Search “roofing leads nz” and you get two kinds of result: business directories, and companies offering to sell you leads. What you won’t find is a single page on how a roofing business builds its own steady flow of work. That’s what this is.
It’s for owners of roofing businesses who want more of the right jobs. (If you’re a roofer looking for work on someone else’s crew, Seek and Trade Me Jobs list roofing roles. This guide is about winning customers.)
Three moments people need a roofer
Roofing work arrives in three very different moods, and each one is won in a different place:
- The leak or the storm. Water through the ceiling, iron lifted in the wind. Urgent, found on Google, booked by whoever answers and can get there.
- The reroof. Rusting iron, tired tiles, a house being renovated or sold. A big, planned spend, researched for weeks, with three quotes on the table.
- New builds, cladding and commercial. Won through builders, designers and tenders, rarely through a search.
Repairs keep the crew busy. Reroofs carry the margin. New build work fills the calendar months ahead. Decide which mix you want, because your website, your ads and your relationships should all point at it.
Be the roofer people can check
Letting a stranger onto your roof feels risky, and homeowners are told to check. The Roofing Association runs a whole consumer campaign called “Who’s on your roof?”. Make the checking easy:
- Your LBP licence. Where roofing work is restricted building work, it must be carried out or supervised by a Licensed Building Practitioner in the right class, and roofing has its own licence class. The restricted building work rules explain when it applies. Put your licence number on your site and quotes.
- RANZ membership. Members are listed in the Roofing Association’s Find a Roofer directory, which is one more place a homeowner can find you. Note that RANZ doesn’t underwrite members’ guarantees, so describe your own warranty and the product warranty separately and accurately.
- How you’ll work safely at height. In New Zealand there’s no minimum height below which a fall risk can be ignored. Say in your quote how you’ll access the roof safely. A homeowner who has watched a crew walk an iron roof with no edge protection notices when yours doesn’t.
- Insurance. Public liability cover, stated plainly.
The roof report is your front door
A reroof is a big decision, and most homeowners aren’t ready to get three quotes for one the first time they talk to you. A roof inspection or condition report is a much smaller step: a fixed fee, a visit, photos of every problem and a plain-English write-up of what’s needed now and what can wait.
It works because it puts you on the roof first. You’re the one who found the problem, and your report is the one they read when they’re ready to spend. It also opens doors with three groups who need roofs looked at regularly:
- Buyers and real estate agents. A roof problem found before an auction is better than one found after. Agents who trust your reports send you the next one.
- Property managers. Rentals need repairs, gutter clears and the occasional reroof, on a schedule.
- Homeowners after a storm. People making an insurance claim often need a clear report of the damage. Be the roofer who writes a good one.
Let photos do the selling
Roofing is one of the most visual trades there is, and most roofers’ websites are a stock photo of a blue sky. Every job should produce a before and an after, ideally from the same angle. Close-ups of the rust, the cracked tiles and the failed flashings are as useful as the finished roof: they show customers what you look for.
Use them everywhere: your Google Business Profile, a page per service, your quotes and your reports. A homeowner comparing three reroof quotes picks the roofer who showed them their own roof.
Get found for leaks and reroofs
- Google Business Profile. Right categories, your service area, every service listed, fresh photos and hours that match when someone answers. Our Business Profile checklist and map pack guide cover the setup.
- Reviews that name the job. “Reroofed our villa in Ōtaki, tidy and on time” does more than five stars on their own. Templates for asking.
- A page per service. Reroofing, roof repairs and leaks, gutters and spouting, roof painting or restoration, commercial roofing. Reroof pages should answer the questions people research: what affects the price, how long it takes, what happens if it rains, what the warranty covers. That’s how they rank, and how they turn a visitor into a site visit.
Google Ads, by moment and by season
Ads catch the people searching right now, but leaks and reroofs are different buyers. Run them as separate campaigns so the urgent repair searches don’t spend the budget meant for reroofs, and so you can turn the dial with the weather. After a big storm, repair searches jump; through settled months, reroof campaigns earn their keep. What clicks cost is in our Google Ads cost guide.
