1. Skip their customer
The address on the permit already hired a roofer. That line is first so you do not drive there and pitch a sold job. Do not call it. Do not knock it.
What works
The list is not a lead on the house that already hired someone. It is a competitor's tear-off, on a street you can drive. You skip their customer. You talk to the neighbors about their roof before that crew does.
A Monday email is a short list, not a dashboard. Read it in the truck. Use it the same morning, while their job is still in the street.
The address on the permit already hired a roofer. That line is first so you do not drive there and pitch a sold job. Do not call it. Do not knock it.
You already know where your own crew is. The useful address is the other company's tear-off. That is the street the neighbors are watching.
Next door, across the street, and the house behind on a corner. Only roofs that still look old. About ten houses each way is the far edge, not the whole subdivision.
Say who you are and why you came. Do not borrow the other crew's job, and do not invent that you were just driving by.
Name and company. Say you are not the crew on that house. You roof in this part of San Antonio. You came because a tear-off is going on, and you want to ask about theirs.
If they ask, say that. A tear-off is underway, you are not that contractor, and you came to see if they want a look. Do not say you happened to be passing. Do not tell them their roof failed.
If they talk, offer the look and a number. If they do not, leave a card with your name and go. An estimate after they ask is the close. A speech at the door is not.
I'm not with the company tearing that roof off. I roof in this part of town. I came because that job is going on, and I wanted to ask if you want yours looked at. If you do, I can look. If not, I'll go.
That is the pitch. Every sentence is true. Then stop talking.
This is what contractors already do, and what they throw out. Not a survey. Not a count of jobs closed. Streets on the sample are made up.
The door is open because the neighbor can see a roof coming off. First morning, or while that crew is still visible. A letter after they leave is the weaker version. You are late once the street is quiet.
Do not walk every house. A new roof next door is not a customer. You look. You do not tell them their roof failed, because you do not know that.
The company on the permit will talk to those same neighbors if you do not get there first. Get the conversation. Do not stand on the porch and sell. If they want the shingle they can see, they will say so.
Homeowners have heard these. A small company that uses them sounds like a storm chaser, even when the work is real.
You can say a tear-off is going on and you came to ask about theirs. You cannot say the tear-off means their roof already failed, or that it is the same age, or that it is next. You do not know that.
You did not. Someone else pulled that permit. Do not claim their job. Do not say they did not pay, and do not mention insurance. That close puts a legitimate company in a position of mistrust.
You are there to talk about their roof. Say that. “Don't worry, I'm not selling anything” wastes their time and they can hear it.
A small company does not need an app for this. The email finds the street. You close it in person, the same week, before the other crew walks those doors.
Monday names a competitor's tear-off and the address to skip. One area. Not a shared lead. Not your own job site.
Drive it while their trucks are there. Walk only the old-looking roofs. You are the first roofer those neighbors talk to about doing theirs.
A look if they stay. A card if they do not. Reply stop ends the list. No contract beyond the month.
The company on the permit can say sorry for the noise. They are making it. You are not. Apologizing for their trucks, or leaving a card about their debris, is a lie.
Say you are a roofer, you are not that crew, and you came to ask about their roof. That is the whole close.