association seminar
on rooftop photovoltaic systems. “We want to know what’s going on in solar
energy these days. It’s coming, it’s coming fast, and it isn’t going away,” he
said.
Arrington is looking into partnering with a solar integrator and distributor to
break into the photovoltaic arena. “We have a great interest in solar. That’s
where we think our next big market will be, and we’re gearing up for it,” he
said.
“We never would’ve been able to look at solar if I was doing what I had been
doing. Now we’re looking forward and planning new things. I miss sales, but I
still get my sales fix periodically. I love the fact that I can control what
we’re doing — what I can control, anyway — and it shows in
the numbers.”
After joining RSI, his company experienced a 20 percent increase in sales in
2007, 2008, and 2009 — and it’s on pace to grow by
more than 20 percent in 2010.
“We had never done more than $2 million ever,” he said. “The first time we went
over $2 million was last year. We were able to add more people, and we thought
we could do $3 million this year, and we’re ahead of
schedule.”
PAY IT FORWARD
Arrington
believes if everyone pitches in to help the company succeed, everyone benefits.
“Sales has to serve the labor force,” he said. “What can they do to help labor?
How can the office help sales and labor? How can labor help out those in the
office and sales? That way, if we do our jobs better, we can serve our families
by not working night and day. And, if we make a profit, we can serve our
community, and the less fortunate in our midst. RSI took me from this myopic
view of serving my clients and let me see the big picture. We’re a service
business. That’s what we are. But we have to price it right, or we’ll be a
slave to the job.”
The company now has the resources to give back to the community. “One of our
best referral sources is Rosemont Elementary School in our neighborhood,”
Arrington said. “We pay to be on their website, and we support them that way,
and we got so many referrals from them we were able to become the major sponsor
for their fundraising auction.”
Arrington also volunteered to auction off a gig for his band, the Happy
Campers. The band got its start playing guitars and singing around the fire,
when Arrington and other fathers would take their kids camping. That’s how the
band got its name.
“Everyone loved it, we were having a blast, and the next thing you know the
girls wanted the Happy Campers to play at a Valentine’s party,” Arrington
recalled. “We played the Beatles, the Stones, the Turtles, the Doors — the kids were out of their
minds! They had so much fun dancing and singing.”
The band members had so much fun themselves that they started to play at events
around the neighborhood, including an annual concert and the school’s auction.
Last year, when the two top bidders were deadlocked, the Happy Campers offered
to provide two performances, doubling the proceeds for the
school.
“If we hadn’t been doing so well, I never would’ve thought of it,” Arrington
said. “We wanted to thank them for all of their help, and for an old rock ’n’
roll guy like me, it’s fun to just get out there.”