Two traps:
- Job seekers. Our own ads for roofer marketing picked up “find roofing work” and “roofing work near me”: roofers looking for work, not customers. Your ads will catch “roofing jobs”, “roofer wanted” and “roofing apprenticeship” too. Block them from day one. (The numbers from our account are in the building work guide.)
- Calls you can’t see. Google’s call-forwarding numbers aren’t available in New Zealand, so calls straight from your ad show as clicks. Third-party call tracking fixes that, and we set it up for clients who want it. If the clicks come and the phone doesn’t ring, work through these checks.
Marketplaces and lead sellers
There’s no shortage of people who’ll sell you roofing leads. Some are marketplaces that put your quote in front of homeowners alongside others. Roofbuddy, for example, asks its roofers for LBP certification, public liability cover and a trading history, and handles the client communication until a quote is accepted. Others sell enquiries from their own ads, sometimes exclusive, sometimes shared.
Judge every one of them the same way: cost per won job over a fair sample, against the same money spent on your own ads and reviews. Ask whether the lead is shared, how old it is, and who owns the customer relationship afterwards. Use them to fill gaps, not as the foundation. Our lead generation guide explains rented versus owned leads.
Answer the phone in a storm, and chase every reroof quote
Storms bring a flood of calls when you’re already flat out. A leak caller who gets voicemail rings the next roofer, and you never hear about it. Who answers the phone when you’re on the tools compares the options, from a better voicemail to an AI receptionist that takes missed calls through a divert on your own number and takes the whole job down for your call back.
Reroof quotes are the opposite problem: big, slow decisions. The homeowner sits on three quotes for weeks, and the roofer who follows up politely is often the one who gets the job. Do you actually follow up your leads? shows how to find where yours go cold.
Which channels work, and how fast
| Channel | Best for | How fast | You own it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roof reports and inspections | Reroofs, agents, property managers | Weeks | Yes |
| Past customers and referrals | Repairs and reroofs | Weeks to months | Yes |
| Builders, designers and tenders | New builds and commercial | Months | Yes |
| Google Business Profile and reviews | Leaks and local reroofs | 1 to 3 months | Yes |
| Service pages on your website | Reroofs | 3 to 6 months | Yes |
| Google Ads | Leaks and reroofs | Days | Yes, if the account is in your name |
| Marketplaces and lead sellers | Filling gaps | Days | No |
Roofing leads: FAQ
How do roofers get leads?
From four places: people searching Google when they have a leak or need a reroof, past customers and referrals, relationships with builders, agents and property managers, and bought leads from marketplaces or lead sellers. The first three you own. Start there, and use bought leads to fill gaps.
How do I promote my roofing business?
Make yourself easy to check (LBP licence, RANZ membership, insurance, safe working at height), show real before and after photos everywhere, offer roof reports as a low-cost first step, and build a page for each service you want more of. Then add Google Ads with job-seeker negatives from day one.
Is buying roofing leads worth it?
Sometimes. Work out your cost per won job after a fair sample, ask whether each lead is exclusive or shared, and compare it against the same money in your own ads. If a seller can’t tell you how the leads are generated, be wary.
Should roofers put prices on their website?
A firm price for a reroof you haven’t seen is risky, but explaining what affects the price (size, pitch, access, material, what’s underneath) helps people trust your quote. A fixed fee for a roof report is a good price to publish, because it’s the step you want them to take.
How do I advertise as a roofer?
Google Ads for the searches happening now, split into repairs and reroofs; your Google Business Profile and reviews for the map pack; and signage and referrals for the rest. Our guide to choosing a Google Ads agency covers what to ask if you’d rather hand it over.
Want this mapped onto your area, your crew and the roofing work you want more of? Get a free leads audit: 20 minutes with Ryan or Matt, your actual numbers, no obligation. For more on how we work with roofers, see roofer lead generation.