The digital payment world has major potential for the contracting sector. More and more homeowners are looking to pay for their roofing replacements with credit cards and eChecks rather than with an old-fashioned checkbook.
But only about half of all roofers currently accept eChecks. 74% accept credit or debit cards. So why aren’t more roofers accepting these types of digital payments? We’ll cover the top six objections and their counterpoints here, so you can see if a payment processor is right for your company.
Let’s dig in!
6 Reasons Why Contractors Aren’t Accepting eChecks & Credit Cards
Cost & Fees
Many contractors hesitate to accept credit and debit cards because they don’t want to deal with fees. Granted, you do have to pay a fee for each credit card you process, but those fees are small. In fact, you’re missing out on more than you’re saving if you don’t accept credit cards!
The CEO of JobNimbus, Ben Hodson, says “Most roofers don’t realize that those [dealer] fees are a very small percentage and make up for themselves by bringing in more profits.” While accepting digital payment does come with a fee, the cost doesn’t outweigh the benefit!
Additionally, you might think you get more money in your pocket by picking up a physical check than by using a payment processor. But that’s rarely the case.
For example, let’s say that you work as a roofer in California. You have three customers that you need to collect checks from. So you send out your guys to pick up those checks. Here’s how that would turn out.
As you can see, digital payments would save you money in two of these three situations. You’d actually have less money at the end of the job by picking up the checks yourself. Why expend more effort to see less revenue?
Security
With bank shutdowns like Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year, fraud, and security breaches, it makes sense why security is top of mind. Physical checks are tangible, so they seem safer. But how many times has someone on your team misplaced a check, never to be recovered? That isn’t a secure way of handling your money.
Online payment processors have security measures in place like data encryption and tokenization to protect both you and your customers. You can also follow these 10 best practices for secure digital payment processing to help further reduce risk.
Tradition
Let’s face it. The contracting industry is very traditional. Most roofers learn how to roof and do it the same way for as long as they work in the field. They like the way they know how to do it. The same mentality can apply to collecting payments.
Checks used to be the payment of choice, so they can be more familiar and comfortable than a new way of payment collection. But the mentality of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” isn’t going to get your company to a new level of growth.
Perceived Customer Preferences
If some customers only pay with checks, you might assume that everyone wants to pay with checks. But that isn’t accurate.
Homeowners want to pay with other options. According to our research, 65% of homeowners prefer to pay via credit card rather than cash or check. And accepting digital payments changes their perception of you—in good ways. 91% of homeowners say they trust contractors who offer digital payment options more than those who only accept checks.
And that isn’t all. Our 2023 Peak Performance roofing industry report found that companies are more likely to get higher reviews and higher revenue if they accept financing, eChecks, and credit/debit cards. Something as simple as accepting more payments can help customers see your business in a positive light.
Processing Time
A major distinction between collecting checks yourself and collecting payments online is processing time. When you use a payment processor, the payment processor takes a little time to check for fraud and ensure the payer’s account has sufficient funds. There is a slight delay in receiving your payment, but picking up checks isn’t immediate either.
In the above chart, you’d spend 21–52 minutes driving to get the check—and that’s just one way. Instead of running around from location to location and then to the bank, a payment processor will do the work of collecting money for you.
Digital payment processing saves you anywhere from a few minutes to several hours per check in travel time alone. And that doesn’t account for the time you spend tracking down a check in the first place!
No Time to Set Up a Payment Processor
As a contractor, you’re incredibly busy. You don’t have a lot of time to figure out a new system. If you think that changing the way you process payments will take forever, you aren’t going to want to make the switch.
But it doesn’t take long to set up a payment processor. When you sign up for JobNimbus Payments, you can go through the entire setup process and start accepting payments in one day. And if you’re already estimating and invoicing in JobNimbus, using JobNimbus Payments doesn’t add extra time.
Unlock Your Growth Potential with a Digital Payment Processor
Accepting digital payments can make your contracting business more efficient, profitable, and scalable. While you do have to take a little time to adjust to an online payment processor, it will save you so much time in the long run.
If you’ve been considering getting a payment processor, try JobNimbus Payments. Schedule your free 15-minute JobNimbus Payments demo with one of our FinTech experts today.
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