Several factors will likely influence the economic climate commercial roofing contractors will find themselves in 2025. The continued downward slide of inflation and a new presidential administration promising sweeping changes to tariff, immigration and regulatory policies are chief among the uncontrollable ingredients emerging as 2024 draws to a close. Yet, roofers are optimistic about sales, improved technology and steadying demand when it comes to the commercial roofing market, according to RC’s latest research.

With the expertise of myCLEARopinion Insights Hub — the survey and research arm of RC’s parent company, BNP Media — roofing contractors from around the country shared insights about the year they had and expectations for the future with our annual roofing survey.

The series of questions circulated during the fall helped identify the challenges and pain points commercial roofers felt, while also highlighting trends that may influence success for years to come. Respondents consisted of roofing contractors that subscribe to RC and are registered on roofingcontractor.com.

The commercial roofing contractors who responded represent companies that generate more than 50% of overall annual revenue from commercial projects — whether that be in roof replacement, repair or new construction. Most were in corporate or general management for companies with a median annual revenue between $20-$25 million, and between 51-100 employees. The majority were men, at 66%, and nearly 31% were between ages 40-49, the largest sampling of age groups of participants.

Roofing contractors from the South and Midwest led the geographic breakdown of respondents at 31% each, followed by the West at 20%, and the Northeast at 19%.

Sales Outlook

According to this year’s survey, 68% of contractors expect to close 2024 with sales volumes improving over last year. Perhaps that is fueling optimism for the coming year, as 80% of respondents are saying they expect 2025 annual sales revenues to slightly or greatly increase compared to this year. Expanding their outlook even further, commercial contractors continue that optimism, saying they expect sales to grow over the next three years.

Compared to 2023, these results show commercial contractor expectations are a mixed bag. Last year, they were more confident that sales would be better than in 2022 (73%), but were less confident annual sales volumes would change in 2024 compared to the previous year (74%). Last year’s contractors had similar expectations when forecasting the next three years, with 86% expecting sales to improve.

As to what products will fuel their optimism, commercial contractors depend on single-ply roofing. A total of 88% said they offer the product to their customers, which accounts for an average of 43% of sales revenue. According to two-thirds of contractors, single-ply roofing product sales increased in the past year.

Metal roofing is the next most popular roofing system, with 83% involved with the product, though it only makes up 16% of overall revenue on average. Similarly, 76% offer metal accessories, accounting for 7% of revenue on average.

Though it isn’t as profitable as single-ply, metal is quickly becoming a staple in the commercial space, as 61% of contractors saw metal accessory sales improve. Another 55% said metal roofing system sales were better than the previous year.

Despite the rising popularity of solar, only a quarter of contractors surveyed offer it to their customers. This, of course, could be explained away as regional preferences – in some areas, solar isn’t as popular or viable. However, of those contractors who offer it, more than half said solar sales grew from 2023, while 33% said it remained the same.

Perhaps these contractors know something others don’t – about 63% of those surveyed said they anticipate solar sales to increase in the coming year. This makes it the third-highest product category in the survey when projecting into the future, just behind metal roofing systems (65%) and single-ply (73%).

In terms of products experiencing a decline, low-slope asphalt is offered by two-thirds of those surveyed, but only 33% saw their sales improve this year. About 36% of contractors said their sales decreased in this category. Roughly 40% of contractors say low-slope asphalt sales will improve in 2025.

Challenges Ahead

In last year’s report, three concerns were tied at 51% each for being the most stressful challenges to operating a commercial roofing business. Those three have returned but contractors are more certain about which one keeps them up at night the most.

Taking the top spot this year was the lack of unqualified workers, with 61% saying it is their top challenge. Even so, full-time employees do the majority of the work – 29% of the average amount of field labor is done by subcontractors compared to 64% by employees. Last year’s ratio was 31% subcontractors and 60% full-time employees.

Employee referrals remain the main source of recruiting (80%), followed by online job postings (75%). Maintaining a safe environment is the top technique for retention, with 86% citing it as their main method, followed by providing benefits at 81%. For training their workers, 83% rely on in-house/on-the-job training, whereas 69% use formal in-house training programs.

As the Latino and Hispanic populations play an ever-increasingly critical role in the industry, breaking down language barriers remains a challenge. The average percentage of crews that speak non-English languages is 37%, while only 15% of management on average speaks non-English languages. Spanish is the most prevalent at 73%, followed by English at 42%.

After workforce issues, the second biggest dread-bringer was the current economy and inflation, worrying 49% of respondents. Anyone paying attention to the 2024 presidential election knows this was a major factor in how people voted. Tied into economic concerns, increased building material costs worry 42% of respondents.

For 39% of commercial contractors, lowball pricing and bidding wars are still burdensome, a slight increase from last year’s 37%. Supply chain issues and material shortages fell to 15%, compared to 22% last year.

Of least concern to contractors are government interventions and regulations, with only 3% saying it concerns them – a drop from 9% in 2023.

Garden or green rooftops are becoming more popular, with 32% of commercial contractors offering it.

Thinking (Artificially) About Technology

Technology plays an important role in roofing, even with the industry’s reputation for being slow to adopt it. Among the solutions available to commercial contractors, estimating software is the most widely used, with 83% of those surveyed having implemented it. This is closely followed by enterprise or accounting software at 81%. Rounding out the top three pieces of tech is business process software at 75%.

Aerial measurement continues to be a popular solution, with 64% making use of it and another 14% planning on adopting it by 2026.

The least popular technology is augmented or virtual reality, with only 15% of commercial contractors currently using it. About 14% say they may add it to their digital toolbox in the next year or two, though 42% say they have no plans on using it.

Similarly, artificial intelligence is currently used by 20% of respondents. However, it is the most discussed piece of technology, with 22% of contractors saying they’ll likely adopt it within the next two years and 5% anticipating they’ll use it within the next five years. A total of 32% say they have no plans of using AI or predictive data analytics.

Contractors selling solar products expect sales to increase by 63% in 2025.

Safety Precautions

When it comes to commercial roofing projects, safety is paramount. Not only are there more hazards compared to most residential jobs, there are also plenty of requirements to follow. As to how commercial contractors impart this message to their workers, the results are encouraging.

For the most part, commercial contractors hold weekly safety meetings (42%), followed by 22% of contractors holding daily meetings. Another 22% opt to schedule monthly safety meetings, while 12% say they only convene annually for safety.

Just as important as discussing safety is having the right equipment to operate safely. Most contractors agree, with the majority (83%) saying they provide all safety equipment to their workers. The remaining 17% say they provide some equipment, while no contractor surveyed said workers must bring their own.