The year in trends

By Emma Peterson. 

Take a look back at 2024 through the lens of The Coffee Shops’ Trends Report on the roofing industry. 

As the year comes to a close, it is natural to start looking back. Whether you’re reflecting on those New Year’s resolutions you made, examining a curated playlist of songs you listened to in the last year from Spotify or are tracking how your business has done during the calendar year, December is a great month for reflection. In this Coffee Conversation™, Rachel Hoover of Ace Roofing, Jon Gardner of Owens Corning, Amanda Veinott of Maven Roofing & Exteriors and Lauren White of RoofersCoffeeShop® sit down with the 2024 Trends Report to see what has been happening in the industry.  

The trends report is an annual survey run by The Coffee Shops™ between May and September. Sponsored by Beacon Building Products it aims to see what is happening in the industry, from contractor business issues to recruitment rates of new talent. At the Coffee Shops, Lauren is the project lead for the trends survey and shared some background on what it was like to put the report together this year, “We've been doing the Trends Survey since 2016, and this year we actually got the same amount of responses as we did last year, 210, which was great!” In comparison to previous years, Lauren shared that the survey itself was designed to be more time efficient with an emphasis on multiple choice questions (though there was usually an option to write in extra answers).  

An example of what the Trends Report looks at is material usage. This is a question that has been asked every year The Coffee Shops have run the Trends Report and we have seen a distinct emphasis on metal over the years. Amanda shared a bit of perspective on this coming from the East Coast, saying, “Overall, we don't do a ton of full roof metal over here, but every higher-end home always seems to need some metal component.” The same story is very true for Rachel, over on the Western side of the country. She shared, “We're pretty similar. We don't install a whole lot of metal except some accent metal. We are largely asphalt, both on our commercial side and the residential.” This is really interesting because it shows the prevalence and integral nature of metal as a part of the finished product but does not necessarily represent a direct growth of the metal sector.  

Overall, the 2024 Trends Report revealed that contractors could use more information and/or support in recruiting, training and marketing in the new year. Jon explained, “With the report, we're really tapping into the next level ways in which we can help and support our partners in their endeavors. 

Read the transcript, Listen to the conversation or Watch the video to hear more about the 2024 Trends Report! You can also read the report yourself online.