Very Important Question... What's Your Favorite Part About Being A Roofer?

Roofing is what I do, not who I'am. The short answer is I like solving a Problem, and the satisfaction of doing so.

That chicks dig us because we're roofers! The big money and prestige are just gravy bonuses. it's all good!

but really...

it's nice to be in and out of a job rapidly. show up, take care of business and done and done! to have a limited tooling requirement, to have the ability to move surplus materials from job to job with little waste, bidding is very easy compared to room adds and customs, bids can be very precise, clients like that. clients are TRULY grateful when you solve a problem others failed to, the labor pool is easy to assess for competence,

and the best part...folks have NO CHOICE but to hire. when a roof gets bid most often SOMEONE will be roofing it...the question is who. with a room add or custom or a remodel, there are many bids composed by three or four (or more) contractors and NO ONE gets a gig for various reasons.

There are great answers here and they cover so much ground I doubt I could add much to them. I like it for the reasons cited, but also simply because in a life under a constant barrage of foolishness roofing will always remain inviolately elemental. To what kage said, though, about "quittin addictions" I have to say that for me roofing is an addiction.

You get to set your own hours most of the time.

THE FREEDOM on a hot Sumer day the feeling of acomploshment when u get off the stick job that runs roofers away doing hands on work physical work a mans job

watching labor prices revert to what they where in 1980

Honest days work for those who get hands dirty. Getting that sincere "Thank You!" when new friend (customer), realizes there really are some honest contractors left. Most of all, I enjoy having my father as a partner, my nephews as my proteges, and going 8yrs and counting without installing a 3 tab shingle for some cheap ass company!

I like the part where i finally get home, get a bath and go to bed! :unsure:

The best part of being a roofer for me. Is when you can provide a quality service to your clients and that they are satisfied with you work and would look forward on working with you again.

satisfication

Learn so many diferrent systems

I used to like that it kept me in shape, working to a price in England we used to strip the concrete or clay tiles and throw them down off of the second storey scaffold to the floor (about 6 meters.)

I started at 14 working weekends and school holidays on my dads roofing firm, I was the catcher!

When I first started I was the weak link, struggling to catch and stack at the rate the tiler stripped them off at and getting mocked by the other guys.(reclaimed tiles = money over here.)but over time I got better at it and returned the favour shouting up to throw me 4,5 or 6 at a time and laughing when they couldn`t keep up!

When that was finished I would pull up the tiles on a ginny wheel and then load them out on the roof battens. All hard physical work, and I wanted to be the best so I`d carry as much as I physically could.

I got so fit and strong it was unreal, I`m not a big man (about 60-65kg 170cm) but I was the strongest kid at my school (leave at 16 years old over here) and was built like a pro athlete by the time I was 15. I could push 120kg bench press at my peak, double my own body weight.

Although I progressed to be a tiler by the time I was 21 I`d often jump down to show the boys how it was done! I loved it and I was damned good at it.

Unfortunately it did catch up with me, I just had an op to remove the end of one of my clavicles. I had eroded away the cartilage where it joined my shoulder. The other side is gone too but is holding up ok after I got an injection into the joint. I`m only 32, I don`t make the guys catch any more....

The ability to drive down the road glance up and see the roof I put on thirty years ago is still serving it's purpose today, that's my skill, sweat and attention to the little details that I was well paid for and loved doing that's up there, of course most have forgotten who did the job but I never will.

The money was great, thankfully I spent most of it doing what I wanted to do even parking my roofing business to the side for a few years while I chased dreams, a bit like the dog chasing a car I'm not sure if I know what I would have done if I'd caught it because selling another man's product just doesn't have that Wow factor.

The ability to return to the business as if I had never left it, all the same challenges plus a few that ten years add on :)

I think the short answer is being a roofer is something I will always be proud to tell others.