BUYING FOCUS C
ommunication and collaboration are key when it comes to roofing buying deals at NBG. That’s according to Shane Watts from Watts Roofing Supplies, who sits on the NBG Roofing & Insulation Category Management Team. Much like the other CMTs, when deals are nearing their expiration date, a questionnaire is sent out to the Partners. Watts says: “This allows us to lean on the experience of the group, asking what do they use this Supplier for, why they use that Supplier, what the different Suppliers do well.”
Adam Bick of Alltype Roofing Supplies leads the negotiations for the Roofing side of the CMT. He says that, while one of the main criteria when the CMT goes out to negotiate deals is price, that is not the only consideration. “Yes, it’s an important factor, of course it is, but it’s not the only major one. If the service levels aren’t there, if the Supplier can’t meet our service-level requirements and get the products to the Partners when the Partners need them, then the price is immaterial.”
He states that the service level has to be able to cope with the amount of business that NBG Partners can bring them. “If you have good products in the market, can offer next- day delivery and are competitively priced, then you’ve probably got a great chance of getting on the ticket. All those things need to be in place - it’s not purely based on price.” The range question comes in too, particularly with a sector like roofing. Bick says: “Some Suppliers can offer broader ranges than others, so that is a consideration as well. We often have to ask the question whether a Supplier can offer all the products in a category and how many of those products could they supply in sufficient numbers? That goes alongside the consideration of whether their service element stacks up and do they offer national delivery.”
Watts explains that some sections within the wider roofing categories include a number of Suppliers in the deal, simply because there are so many elements within the sub-categories. “Roofing ventilation is a good example because there are Suppliers who are excellent at certain parts, while others specialise in more niche products. In order to make sure our Partners get the best deals on the entire category, we have to include several Suppliers. There were nine different Suppliers that we had to talk to for the deal because it is such a big category.”
When new Partners join NBG, they shift across to the deals as soon as they can. Then, the CMT discuss bringing in non-NBG
January 2025 PRICE NOT ALL ABOUT
Service and range are taken into consideration as much as price when it comes to arranging roofing deals.
Left: Adam Bick of Alltype Roofing Supplies
Suppliers that the new Partners may have good relationships with to see whether they can bring any benefits and be a potential fit with NBG.
Watts says: “We do normally find that when new Partners join, they will switch to our deals because they tend to be the better ones. If they aren’t then that’s on us.” Moving forward, Watts says that solar is going to be a big focus for the market, so the CMT will be looking at new deals in that area. “Hitting the government’s net-zero targets will require a huge increase in the number of roofs with solar panels, so that has to be a big move for us,” he says. “We do have some deals already, but it is definitely something we need to look at with a bit more vigour. “It’s something we need to keep on top of because, if a third of a roof is going to be solar, we don’t want to lose that. Plus, solar tiles are more expensive than the roof tiles they are replacing, so that’s another reason why we need to be up to speed with it. We need to make sure that we get that deal right so that it can benefit all our Partners.” Another direction that the CMT is looking to include in the deal conversation is the issue of guarantees for the roof.
Watts explains: “This isn’t going to be part of every deal, of course, but where appropriate, we would like to be able to say
Right: Shane Watts from Watts Roofing Supplies
to our customers ‘if you use all these elements together to build the roof, then there’ll be a 15-year guarantee on it’. It would mean benefits for the Partner, the Partner’s roofing customer and the end consumer. “That’s obviously not as simple as just negotiating to get a good price or the best service deal, as there are elements of entire roofs that come from different Suppliers. However, NBG at its core is about collaboration for the greater good, so we’re hopeful that all the conversations we have around those issues will be productive ones.”
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