While blanket safety measures provide broad protection, they may not address the unique risks associated with specific tasks or environments. Image courtesy of Picryl

The residential roofing process is changing. While installation principles, techniques and product categories that have been around for decades remain in use, how a roofing contractor finds and wins that job in practice is rapidly evolving.

How it’s paid for is also in flux as broader economic conditions and shifts in insurance priorities impact how homeowners approach decisions about their most valuable asset.

To help roofing contractors stay ahead of the landscape, RC again issued a nationwide survey with research partners ROOFLE Technologies and Owens Corning to gauge homeowners’ perspectives on the roofing process, from start to finish. The results, gathered and analyzed by experts from myClearInsights Hub Research — the survey and research arm of RC’s parent company, BNP Media — identified several trends and challenges that roofers need to know.

Highlights include:

• How word-of-mouth recommendations and digital advertising platforms influence lead generation
• The continued influence of online reviews on homeowner decisions
• The role of price transparency
• Homeowner preferences broken down by generation
• Homeowner expectations vs. contractor practices

The survey was issued in the fall of 2024 and respondents were required to own their home and have influence in roofing decisions. The median annual household income was between $100,000 and $149,999.

A closer look at the survey field reveals interesting demographics. About 79% of respondents were men with a mean age of 56. Baby boomers represented the largest segment at 43%, followed closely by Gen X (40%) and millennials (16%). Those surveyed each represented a quarter of the country when broken down by region.

Nearly three in five homeowners said their current roof is comprised of asphalt shingles. Composite shingles (19%), synthetic shingles (13%) and tile shingles (10%) were the other most popular roof types.

THE SEARCH

Homeowners indicated they’ll seek a roofing contractor through word-of-mouth referrals or recommendations (79%) before searching via the internet (62%) or contacting firms they’ve used before (54%).

About one-third (34%) said they use home services websites like Home Advisor and Angi, and nearly a quarter use traditional social media channels. Local print news outlets earned 20%, outpacing local television stations and local radio combined at 8% and 6%, respectively.

When broken down by generation, the overwhelming majority of millennial homeowners, 70%, use search engines to find roofing contractors, followed by baby boomers (65%). They also lead the way on social media at 40%, followed by Gen X (27%) and boomers (15%).

Compared with data collected during RC’s State of the Industry survey, roofing contractors appear to be on the right track with homeowners. Seventy-two percent of roofers said their main method of promoting their business is through word-of-mouth recommendations. They’re also highly likely to service repeat clients (61%) and use social media (60%).

Online reviews continue to be highly important to homeowners, and are receiving proper attention from contractors, the data shows. Roughly 67% of respondents said online reviews were either “very” or “extremely” important in their purchasing decision. Another 28% of respondents ranked reviews as important, and only 6% found them unimportant.

Three-fourths of surveyed roofing contractors feature testimonial reviews from customers on their company websites and social channels, while 13% said they don’t.

TRANSPARENCY TREND

Price transparency — even before contacting a contractor — is increasingly important for homeowners. More than three-quarters of respondents (78%) said they’re more likely to call a roofing contractor that offers pricing on the company website. About 21% said it wouldn’t make a difference, and only 1% indicated it would turn them away from a roofing company.

Compare this to the 2023 survey, where roughly two-thirds of homeowners (66%) said they’re more likely to call a roofing contractor with pricing on their company website. About 31% said it wouldn’t make a difference, and 2% indicated online pricing would make them less likely to call.

Breaking down the homeowner numbers by generation indicated shifting expectations in the marketplace. Millennial homeowners were by far the most likely to seek online pricing, with 85% saying they’d be more likely to call, followed by Gen X (78%) and boomers (74%). Nearly a quarter of baby boomers said it would make no difference in their decision to call.

Compared to the prior survey, roughly 39% of boomers said online pricing would make no difference in a hiring decision, as did 28% of Gen X homeowners. Overall, more than half of homeowners said a contractor’s experience and reputation were the chief factors in their hiring decision, with 34% indicating it as the most important factor. Roughly 41% listed professional licensing as the next top factor.

Contractors should heed these trends, as the majority are missing out on job opportunities. According to data from RC’s 2025 State of the Industry survey, only one-quarter of the contractors surveyed said they feature pricing online, while the overwhelming majority do not.

COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES

Once a homeowner has found and established trust with a roofing contractor to sign a contract, there are still several challenges to overcome, survey data shows. Nurturing that trust is among them.

Referrals (88%) and online reviews (74%) are the most common ways homeowners measure trust with contractors. Having an online presence also matters, with 31% saying visibility was important, and another 22% indicating an “About Us” page helped earn trust.

Two in five homeowners (roughly 40%) said the biggest challenge when working with a roofing contractor is poor communication. When debating between two roofing companies, better communication emerges as the most important factor in making a decision — about 67% said "better communication" was most important, far exceeding "ease of the purchasing process" (17%).

Regarding communication methods, most homeowners indicated they preferred phone calls (60%) and 26% preferred email. Still carrying over from the COVID-19 era, 9% of respondents prefer virtual meetings, and just 4% preferred texting. Nearly all roofing contractors communicate with customers via phone (94%), and email (93%). About two-thirds use texts, and less than half use virtual meetings and chat features on their websites.

Regarding challenges homeowners face, poor communication was followed by quality of workmanship at 25%. Lack of transparent pricing also showed up, earning 18% of responses. Only 6% indicated they had no challenges when working with roofers.

HOMEOWNER TRENDS ROOFERS NEED TO KNOW

What:
A must-attend for all roofing contractors who are looking for:

• A better understanding of homeowner expectations for residential roofing contractors when it comes to the overall experience of purchasing a roof.
• Data-driven insight into where those expectations align with roofing contractors – and where they don’t.
• Market insight related to current and future trends in residential roofing.
• Exclusive viewpoints into current and future growth opportunities for contractors.
• Understanding what factors influence the contractor selection process.
• Ideas to improve customer communication and operational efficiency that grow profits.

When:
2 p.m., Thursday, May 23

Presenters:

• Mitch Henderson, co-CEO, BNP Media, Clear Seas Research
• Travis Harvego, CEO, Roofle Technologies. Harvego has more than 10 years of hands-on field experience in customer relationship management, sales, sales management, project management and labor relations.
• Mike Goldenstein, chief revenue officer, Roofle Technologies. With over 30 years in the roofing industry, Goldenstein is a voice contractors trust, and he excels at advocating for industry success and advancement.
• Chris Morris, CEO at Stonegate Group LLC. Morris boasts extensive expertise in roofing, digital marketing and AI-driven sales automation.

To Do:
Register now for free here

Editor’s Note: The information contained within this article comes from my Clear Opinion Insights Hub and the 2024 Roofing Report and Homeowner study, completed in October 2024.

My Clear Opinion Insights Hub is a full-service, B-to-B market research company focused on making the complex clear. Custom research solutions include brand positioning, new product development, customer experiences and marketing effectiveness solutions. Clear Seas offers a broad portfolio of primary, syndicated research reports and powers the leading B-to-B panel for corporate researchers, myCLEARopinion Panel, in the architecture, engineering, construction, food, beverage, manufacturing, packaging and security industries. Learn more at clearseasresearch.com.