Buying a roofing company in South Florida

• Steady demand between storms: a healthy base of homeowner re-roofs, repairs and commercial accounts, not just surges after hurricanes.
• Its own crews, or long-standing subcontract crews with documented insurance.
• Manufacturer certifications that let it offer extended warranties, and a record of honoring them.
• Commercial customers who call it for repairs and inspections year after year.
• A production manager who runs crews, material deliveries and inspections without the owner.
• Estimators who measure accurately and price tile, metal and flat roofs with confidence, since each fails differently.
• Good standing with permit offices: few failed inspections, no old open permits.
• Marketing that doesn't depend on chasing insurance claims, which Florida restricts closely.
• Supplier accounts with good terms, so the company can buy materials ahead of a busy season.

• Revenue for the last five years, and how much came after named storms. Judge the company on a normal year.
• The share of jobs tied to insurance claims, how the company finds them, and whether its ads and contracts follow the state's rules.
• Any old assignment-of-benefits jobs (where the homeowner signed the insurance claim over to the company) still unpaid or in litigation.
• Signed jobs not yet started, especially after a storm, when homeowners can still cancel.
• Workmanship warranties the company promised and manufacturer warranties it registered.
• Construction defect risk. In many cases Florida allows defect claims up to seven years after a job is finished, so past work stays a risk. Ask your attorney how to keep the seller responsible for it.
• How crews are set up, and proof of workers' compensation for everyone on a roof. Roofing is risky, and insuring it is costly.
• Open permits and failed inspections.

• Whose license does the company work under, and will they stay after a sale?
• How did your revenue look in years without a major storm?
• How do new customers find you, and what share of jobs involve an insurance claim?
• Do you use your own crews or subcontractors, and how long have they worked with you?
• Which manufacturer programs are you in, and what warranties have you registered?
• Are any jobs in dispute, or any insurance payments still outstanding?
• How many jobs are signed and waiting to start right now?

South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.

Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.

Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.

Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.