The bright future of roof coatings

By Evelyn Witterholt. 

Roof coatings expert, Barry McConway from EVERROOF, shares his thoughts on this growing sector of the roofing industry. 

As temperatures rise, home and building owners are looking for ways to keep their structures cool. With the roof being a solid line of defense, a cool reflective roof coating is one of the most efficient and economical ways to beat the heat. That’s why it’s no surprise that the roof coatings industry is growing daily, and many contractors are looking to get on board. In an episode of our podcast, Roofing Road Trips®, we spoke with Barry McConway, president of EVERROOF, about the growth and trends of the roof coatings industry. 

One trend Barry has been noticing in the roof coatings market is that a roof coating is often being offered as an add-on service, particularly during a solar installation. When a property owner is having solar panels installed, their roof might be in good condition now, but 10 years from now it might need some work done. Rather than having the contractor come up, Barry says you can save them the headache by having them install a coating before installing the solar panels. 

Although reflectivity of roof coatings is one of its biggest strengths, Barry says it’s still an underrated feature of this type of roofing. “Just the reflectivity and not the transfer of heat is still, in my opinion, dramatically under considered by so many people,” he said. “What do you gain? You gain better thermal transfer and reflectivity.” 

In terms of technological advancements, Barry says that the EVERROOF team is making great strides every day to improve their offerings. He says that currently they are working on revising some of their primers’ adhesion components. But with everyone else in the industry also making advancements, he says that clear communication and helping contractors cut back on labor costs is what will help their company stand out from the rest. 

“The most significant thing is going to be for the person who's going to win is who can communicate the clearest, has the most transparency on what they're offering, and does it simply, fast, and efficient so that those people can make decisions,” he said. “Technology is going to help those roofers have less people, less labor costs and all that. I think that's where we're going.” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the entire podcast to learn more about the bright future of roof coatings.