Home services: roofing and exteriors / Intermediate

The roof is the signal

Check roofing records without diagnosing a roof.

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WHAT YOU WILL MAKE

A source-quality table and a small inspection-invitation pilot brief.

A builder investigating a local signal with a roofing or exterior company.

Estimated effort: 45–60 min sample exercise
Cost / access: Free sample / data costs vary
First move: Mark which fictional roof rows have evidence and which only have a missing record.

Prerequisites, inputs & cost details

Before you begin

A roofing reviewer
Permission and local-use checks for any real records

Inputs you need

Permit history and coverage
Official weather-event context with location and date

No paid tools are needed for the sample. Real records, licensing, inspections, and mail may have costs.

YOUR PLAY WORKSPACE

Make it your next small win.

My saved work

Write a brief, practice the workflow, and keep your notes. This workspace saves your planning; it does not run tools or send anything.

See the fictional sample

Invented permit and weather rows, not a damage or insurance assessment.

property_id,last_roof_permit,storm_area_match,coverage
ROOF-A,2006-05-10,county_only,since_2000
ROOF-B,none_found,county_only,since_2022
ROOF-C,2025-07-01,outside_area,since_2000

Build a three-row evidence table for a fictional roofing pilot. Treat a county weather event and permit age as research clues. Record coverage gaps and the need for a qualified inspection. Deliver a reviewable pilot brief without damage, safety, coverage, or replacement claims.

Audit the sourceRecord the coverage period and geographic precision of each clue.
Classify uncertaintySort old permit, recent permit, and insufficient-history rows.
Ask the domain reviewerWrite the questions a roofer must answer before the clue is usable.
Scope one pilotDraft a neutral inspection invitation and a response-tracking plan.

Review before a real build.

No permit or weather row establishes damage, roof condition, or insurance eligibility. Stop if coverage is unclear.
Keep outreach and spending in draft until the owner approves recipients, wording, and local-use requirements.

Measures to consider

Count records with verified source coverage and useful geography.
Track inspection requests and completed estimates separately in a later authorized pilot.

Editorial scenario · Source review 2026-11-01. A learning hypothesis, not an independently validated result or proof of customer demand. The sample is fictional; linked tools require their own access and cost checks.

Understand the approach.

The storm is public. The permits are public. The roofs that nobody has looked at are the lead list.

The outcome

Same shape as every signal play: find the reason to write, reach the address, book the estimate. Then build the part most roofers do badly, which is the follow-through.
Delivery layer on top of their tools: estimates followed up, material and crew scheduled, the final invoice sent and chased, and a request for a review at the right moment.
Sell the roofer a steady supply of looked-at roofs and a back office that does not drop them.

Who this is for

Independent roofing and exterior companies that work from referrals and door knocking.
Owners who lose track of estimates after the first visit.

Signals to investigate

Official storm events in the county in the last season.
The last roofing permit on a home is old or missing.
A recent sale of an older home.
Neighboring roofs that already had permits after a storm.
A roof near the end of its typical service life, which NRCA puts at about twenty years for most new roofs. Typical, not a promise.

Conversation starters

To the roofer: 'After the last storm, how did you decide whose roof to look at first?'
'What happens to an estimate after you send it?'
One neighborhood, one storm date, how many homes have no roofing permit on record in a long time. One ask.
Mail to the address after a verified event, with the date and what the record shows.

Validate before building

Pick one storm and one neighborhood. Build the list. Walk five of the roofs and look from the street.
Ask the roofer how many estimates from last season never got a second contact.
Run a small mail drop and count booked inspections.

Build the smallest useful version

Join storm event dates and areas to the permit and sales records.
Rank addresses by event, last roof record and sale date.
Mail a letter to the affected route with Every Door Direct Mail, or to chosen addresses with addressed marketing mail. Track responses.
Follow every estimate on a schedule until it is won or closed. Record why.
When it is won, run the job from schedule to paid invoice.

Deliver and operate

AI builds the lists and drafts letters and follow-ups. A person reviews all of it.
Every estimate gets a follow-up on a schedule, and the outcome is recorded.
Weekly page for the owner: estimates out, estimates won, jobs done, invoices paid.

Limits and things to check

Storm work is regulated in many states. Check licensing and contract rules before anyone knocks or mails.
Never claim damage you have not seen. A record is a reason to look, not proof.
Keep claims about insurance out of your copy unless a licensed person writes them.
Address-based mail only. No phone or email lookups on homeowners.

Tools and supporting resources

Pythonpulls and cleans the data Supabasehomes, events and estimate status n8nfollow-ups and the handoff

Source recommendations; check current access, costs, API availability, and setup in the linked documentation. No integration is installed by opening this guide.

Plan your version.

Read the planning prompt

I have a storm event list for [county] and permit and sales records for the same area: [columns]. 1. List addresses in the affected area with no roofing permit on record for [X] years or more. 2. Add the last sale date for each. 3. Rank them and explain why each ranks where it does. 4. Draft a short letter to 'Current Resident' that mentions the public storm date and offers a free look from the ground. No claims about damage. No pressure. 5. Give me a plain list of things to check before mailing: local rules, license rules for door-to-door and storm work. Use only the data I give you. Treat this scenario as a hypothesis, not a proven business result. Check source coverage, permissions, costs, and integration support for my location and accounts. Work with sample or authorized data. Keep outreach and external changes in draft until I approve. Report unverified assumptions.

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