Residential Metal Roofing Executive Report

State of the Industry 2025

Issue #262 | March 25, 2025 | Ethan Young

With all the current changes affecting our industry, I wanted to share my thoughts on the state of the residential metal roofing industry. Three primary topics come to mind—leads, insurance, and tariffs. 

If you haven’t found leads difficult to come by in recent months, consider yourself incredibly fortunate. Most contractors have struggled. There are several factors affecting this, but the important thing right now is how we respond.

For metal roofing contractors, one thing that should be on your radar is that consumers no longer view metal roofing as a specialty product requiring a specialized contractor. Many consumers believe that any roofing contractor can install metal regardless of their skills. So, if you’re going to offer metal, you need to run a campaign that demonstrates why hiring a specialist is still important.

Bad roofs never go away, and repairs and replacements just get delayed. Your marketing messaging should convey a sense of urgency — why homeowners can’t afford to put off those projects any longer. Even beyond that, though, leads are tough to come by. For several quarters now, folks have predicted it will improve next quarter. They will be correct at some point, but until then, we have to adapt.

In the meantime, though, here are three pieces of advice for lead generation:

• Revisit old leads and missed opportunities. I guarantee there is some life in those leads. We have been doing this here at Isaiah Industries, and, yes, even as a manufacturer, we have found life in those older consumer leads.
• Work your customer database for referrals. Spend a little money on positive connections with past customers — perhaps drop some flowers off. They may not have an immediate name to give you as a referral, but they will be talking to someone who needs a new roof sooner or later. You want your name to come up in that conversation!
• Connect with prospects as personally as possible. We will see more AI tools to help with this, but your appointment setter can accomplish a lot with some legwork. Ensure you know as much as possible about your prospects and targets. Deliver them personal messages that help them to 1) See you as an expert who can guide them to the right decision, 2) See themselves as your typical customer, and 3) Realize that they will miss out on something if they don’t connect with you promptly.

Now, I want to discuss restoration work and the insurance industry. Insurance companies are serious about reducing their liability exposure for roof replacements. I can guarantee they will stick to this until their numbers are where they want them to be.

I heard a recent story of a Florida insurance commissioner considering the possibility of a ban on asphalt shingles. While this is a great story to share with prospective customers, I can assure you that asphalt shingles aren’t going anywhere. The asphalt shingle industry is a big player, and it still offers the cheapest way for most consumers to roof their homes.

It’s safe to say that insurance companies will be figuring out ways to do fewer and fewer roof replacements. Keep this in mind if you’ve depended heavily on insurance work in recent years.

I think one of the best lines of reasoning to discuss with your clients is this:

• Changing weather patterns are increasingly pushing roofs to or beyond their limit.
• Insurance companies want to stop being the largest purchaser of roofing in the country.
• Roofing costs double about every 15 years.
• Only the very rich can afford to buy cheap.
• Investing in a long-term roof that will also bring you energy savings year after year makes sense for most homeowners.

Moving on to tariffs and their impact on customers and contractors. Tariffs on incoming offshore metal will drive sales of domestic metal as domestic prices start to match offshore prices. Not that it takes away the sting, but hopefully, this will bring some extra profitability to domestic aluminum and steel mills.

In anticipation of this, most metal manufacturers have announced price increases, and ours will take place in April. If the tariffs hold long-term, there’s a good chance that folks with increases on the lower end of that range will need a second increase this year. Coating costs are on the rise, too. We’ve seen an increase of over 20% from one of our coating suppliers.

The big question here is what happens with supply. The last time tariffs played a role, we ended up in a very robust remodeling market, and supply became a big issue. Lead times stretched out, metal shipments were delayed, and prices were fueled upward even further.

Will a similar situation arise this time? Is there enough fuel in the market to drive volume that creates shortages? I’m not seeing it yet, but that could very well change. Anymore, even the talk of price increases and possible shortages seems to spur panic buying among consumers today.

So, what are your next steps?

• Get creative and targeted with your lead generation.
• Make the most of every lead you generate. Focus on your professionalism, in-home sales presentation, and closing ratio.
• Bid jobs carefully. Know your costs.
• Drive home that value proposition!
• Continue to focus on your online reputation, as that will increasingly be what attracts prospects.

We work in a great industry. While it ebbs and flows, there will always be roofs to replace, and professional, high-integrity contractors will lead the way.

Please contact me anytime if you’d like to brainstorm ways to grow your business.

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