Get a quote

Same day quote guarantee

<     All News

How To Recruit Contractors For Your Roof Safety & Maintenance Business

22 July

When hiring contractors for your business, there are some important things to remember. Here, we check off some top tips to make sure you’re hiring the best roofing contractors in your area.

A good contractor will reflect well on your roof maintenance business. Their work will be high-quality, their attitude to safety will be top-notch, and your reputation for fast, good value work will rocket.

Here are some top tips for hiring contractors for your roof maintenance business:

  • Check The NFRC

The National Federation of Roofing Contractors will show if your potential contractor is a registered member. Their membership is a good reflection of an attitude to high standards, commitment to industry expectations, and that they take their work seriously with a professional approach.

  • Tips For Posting On Job Boards

You want to know that your roofing contractor is able to pay attention to detail, right? A great tip when posting your vacancy on job boards is to include, lower down in the job description, a request for something that must be included in the application.

This isn’t a standard request for a CV though: request something like “in your application, please make sure to answer the question: ‘In what year was this company established?’”. Of course, you’ll need to include this information in the vacancy post, too!

This will let you know who has read the job description accurately before clicking to apply. It shows the applicant has paid attention to detail and is able to follow instructions.

Another tip when posting on online job boards is to be open about the pay: any vacancies that have “£TBC” instead of a set rate will put people off from applying. A clear rate shows that you’re an open and honest company to work for, which is appealing for any contractor seeking regular work.

  • Three Things To Check With Applicants

When you meet potential contractors for your roofing maintenance business, there are three things you need to make sure you check with them before proceeding any further.

a)      Check their safety training records, including original certificates. You need to see these to make sure your contractor will commit to maintaining high health and safety standards, minimising risk to other workers and your company’s reputation.

b)      Ask for two references that you can speak to in person, not just email.

c)       Ask if they own their personal protection equipment, or what expectations they have of PPE when working for you. This is important as it helps you understand their commitment to safe working.

  • Three Tips For Checking References

When you receive contact information for your applicant’s references, there are a few things you need to do in order to ensure that you receive accurate information.

First, make sure you research the company of the reference. What level of customer reviews do they have online? Do they have a good reputation? Are they a well-established business? All of this will help to reflect on the applicant’s level of work and reliability.

Second, make sure you can speak to the responsible person instead of just emailing them. It’s much easier to get an honest response out of someone when you speak to them: an email makes it easy to answer questions with vague answers that won’t give you an accurate picture of the applicant.

Finally, where relevant, ask if you can see any photos of the work completed by the applicant. This will give you a real-life overview of their quality of work, their standards, and areas of possible improvement.

  • Trialling Your New Contractors

It’s important that your contractor does what they say they can do! Offer them a trial before you provide a regular contract, to make sure their standard of work and commitment to health and safety is up to scratch.

A paid employment trial is a good way to see their skills in action, without committing to a long-term contract until you’re satisfied with their standard of work. Offer the trial at standard pay, too: some businesses will ask applicants to work a free or underpaid trial but this reflects poorly on the company’s attitude towards contractors!

<     All News
How To Recruit Contractors For Your Roof Safety & Maintenance Business

Other News

Four ways to improve fall protection safety

Four ways to improve fall protection safety

4 March

Roof Access When carrying out a roof safety inspection, one of the first things to co...
Read the full article
The effects of excessive rainfall on roof safety systems

The effects of excessive rainfall on roof safety systems

26 March

The UK is known for its wet weather. Autumn 2019 saw record-breaking rainfall and since then storm after storm h...
Read the full article
Questions To Ask Your Roofing Contractor – Part 2

Questions To Ask Your Roofing Contractor – Part 2

2 September

Following on from our last blog, here are the questions 6 to 10 on what to ask your roofing contractor before si...
Read the full article
Questions To Ask Your Roofing Contractor – Part 1

Questions To Ask Your Roofing Contractor – Part 1

19 August

When you employ an external contractor to maintain plant on your roof, or to ensure your roof is safely maintain...
Read the full article
Six Steps To Roof Safety

Six Steps To Roof Safety

5 August

Whether you've just purchased a new business premises, or realise the need to improve your roof safety of an exi...
Read the full article
How To Recruit Contractors For Your Roof Safety & Maintenance Business

How To Recruit Contractors For Your Roof Safety & Maintenance Business

22 July

When hiring contractors for your business, there are some important things to remember. Here, we check off some ...
Read the full article
Five Ways To Boost Your Working at Heights Business

Five Ways To Boost Your Working at Heights Business

4 July

As a working at heights contractor or a roof maintenance business, you work in a niche sector, which means compe...
Read the full article
How to Manage Roof Safety with Fragile Solar Panels

How to Manage Roof Safety with Fragile Solar Panels

3 June

Renewable energy is a useful business: it can save your company thousands of pounds every year – and even ...
Read the full article
Top Roof Safety Hazards (And How To Avoid Them)

Top Roof Safety Hazards (And How To Avoid Them)

17 April

As a business owner, you’re responsible for the safety of anyone accessing your rooftop. There are some ob...
Read the full article
Four Reasons To Choose Roofco For Your Roof Safety Systems

