GUEST
COLUMN
Jonathan
SAGNER
Photo Credit: Prostock-studio - stock.adobe.com
SCROLL
DOWN
Danaik Garay of AlSteel Roofing in Fort Myers, Fla., and Diana Barriga of Property Master Solutions in Orlando, Fla., are two NWIR members who are leading the Hispanic Connection Council initiative.
Experts say roofers shouldn't mix different types of vents on roofs, as seen here.
Forging Success with Financing
Use These Tips to Turn Roof Financing from a Sales Obstacle into a Competitive Advantage
For more than 20 years, I’ve been in the trenches as a contractor. For the last 12, I’ve worked deep inside the home improvement financing space. That combination gives me a unique vantage point because I’ve lived on both sides of the table. And what I see, over and over again, is this:
Most roofing contractors don’t actually hate financing. They hate how they’re using it.
Financing gets blamed for killing momentum late in the sale, creating awkward conversations, or turning a confident presentation into a stall-fest. But, the real issue isn’t financing itself, it's when and how it’s introduced. Used correctly, financing doesn’t slow deals down. It creates safety, confidence, and momentum for both the contractor and the homeowner.
The roofers who understand this are scaling faster, selling larger projects, and losing fewer deals to “cheaper” competitors. The rest are still treating financing like a necessary evil instead of a strategic tool.
The Problem Isn’t Financing — It’s Timing
Most roofing sales follow a familiar pattern:
- Inspect the roof.
- Build the estimate.
- Present the number.
- Then and only then ask, “So… how were you planning on paying for this?”
That’s backward. By waiting until the end, financing feels like a bailout — a reaction to sticker shock instead of part of a thoughtful solution. It’s uncomfortable for the salesperson, and it puts the homeowner on the defensive. Momentum stalls because the customer wasn’t prepared for the financial conversation, and now they need “time to think.”
Contractors then conclude financing is the problem. It’s not. The problem is skipping the most important part of the sale: question-based selling.
From Estimates to Solutions
The most effective contractors don’t sell roofs, they sell outcomes. And outcomes require context. Early in the conversation, before numbers ever hit the table, top performers ask simple, direct questions:
- “How were you planning on paying for a project like this?”
- “Have you used financing for home improvements before?”
- “Are you more focused on total price or monthly comfort?”
These aren’t pressure questions. They’re clarity questions.
When you understand how a homeowner is thinking about money, you can guide the entire sales experience with confidence. Financing stops being a last-ditch option and becomes a planning tool, one that allows you to present real choices instead of a single take-it-or-leave-it number.
That shift alone changes everything.
Why “More Quotes” Actually Kill Momentum
After more than two decades sitting across kitchen tables, I’ve learned something most contractors overlook. Homeowners routinely ask for multiple quotes and then quietly hate the process. They think more quotes will bring clarity. What they actually get is confusion.
Different scopes, materials, timelines, payment conversations. At that point, they’re not choosing a contractor, they're trying to reconcile five versions of the truth. That’s exhausting.
When homeowners feel overwhelmed, they don’t say yes or no. They say, “Let me think about it.”
That’s not rejection. It’s paralysis. The best contractors don’t win by being the cheapest. They win by being the clearest.
One plan. One scope. One clear payment conversation.
Your job isn’t to add another quote to the pile. It’s to reduce the noise.
“The real issue isn’t financing itself, it's when and how it’s introduced. Used correctly, financing doesn’t slow deals down. It creates safety, confidence, and momentum for both the contractor and the homeowner.”
When Contractors Got This Right
My own turning point came when I started watching other contractors scale not by racing to the bottom on price, but by upselling more effectively. They weren’t pushing unnecessary work. They were bundling logical improvements: better ventilation, insulation upgrades, energy-related enhancements, sometimes solar-ready components.
What surprised me most was that customers who chose larger projects were happier.
