This piece was written last year while we attended Western States Roofing Expo and wanted to touch on it again. It is important because as an industry we can grow it by looking to these contractors. I feel like there is much more I would like to say regarding the issue of contractors who do not work with metal. I’m amazed and baffled by the lack of motivation I see from
some contractors in building their businesses. Then again maybe they don’t know how to grow their business or take it to the next step. The perfect example I like to use with some of these industry professionals is a real world company that had success with one product. The difference is that most of these companies that were successful with one product is that they needed to create more product or services to grow their business further. Many contractors I have seen here the last few days continue to do your standard asphalt, shingle, ceramic roof etc. So again I continue to ask why aren’t more of you looking into metal? Some say it is too expensive for consumers – I think that is a bogus answer and I will tell you why shortly. Consider a shingle roof and it’s warranty, what 15-20 years? Well, a metal roof for example carries a lifetime warranty so in those 60 years you may live there you’ll replace our roof three to four times. So cost is not an argument! If manufacturers could start teaching and educating the contractors that have never used metal more effectively then we could see an influx of metal products and growth in the market.
This debate/topic is something that I could write about daily and I possibly will. I will leave you with one more thought for the day to consider; If a homeowner is remodeling their home such as a kitchen, living room or dining room wouldn’t it make sense to put a sustainable, high quality roof on their home? Doesn’t the homeowner want to protect the investment they have made in the remodeling? It’s almost like tires on your car, if your tires are balding you don’t get the same performance, or safety out of the car. For all of you contractors and manufacturers take what I’ve said here and apply it in your strategy in growing your business, trust me it works.