How do you search for the right roof for your house?

Hello, I certainly don’t want to advertise here, I really just need some information for the question: How does the average home builder choose a roof?

I have built the website for the company SolteQ, which manufactures solar roof shingles. The company owner naturally wants to optimally promote his site and products, but apparently isn’t making progress. The sales of the products are extremely difficult, although solar technology is talked about everywhere. The sales channel through roofing contractors doesn’t seem to work. Now he believes that roofs should be sold "somehow" directly over the Internet. My opinion is that no one buys a roof directly through some kind of online shop, that only works through consultation – but that’s just speculation. I have never built a house and it’s hard for me to imagine.

I really hope this is not understood as crude advertising. It’s a question I have been pondering for several days.

Regards Frank

Builders build with GCs or architects. Or simple regional construction companies. What they don't know, they won't suggest. The target audience of an advertisement is therefore mostly not the end consumer, but the companies.

OK, thanks, that would be a start. I sent the company owner a link to this thread. I’ve only been dealing with the subject for a short time. Maybe he will write something about it too. I have already made it clear to him about the "no advertising here" thing.

How does the average home builder choose a roof?

The average home builder initially has visual ideas about the style of their house. Keywords like "Bauhaus," "Tuscany," "city villa," and so on. If they want a pitched roof, for example, the question of the color matching between roof tiles and window frames is of great interest – and whether the development plan allows their wishes. Whether tiles or concrete roof tiles are secondary; the home builder primarily looks at the appearance, while knowledge about materials is acquired rather slowly.

In the field of solar / photovoltaic, home builders have little personal "stake"; considerations in this direction are primarily motivated by the energy generation measures mix for a targeted KfW standard. They probably take what the specialist suggests. In this sense, I do not see the end customer as the focus of promoting certain offers. Not even indirectly (i.e., that they specifically ask the specialist about the brand XYZ).

Oops - I just had an urgent call from the company owner: I had completely misunderstood the matter of online sales. Of course, there is not supposed to be an online shop. It was very important to him that I set this straight!

Oops - just had an urgent call from the company owner: I had completely misunderstood the matter with online sales. Of course, there should be no online shop.

Whether Ups or Dhl, roof shingles via online shop would definitely be "fun": dozens of packages at 31.5 kg each, first dropped off at the neighbor and then sent back broken because the color is not liked *LOL* Nope, but seriously: special sample pieces - one in all e.g. four colors - to be shipped together with the dealer directory in a padded wine bottle carton or similar might not be such a bad idea.