Coordinating Storm Crews With Sub-Contractors: Dispatch and QC

When a storm hits and you need to build 80 roofs in 45 days, your regular crews cannot do it alone. You bring in subcontractors. The moment you do, you take on operational risk that most roofing owners underestimate. Dispatch systems, payment terms, and quality control will make or break the surge.

Why Subs Are Necessary

A typical regional roofing company has 2 to 4 in-house crews. Each crew can build 4 to 8 residential roofs per week in good weather. In a storm surge with 50 to 100 newly signed jobs per month, that is a 2- to 4-month backlog. Homeowners will not wait 4 months. They will call a competitor.

Subs let you scale production to match sales. Done right, they absorb the surge without diluting quality. Done wrong, they cost you warranty claims, legal exposure, and reputation damage that outlasts the storm by years.

Employee vs 1099 Classification

The first decision is how to classify the workers. The IRS has specific rules, but the basic test:

FactorEmployee1099 Sub Provides tools/equipmentCompany providesSub provides own Sets own hoursNoYes Works for othersExclusive or mostlyMultiple clients Paid byHourly or salaryPer job or project Direction and controlHighLow

Most roofing subs are legitimately 1099. They bring their own trucks, tools, and crews. They pick their own hours. They work for multiple roofing companies. If any of these are not true, you probably have a misclassification problem. In California, Texas, and Florida, misclassification fines run $5k to $25k per worker.

Dispatch System

A dispatch system tells subs which job to start, when, and with what materials. Without one, you get three subs showing up at one house while another house sits for a week.

Core dispatch functions:

• Assign crew to job based on location, capacity, specialty
• Share job details (address, materials, access notes)
• Track crew start/end times
• Photo upload from the crew (before, during, after)
• Completion sign-off

JobNimbus, Acculynx, and Roofr all support dispatch. For a busy storm period, expect to manage 15 to 30 active dispatches per day.

Payment Terms

Subs live on cash flow. Slow payment kills your sub relationships faster than low rates. Standard terms in roofing:

• Net 7 for top-tier subs with long relationships
• Net 14 for most established subs
• Net 30 maximum (many subs will not work Net 30+)

Payment per roof ranges $1,200 to $4,500 depending on the size, pitch, and complexity. Storm surge pricing can add 15 to 30%.

Always pay on time. Subs who get burned once will never sub for you again, and they will tell every other sub in the area. Your reputation among subs is as important as your reputation among customers.

Quality Control

Subs working fast in a storm surge will cut corners. You have to catch them before the homeowner does. QC checklist:

1. Pre-start photos of existing roof and yard
2. Tarp and protection check before tear-off
3. Decking inspection after tear-off (bad decking replaced, not covered up)
4. Ice and water membrane installed correctly
5. Underlayment laid properly, overlapping per code
6. Flashing replaced or properly re-integrated
7. Ridge caps, hips, and valleys cut cleanly
8. Post-job yard cleanup (magnetic sweep for nails)

Assign a field QC manager to inspect every sub job within 24 hours of completion. Ratio of QC managers to crews should be roughly 1:4 during surge periods.

Warranty Handling

Your company warrants the roof to the homeowner. That is your legal obligation, regardless of who installed it. The sub warrants their workmanship to you. Standard sub workmanship warranties are 2 to 5 years.

When a warranty claim comes in, you fix it. Then you charge the sub if it was a workmanship issue. If the sub refuses or is out of business, you eat the cost. Build a 1.5 to 3% warranty reserve into every job to cover this.

Finding Subs

Good subs are hard to find. Common sources:

• Existing supplier relationships (ABC Supply, Beacon can recommend)
• Local Facebook groups for roofing contractors
• Referrals from other GCs
• Trade shows (International Roofing Expo)

Vet every sub before giving them a job: license, insurance, workers comp (if they have employees), and references. A sub without a certificate of insurance is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Sub Agreement Language

Your sub agreement should include:

• Scope of work and payment terms
• Workers comp and liability insurance requirements
• Quality standards and QC access
• Warranty terms (workmanship, materials)
• Hold harmless clauses
• Indemnification language
• Non-solicitation of your customers

Have a local construction attorney draft the template. Budget $800 to $2,500 for the initial template, then reuse it.

See also: storm chasing operations playbook.

FAQ

Can we pay subs via Venmo or Zelle?

No. Use ACH or check. Venmo/Zelle records are hard to reconcile for tax purposes and look suspicious to the IRS.

What if a sub's work fails a QC inspection?

Withhold payment until corrected. Document everything. Fire the sub after two failed inspections on unrelated jobs.

How many subs should we have relationships with?

Minimum 3 to 5 for redundancy. Top-tier surge teams maintain 8 to 15 sub relationships so they can flex up without a single sub failure crippling the pipeline.