A roofing business card needs your name and direct cell, the company name and website, one line on the work you do, and the license number where your state requires it on cards. Use the back for one job, such as a QR code to your Google reviews on the card you hand over when the roof is done. Keep deductible offers and review discounts off both sides.
Your name and direct cell go right under the company name
The card’s job is to get the homeowner to call back the person who handed it over. Put your name and cell right under the logo and company name, in the largest type after them, with your title underneath so the homeowner knows who they’d be calling. Here is a layout to copy and fill in:
Front
- [Logo] and [Company name]
- [Your name]
- [Title: Owner, Project Manager, Estimator or Sales Rep]
- [Direct cell] and [Email]
- [Website]
- [One line on the work, such as: Roof replacement and repair]
- [License line where your state requires one, such as: CCB #123456]
Back, for doors and inspections
- [QR code to your inspection booking page, behind a short link]
- [Scan to book a roof inspection]
- [Office number used nowhere else]
Back, for the finished job
- [QR code from your Google review link]
- [Thank you for choosing us. Scan to leave a Google review.]
An owner on r/Roofing who lists cards among his marketing costs gives every marketing source its own phone number, so he gets a lead count and a cost per lead for each. The office number on the back of the template works the same way: if it appears nowhere else, every call to it came from a card. Calls to a rep’s cell won’t show up in that count, so have reps note the ones that started with a card.
California and Oregon require your license number on the card
California’s licensing board (CSLB) says contractors must have their license number on their business cards and on all bids and contracts. The same page extends the rule to every advertisement, naming online ads, phone book and newspaper ads, flyers left at the door and the company name on a truck. The advertising rule is also written into state law, in Business and Professions Code 7030.5.
Oregon’s Construction Contractors Board puts business cards on its list of places the license number must appear, along with bids, contracts, advertising, letterhead, job-site signs, written inspection reports and vehicles with signage. The board says to write it as “CCB” plus the number, for example CCB #123456. Leaving it off an advertisement violates OAR 812-003-0120, the board says, and can bring a fine of up to $400.
The board says the number is encouraged but not required on promotional items where it is impractical, naming pens, pencils, bug deflectors and refrigerator magnets. Business cards stay on the required list, so I’d print the number on any magnetic card that carries your name and phone number.
Florida Statute 489.119 requires your registration or certification number on every offer of services, bid, contract or advertisement, regardless of medium. It leaves business stationery out of “advertisement,” and I found nothing that settles whether a business card counts as stationery, so print the number.
In any other state that licenses roofers, read the board’s advertising rule before you order cards, starting from Roofing License Requirements by State, and How Qualifiers Work.
A QR code on the back can book inspections or collect reviews
The back of a card for doors and inspections can send people to the page where they book an inspection. The back of the card you hand over when the job is done can send them to your Google reviews. If your reps hand out both, print two versions.
Google Business Profile makes the review code for you, but only in a computer browser. Open your profile, select Read Reviews, then Get more reviews, and either copy the link or right-click the QR code and save the image.
DENSO WAVE, the company that invented the QR code, says every code needs a blank margin four modules wide on all sides, a module being one of the code’s small squares. Keep text and the card’s edge out of that margin. A longer web address needs a bigger code, so put a short link behind the inspection code.
Then add tracking tags to the address that short link forwards to, so Google Analytics shows which visits came from a scan. Google says to always use utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign together, for example utm_source=business-card, utm_medium=print and utm_campaign=spring-canvass.
Texas bans deductible promises, and Google bans discounts for reviews
Texas Business and Commerce Code 27.02 makes it a Class B misdemeanor to advertise or promise to pay, waive, absorb or rebate an insured’s property-insurance deductible without the insurer’s consent. A card printed with “we’ll cover your deductible” puts that promise in writing, so keep the line off every card and door hanger you hand out in Texas.
Google treats offering free or discounted goods or services in exchange for reviews as fake engagement and strictly prohibits it. Tie any discount on the card to booking a job, and give the review side a thank-you and the code, nothing more.
A standard card is 3.5 by 2 inches
Vistaprint lists the standard US and Canadian business card at 3.5 by 2 inches.
Text, logos and QR codes belong inside Vistaprint’s safe area of 3.36 by 1.86 inches, away from the trim.
If you design the card yourself, Vistaprint’s size works out to 1050 by 600 pixels at 300 dots per inch. Printers set the bleed (the extra artwork trimmed off the edge) differently, so download your printer’s own template and design on that.
Hand the card over, because federal law keeps it out of mailboxes
Federal law (18 U.S.C. 1725) makes it an offense to knowingly put unstamped mailable matter, such as circulars, in a mailbox to avoid postage, and the penalty is a fine. The statute covers the mailbox, so a card goes on the door or into someone’s hand.
A DFW storm roofer says that after a storm, homes end up with hundreds of roofing cards on the door, with roofing signs all over the neighborhood. A card left on the door joins that pile, so hand yours to the person you spoke with, at the door or at the inspection.
Put who pays for cards, and whose cards subs hand out, in writing
One roofing owner on r/RoofingSales says he spent “another $15k on business cards alone my first year” while running 15 salespeople.
A Charlotte, NC roofing sales offer included shirts, business cards and door hangers from the company. A sales rep in British Columbia, on a $1,500 base plus about 10% commission, wrote, “I’m also responsible for paying 100% of my own sales materials,” cards included.
A commenter under a roofing commission video on YouTube lists cards, signs and brochures as something owners and reps should settle, because who pays affects the commission percentage. Write who pays into the rep agreement and set the commission to match. How to Pay Roofing Sales Reps: 10/50/50, Profit Splits and Draws covers the pay side.
A commenter on r/sweatystartup warns about subcontractors who show up at your jobs in their own marked trucks, “handing out business cards for company xyz,” and says they take leads that should be yours. He suggests magnetic decals on their trucks saying they are subcontracted to your company, or a 10% cut of leads that come through them. Settle whose cards crews hand out on your jobs in the sub agreement before work starts. Roofing Subcontractor Agreement Template: Scope, Insurance, Payment and a No-Poach Clause has a template to start from.
Check the proof against this list before you print
- Your name, title and direct cell sit right under the company name, in the largest type after it.
- The license number is printed the way your board asks, such as CCB #123456 in Oregon.
- Nothing on either side promises to cover a deductible or rewards a review.
- Each QR code sits inside the safe area with its blank margin clear.
- The link behind the inspection code is short and carries utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign.
- The office number on the card appears nowhere else.
- The rep agreement says who pays for cards, and the sub agreement says whose cards crews hand out.
The review code on the back sends customers to your Google profile, and the free Google Maps heatmap shows where that profile ranks. Pick your profile and a search, and in a few minutes you’ll see your rank at 49 points around your office.