Why? Because they weren’t forced to compromise. Financing gave them peace of mind. They weren’t just purchasing what they needed, they were getting what they actually wanted. Meanwhile, contractors who avoided financing were stuck selling “minimum viable roofs” and wondering why competitors were growing faster with higher average tickets.
Financing as a Credibility Builder
Here’s a hard truth many roofers don’t like to hear:
You don’t lose deals to cheaper competitors, you lose them to competitors who present confidence and options.
When financing is introduced early and professionally, it signals scale, stability, and sophistication. It tells the customer, “We do this every day. We’ve thought through the entire project, including how people pay for it.”
That builds trust. And trust is what allows a homeowner to say yes to a larger scope of work. Financing isn’t about making something affordable at any cost. It’s about aligning the project with the homeowner’s financial comfort so decisions can be made rationally instead of emotionally.
Financing Is a Tool Not a Bailout
Most roofing contractors misunderstand financing because they think it’s something they shouldn’t have to deal with and that it creates uncomfortable conversations when it’s actually one of the best ways to create safety and satisfaction for the customer.
When used correctly, financing:
- Reduces decision fatigue
- Prevents scope cutting
- Shortens sales cycles
- Increases average contract value
- Improves close rates without discounting
That’s not a bailout. That’s leverage. The roofing contractors who win long-term are the ones who treat financing the same way they treat materials, labor, and logistics as part of the system, not an afterthought.
Where Real Scale Happens: Bundling
One of the biggest missed opportunities in roofing sales is bundling. Financing allows contractors to present complete solutions instead of line-item estimates. When you show how roofing, ventilation, insulation, and energy upgrades work together — and anchor the conversation around monthly impact — you move the discussion from price to value.
That’s where scalable growth lives. It’s also where sales reps feel more confident, because they’re not defending a number — they’re offering solutions.
The Mindset Shift and the Challenge
If there’s one mindset shift every roofing contractor needs to make, it’s this:
Stop asking: “How do I get the customer to afford this?”
Start asking: “How do I help the customer make a confident decision?”
Financing isn’t about closing desperate deals. It’s about creating clarity early, positioning yourself as a professional, and reducing the noise that causes paralysis.
I offer you a challenge: On your next five appointments, introduce the payment conversation earlier than you normally would. Ask better questions. Frame financing as a planning tool — not a fallback. You may find that financing doesn’t slow your sales down at all. It speeds them up.
A Message for Roofing Leaders
Roofing is still a relationship business. As a roofing company, you’re not just building roofs but building relationships. And relationships are built on communication. People let you on their homes/offices, which are their most valuable assets. If they don’t trust you to communicate, they will not trust you to build.
So, forward-thinking roofing contractors are looking beyond nails and shingles. They are investing in customer experience, and SMS is the easiest and most effective place to start.
The strength of your roofing business does not lie just in how well you install, but it lies in how well you communicate.
As the roofing industry is constantly evolving, roofing contractors using modern communication tools like SMS will stand taller than those without. In short, in a roofing business, every lead counts, and every appointment matters. Therefore, texting is not just a luxury; it is a necessity. It keeps your jobs on track, your customers informed, and your business growing.
*Based on testing conducted by a third party in 2017 using UltraPly™ TPO SA versus standard adhered TPO. Application times vary with settings and environmental factors; actual results will vary.
**ISOGARD polyiso insulation performed up to 40% better in cold temperature 40°F (4°C) applications according to ASTM C1289 standards than major competitors when tested by an independent third party in September 2022. The increased R-value per inch indicates better thermal performance in cold temperature 40°F (4°C) from the same roofing systems using the same amount of insulation compared to leading competitive products on the market today. Results may vary.
Jonathan Sagner is Senior Sales Director at Figure Lending, where he helps contractors use financing as a tool to close more — and larger – deals. As a contractor for more than 20 years before moving into lending, he has a deep appreciation for the challenges roofers face managing cash flow and fighting for margins.
