# Summit & Sons Exteriors

> **Fictional company.** Created as classroom material for a competitive-analysis exercise. Any resemblance to a real contractor is coincidental.

**Tagline:** "We handle the insurance. You handle the coffee."
**Founded:** 2016 · **Crew size:** 6 employees + 20–40 subcontracted installers · **Service radius:** 3 states, follows storms

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## Positioning

Volume storm-restoration. Summit & Sons makes its money on insurance claims after hail and wind events. When a storm hits, they flood the affected zip codes with door-knockers offering free inspections, sign as many claims as they can, and subcontract the actual installation.

## Pricing

Effectively **whatever the insurance carrier approves.** The homeowner pays their deductible ($1,000 – $2,500) and Summit bills the carrier for the rest — usually the equivalent of $6.50 – $8.00/sq ft on architectural shingle. On cash jobs (no claim) they bid aggressively at $5.75 – $7.00/sq ft to keep crews busy in the off-season.

## Strengths

- **Claims fluency.** They know carrier language, supplement aggressively, and recover line items most contractors leave on the table. Homeowners genuinely benefit from this.
- **Speed and scale.** They can put 15 roofs on in a week after a storm. Nobody else in the market can.
- **Zero-friction offer.** "Free inspection, and if it's approved you only pay your deductible" is the single most effective pitch in residential roofing.
- **Marketing spend.** Heavy paid search, yard signs everywhere post-storm, active on Facebook neighborhood groups.

## Weaknesses

- **Quality variance.** Subcontracted crews change constantly. Their reviews are bimodal — 4.2 stars overall, but a large cluster of 1-star reviews describing callbacks, nail pops, and unreturned calls.
- **Warranty is thin.** 2-year workmanship, and enforcing it means finding a company that may have moved on to another state.
- **Sales reputation.** Door-knocking after a disaster reads as predatory to a meaningful slice of homeowners. "Storm chaser" is the label, and it sticks.
- **No storm, no business.** A mild season is an existential problem. This is why they underbid cash work in the off-season.
- **Little local root.** No showroom, no long-term community presence, high sales-rep turnover.

## How they sell

Door-to-door canvassing, free "damage inspection" on the spot, claim filed same day where possible. Commission-based reps, high pressure, sign-today incentives. Close rate is low per door but the volume is enormous.

## Where they are vulnerable

Trust and permanence. Every homeowner who has heard the storm-chaser warning is a prospect who will pay a bit more for a local company that will still exist in five years. "We've been here 20 years and we'll be here for your warranty claim" is the sentence that beats them.