There are two kinds of roofing customer and they search in completely different states of mind. One is standing in the kitchen at seven on a Sunday morning with a bucket under the light fitting, and they will ring the first number that looks local and real. The other has a roof from 1974 and has been meaning to do something about it for two winters. When we look at websites for roofers in Dublin, most are built for neither: slow to load, no phone number until you scroll, no sign of what area you cover. A page that works for both callers is not complicated, but it has to be built on purpose.
Two callers, two moods
The emergency caller needs three things in the first five seconds: a phone number they can tap, a line that says you do repairs and where, and some sign you are a real firm with a van rather than a lead-selling site. That is the repairs page, and it is the one the Google listing points at.
The planned caller wants more. Photos of finished re-roofs, flat roofs and fascia and soffit, a plain description of how you quote, whether you handle scaffolding and skips, how long a re-roof takes, and what guarantee you give on the work. They will read it twice and come back in a month. That is the second page, and it earns the bigger jobs.
Storm week
Every roofer in Dublin knows the week after an orange wind warning. The phone starts before you are out of bed and it does not stop. You cannot answer it from a ridge, and the voicemail fills by lunchtime.
The site can take some of the weight. The enquiry form asks for the address, a photo of the damage taken from the garden, and whether water is coming in, so you can triage from the van that evening instead of ringing twenty people back blind. A one-line notice at the top of the page, which you can change from your phone, says you are working through calls in order and when to expect a reply. Your Google listing hours stay correct, because the one thing worse than missing a call is Google telling people you are closed. The steps for getting that listing right are in setting up a Google Business Profile in Ireland.
If you want to go after the storm traffic harder, Google Ads for the week or two it lasts is where Complete starts to make sense. You pay Google directly and we run it.
The roof nobody can see
Roofing is the trade where the customer never inspects the work. They cannot get up there, and they would not know what they were looking at if they did. So the photos and the reviews have to do the judging for them.
Take the photos before you come down: the valley relaid, the lead flashing dressed around the chimney, the new felt and battens before the slates go back. Then one from across the road when it is finished. For a flat roof, the old one with the ponding and the new one after. Put the area under each. A Dublin homeowner wants to see you have done a roof on a house like theirs, in Drimnagh or Clontarf or Lucan, and that it looked right when you left.
Area, insurance and the questions you get from the ladder
Say exactly where you go. A list of areas on the page, and the same service area on your Google listing, saves you the “do you come out to Swords” calls and brings in the ones you want. Say you are insured, and for what. Say whether you do emergency callouts and what hours, and what the callout charge is if there is one.
Then the questions you answer from the ladder every week: do you do flat roofs, do you fix leaks around Velux windows, do you clean gutters, do you do chimney work, do you give a guarantee. Short answers on the page, and the people who ring have already read them. Chimney work and roofing overlap, and the chimney sweep and builder pages explain how we handle the neighbouring trades.
What we need from a roofer
Photos from a dozen jobs, taken from the roof and from the road. Your insurance details. The areas you cover. Whether you do emergency work, and your hours for it. Your rough prices for the small jobs and your quoting process for the big ones. Ten minutes on the phone, ideally not during storm week.
Which plan, and the price
Essentials covers almost every roofer: €499 to set up and €50 a month, no contract, VAT on top. Complete adds the ads, the chat box and the managed Google profile for firms that want more than the phone. The two are side by side on the pricing page.