22 September 2026 · 5 min read · Oscar Markham
Why storm weeks decide a roofer's year
Ask a roofer when they made their money last year and a surprising number will name a week rather than a season. Storms concentrate a county's worth of demand into a few days, and what happens in those days is largely decided before the weather arrives.
What changes during a storm week
Two things move at once. Volume rises sharply, and price sensitivity collapses. Somebody with water coming through a bedroom ceiling is not collecting three quotes.
Close rates in those weeks routinely run at double the normal figure, and cost per enquiry usually falls rather than rises, because the intent is so high that ads convert unusually well.
The preparation problem
A new campaign takes time to be approved and longer to learn. By the time it is performing, the week is over and the work has gone to whoever was already visible.
The firms that capture storm weeks have a campaign built and paused, with budget agreed in advance. Turning it up takes minutes. That is the entire difference, and it is not a budget question.
What to have ready
Three things, prepared while the weather is fine:
- A paused campaign with emergency wording and a phone-first action rather than a form
- A decision, made in advance, about how much you will lift the daily budget and for how long
- An honest answer about capacity — advertising work you cannot reach for three weeks damages your name locally
After the week
The mistake is leaving it running. Storm messaging aimed at a county that has dried out produces expensive, irrelevant clicks.
Switch back to planned work — re-roofs, flat roofs, guttering — while the emergency enquiries are being quoted. The storm fills the diary for a fortnight; the planned campaign is what fills it for the rest of the quarter.
Written by Oscar Markham, founder of Dublin Growth Digital. We run lead generation for Irish estate agents and trades, reported every Friday in enquiries and booked work.