You can email past roofing customers about a storm check or a gutter job as long as every sales email carries your postal address and a working way to opt out. Texting them is stricter. FCC rules require the homeowner’s signed written consent before an autodialer sends marketing texts to their cell phone, and each text sent without it is a separate violation they can sue over.
A past customer already knows your name, which helps where homeowners are buried in outreach. A Florida roofer of 13 years on r/Roofing says homeowners in his market get “flyers every other day, mail every week, text messages, emails, and on and on.” Bought lists bring their own trouble: a roofing company on r/RoofingSales that was expanding its phone and email marketing kept running into “companies trying to sell us completely outdated information.” Your own list comes from jobs you did, so start it at the contract and collect each customer’s email address and texting consent when they sign.
Any email that sells, past customers included, falls under CAN-SPAM
CAN-SPAM, the federal law on commercial email, covers every sales email whether you send one or a thousand, so a note offering a past customer gutters or a storm inspection counts. It makes no exception for email to other businesses, which puts the realtors and insurance agents who send you work under it as well. An owner on r/Roofing wants to “run drip campaigns for the professionals who are sending us referrals,” and every email in a drip like that follows the same rules. For setting up the referral program itself, see Roofing Referral Programs: Past Customers, Realtors and Insurance Agents.
The FTC says every marketing email must have:
- accurate From, To and Reply-To lines and routing information
- a subject line that matches what’s in the email
- a clear disclosure that the message is an ad
- your valid physical postal address
- a clear explanation of how to opt out, with each opt-out honored within 10 business days and the link still working at least 30 days after you send
Each email that breaks the law can draw a penalty of up to $53,088 as of October 2026. Hiring a marketing company to send your emails leaves that liability with you, because the business whose work is promoted stays responsible, so check that anyone sending for you puts every item on that list in every email.
Messages about the job itself, such as warranty details or job status, are exempt from most of these rules, though their routing information still has to be accurate. Add a sales pitch to a warranty reminder and the email can count as commercial, so send the warranty note on its own and put any offer in a separate email.
Gmail’s spam-folder rules apply to every sender, however short your list
Gmail requires anyone sending to personal Gmail addresses to set up SPF or DKIM, two of the settings that keep your email out of spam folders. The server that sends your mail also needs valid forward and reverse DNS records and an encrypted connection, and the share of your emails that recipients report as spam has to stay below 0.3%.
Send from an address on your company’s own domain, and ask whoever set up your company email to confirm SPF and DKIM pass before the first campaign.
Signed consent covers you whether or not your texting app counts as an autodialer
The written-consent rule applies to marketing texts sent through an autodialer. Get the signature from everyone you plan to text and you never have to work out whether your texting app counts as one. The FCC defines that consent as a signed written agreement that clearly authorizes marketing texts and says plainly that signing isn’t a condition of buying anything, and an electronic signature counts.
Put the consent on the contract or estimate as its own line with an unchecked box, kept apart from the job terms. This line follows the rule’s wording; have a lawyer read it before it goes on your paperwork.
☐ I agree that [Company] may send marketing text messages to the mobile number below. Signing this is not a condition of buying any goods or services. I can reply STOP to any message to end them.
Mobile number: __________ Signature: __________ Date: __________
A homeowner can sue for $500 for each text sent through an autodialer without consent, or their actual loss if that is higher, and a court may triple the amount for willful or knowing violations. One blast to a whole list multiplies that, so text only the customers whose signed consent is on file.
Do-not-call rules cover texts, from STOP replies to calling hours
A homeowner can withdraw consent by any reasonable method, and a reply of stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel or unsubscribe always counts. You have 10 business days to honor it. One text confirming the opt-out is presumed allowed if it goes out within five minutes of the request, and after that the marketing texts stop.
Any business sending marketing texts has to keep a written do-not-call policy and record each request when it’s made, then keep honoring it for 5 years. Set your texting tool or CRM to mark a STOP reply on the customer’s record, so nobody in the office texts that number from another phone later. If your customers still live in a spreadsheet, see Roofing CRM Software: What It Costs and When You Need One.
The national do-not-call registry exempts people you’ve done business with, for 18 months after a customer’s job and 3 months after someone only asked for an estimate. Inside that window you can text a homeowner on the registry, though texts sent through an autodialer still need the signed consent. Once it closes, a homeowner on the registry who gets more than one marketing text from you in 12 months can sue.
Federal calling hours cover marketing texts as well: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the homeowner’s local time. Schedule every campaign text inside that window.
Carriers block unregistered business texts, and states add their own rules
Since February 1, 2025, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have blocked business texts sent from unregistered 10-digit numbers, according to Salesforce’s help pages. The business has to register its brand and its campaign with The Campaign Registry first, so ask your texting provider to confirm both are registered before the first campaign goes out.
Texas widened its telephone solicitation law to cover text and image messages on September 1, 2025, and other states have their own texting and calling laws. Look up your state’s rules before the first campaign.
These four messages already carry the parts each rule requires
Swap in your details, and keep the closing lines of each sales email and the STOP line of the text.
Warranty record, sent on its own with no offer
Subject: Your roof warranty from [Company]
Hi [Name], here are the warranty details for the roof we installed at [address] on [date]: [manufacturer warranty] and our [length] workmanship warranty. Keep this email with your house papers, and call [phone] if a leak shows up.
[Company], [street address]
Storm check after hail, a sales email
Subject: Hail hit [neighborhood] on [date], free roof check for past customers
Hi [Name], [neighborhood] took hail on [date]. We put your roof on in [year] and would like to check it at no charge. Reply with a day that works, or call [phone].
This is an advertisement from [Company], [street address]. To stop these emails, click [unsubscribe link].
The same storm check by text, only to customers who signed the consent line
[Company]: hail hit [neighborhood] on [date]. Want a free check on the roof we put on in [year]? Reply YES and we’ll call to set a time. Reply STOP to end these texts.
A note to a realtor who sends you work, also a sales email
Subject: Thanks for sending [client’s first name] our way
Hi [Name], we finished [client’s first name]‘s roof on [date]. If another client’s inspection report flags a roof, send it over and I’ll look at it within [time] and write you a short summary. [Your name], [phone]
This is an advertisement from [Company], [street address]. To stop these emails, click [unsubscribe link].
Check these before the first email or text goes out
- A separate, unchecked consent line on every contract and estimate
- Signed consent on file for every number you text
- Brand and campaign registered with The Campaign Registry
- A written do-not-call policy, with STOP replies marked on the customer’s record
- Campaign texts scheduled between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the homeowner’s time zone
- Accurate sender lines, your postal address, an ad disclosure and a working unsubscribe link in every sales email
- SPF and DKIM passing on your sending domain
- Warranty notes sent with no offer attached
Your list reaches homeowners who already know you. To see where you show up on Google Maps for the ones who don’t, run the free Google Maps heatmap: pick your Google profile and a search, and in a few minutes you’ll see your rank at 49 points around your office.