Roofers with no hours on Google lose the calls that come after a storm. Fix it this week.
A large share of roofing listings show no hours at all. What that costs you when the wind picks up, and the twenty minutes it takes to fix before the storm.
In our benchmark report, 27.2% of roofing companies on Google list no hours at all. When a homeowner finds shingles in the yard at 7 on a Saturday morning, a listing with no hours looks like it might be closed, or out of business, and she scrolls to the next one.
That is the number this post is about, and the fix takes less time than a single estimate.
What the number means
Across 102,385 roofing listings, here is how hours shake out:
- 27.2% list no hours.
- 42.8% show as open on Saturday.
- 25.9% show as open on Sunday.
- 17.3% list themselves as open 24 hours.
Read that the way a homeowner experiences it. Storms do not arrive during business hours. Wind and hail tend to come through in the afternoon and evening, and the damage gets found the next morning, often a weekend. The homeowner searches "roof repair near me," sees a map pack, and Google shows "Open" or "Closed" next to each name. A company with no hours shows neither. That blank is a small thing, and it costs calls.
It also matters for filters. A searcher who taps "Open now" on the map is asking Google to show only businesses it knows are open, and a listing with no hours gives Google nothing to go on.
Why roofers skip it
Three reasons come up constantly:
- "We are by appointment." True, but the phone is answered during set times, and those are your hours.
- "I do not want people showing up at the shop." Hours on a profile do not invite walk-ins if you serve customers at their homes. A service-area business can hide its address and still show hours.
- "I set it up years ago and never looked." The most common one.
None of these is a reason to leave the field empty.
What to do this week
Monday: set real hours
Open your Business Profile and set the hours your phone is actually answered by a person or a reliable answering service. If that is 7 to 6 on weekdays and 8 to 2 on Saturday, put exactly that. Do not claim 24 hours unless a human truly answers at 2 in the morning. A homeowner who calls a 24-hour listing at midnight and hits voicemail is the one who writes the angry review.
Tuesday: add special hours for the holidays now
Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas and New Year's Day are coming. Set them now under special hours so Google does not guess. When a profile has special hours confirmed, Google stops showing the "hours might differ" warning that makes people hesitate.
Wednesday: decide your storm plan
If you want storm work, decide now who answers after hours when the forecast turns. Options, roughly in cost order:
- Missed-call text-back, usually $20 to $60 a month. Every missed call gets an instant text that says you saw it and when you will call back.
- An answering service, often a few hundred dollars a month depending on volume, that takes the details and books inspections.
- A rotating on-call phone among your estimators.
The missed calls guide walks through each, and the calculator will show you what one week of unanswered storm calls costs at your average ticket.
Thursday: check the rest of the profile in five minutes
While you are in there, check that your primary category is Roofing contractor, that your phone number is the one your crew answers, and that you have photos from this year. The Business Profile guide has the full list.
Friday: test it
Search your company name from your phone with location turned on. You should see "Open" or "Closes 6 PM" next to your name. If you still see nothing, the change may still be in review, which can take a few days.
The bigger picture
Hours are a small signal, but roofing is a category where small signals add up. The median roofing listing has 13 reviews, and listings with a website show a median of 21 reviews against 3 without. The companies that win the map pack are usually not doing one dramatic thing. They are doing twenty small things that their competitors skipped, and a filled-in hours field is the easiest of the twenty.
If you would like any one service handled for you, the free 14-day trial needs no card. See the free trial page or text or call (385) 475-4642.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, roofing companies among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor