High Demand for Metal Roofing Means High Demand for Specialty Training

By Cayden Wemple. 

As metal roofing continues to increase in popularity, more skilled workers are needed to complete installations.  

The rise of metal roofs is certainly undeniable as it is clearly a sustainable and aesthetically pleasing choice for customers who are looking to replace their roofs. With such a high demand, the need for specialty training increases. In the first episode of MetalTalk, Heidi J. Ellsworth welcomed Mark MacDonald, Sherwin-Williams' sales and marketing manager, and John Sheridan of Sheridan Metal Resources, to discuss some of the training that is necessary to carry out metal roof installations. 

There are different levels of experience when it comes to installing metal roofs. “You can break it down into a few different categories. There's the entry level side of things. If people want to transition from shingle roofing into metal roofing, then there's a class of metal systems and metal products that lend themselves to that. Once you're in and you've done a couple of systems and you want to pick up another system, move into something a little more complicated, then that training continues into other systems. Once you get past that initial stage of getting set up with the entry level training, then you want to stay with it and move into other things.” 

The second part is the hands on and virtual training. John explained, “A big part of training is the hands-on part. My typical seminar is three days long and nobody's going to become an expert in three days. The other end is virtual training. We're going to be producing a series of virtual trainings that deal with some of the basic entry level details to get people started on some of the simpler systems.”  

There is a new wave of roofing contractors that are burgeoning onto the metal roofing scene. “We can segment the [contractors] into two groups. And I would say the first group is what I'll call a traditional metal contractor. And that contractor is someone who's been in this business for a long time. They don't really need to be educated on metal for the most part.” The other group is contractors who haven’t had a focus on metal roofing but are "out there doing these exterior type jobs you're talking about where roofing, maybe they do windows or siding, decking, that kind of stuff,” John explained. “And those folks, their crews are not ingrained in this metal community. And that's where I think our largest opportunity is, is to bring those people into the fold.” 

Listen to the full conversation to learn more about the specialty training that goes into metal roofing.