Four Reasons To Choose Roofco For Your Roof Safety Systems

11 April

Finding a company to supply your roof safety rails, whether for your own roof contractor business, or if you&rsq...
Read the full article
GDPR And Your Company Part Three: Strategies

GDPR And Your Company Part Three: Strategies

4 April

After reading Part One and Part Two in our GDPR series, you may be wondering how to handle a marketing strategy ...
Read the full article
GDPR And Your Company Part Two: Privacy Policy

GDPR And Your Company Part Two: Privacy Policy

28 March

As seen in Part One [LINK HERE]...
Read the full article
GDPR And Your Company Part One: An Introduction

GDPR And Your Company Part One: An Introduction

22 March

The EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) come into effect on 25th May 2018. However, many bu...
Read the full article
How to Protect Fragile Roof Lights with Non-Permanent Railings

How to Protect Fragile Roof Lights with Non-Permanent Railings

13 March

When you send people onto your roof for repairs and maintenance, it’s likely that you already have a roof ...
Read the full article
New Director Sends Turnover through the Roofco

New Director Sends Turnover through the Roofco

28 February

Sheffield-based rooftop safety systems specialist, Roofco, is aiming for new heights under the leadership of the...
Read the full article
How To Prevent Unauthorised Access And Fall Risks On Your Roof

How To Prevent Unauthorised Access And Fall Risks On Your Roof

30 January

Whether you want to prevent vandalism to your premises, or ensure the safety of maintenance contractors, it&rsqu...
Read the full article
How To Improve Roof Safety On A Budget

How To Improve Roof Safety On A Budget

12 January

You know that it’s your legal obligation to provide a safe working environment for anybody accessing your ...
Read the full article
Rhinorail Case Studies: See The System In-Situ 4

Rhinorail Case Studies: See The System In-Situ 4

20 December

We pride ourselves on strong and long-term relationships with our customers, which is why it's great to see how ...
Read the full article
Five Top Seasonal Roof Safety Tips

Five Top Seasonal Roof Safety Tips

13 December

Roof safety is particularly important in winter: high winds, frost, ice, snow, and heavy rain can all make worki...
Read the full article
How To Work Better With Architects

How To Work Better With Architects

1 December

They’ve trained for years, so architects are going to be an authority on roof construction and safety elem...
Read the full article
Three Steps To Develop An Integrated Roof Safety Strategy

Three Steps To Develop An Integrated Roof Safety Strategy

22 November

Your roof safety strategy probably consists of ad-hoc inspections, repairs when a leak occurs, or leaving it up ...
Read the full article
What happens when your fragile roof goes wrong?

What happens when your fragile roof goes wrong?

9 August

What happens when your fragile roof goes wrong? Your business premises will have some p...
Read the full article
Rhinorail Case Studies: See The System In-Situ 3

Rhinorail Case Studies: See The System In-Situ 3

5 July

We pride ourselves on strong and long-term relationships with our customers, which is why it's great to see how ...
Read the full article
How To Manage Plant Maintenance Without Compromising On Safety

How To Manage Plant Maintenance Without Compromising On Safety

13 June

At some point in time, engineers and maintenance workers are going to require access to your business premises r...
Read the full article
Hiring Roofing Sub-Contractors: The Questions You Need To Ask

Hiring Roofing Sub-Contractors: The Questions You Need To Ask

6 June

If you employ contractors, self-employed engineers, temporary scaffold builders, or anyone else involved in work...
Read the full article
What Are Freestanding Roof Safety Rails - And Why Do I Need Them?

What Are Freestanding Roof Safety Rails - And Why Do I Need Them?

25 May

We specialise in roof safety rail systems. It's kinda our 'thing'. But it can be confusing for someone new to ro...
Read the full article
Don't Trip! How to Avoid Falls When Working At Height

Don't Trip! How to Avoid Falls When Working At Height

7 May

Falls from height were the most common cause of fatalities at work (2013/14), coming second in total incidents o...
Read the full article
Rhinorail Case Studies: See The System In-Situ 2

Rhinorail Case Studies: See The System In-Situ 2

12 April

We pride ourselves on strong and long-term relationships with our customers, which is why it's great to see how ...
Read the full article
Budgeting For Your Roof Safety System

Budgeting For Your Roof Safety System

5 April

A roof safety system isn't the first thing you think of when building or updating your premises - but it's an im...
Read the full article
What Type Of Roof Safety System Is Best?

What Type Of Roof Safety System Is Best?

29 March

Whether you’re a company that employs people who regularly work at height, or a business premises owner lo...
Read the full article
Rhinorail Case Studies: See The System In-Situ

Rhinorail Case Studies: See The System In-Situ

23 March

We pride ourselves on strong and long-term relationships with our customers, which is why it's great to see how ...
Read the full article
Working At Heights: The Lowdown

Working At Heights: The Lowdown

16 March

If you have any equipment on the roof of your business premises that requires regular maintenance, you need to k...
Read the full article
Roofco Round Up: March 2017 (It's Been A Busy One)

Roofco Round Up: March 2017 (It's Been A Busy One)

6 March

It's only March and we've already got a lot to tell you. 2017 marks a year of continued growth and innovation fo...
Read the full article