Why Everyone is Getting into Metal

By Cass Jacoby.  

Experts explain that metal is booming at the moment and why you should get in on this fast-growing industry today in a LIVE! Coffee Conversations at METALCON. 

In a special LIVE! From METALCON Coffee Conversations, sponsored by New Tech Machinery, Heidi J. Ellsworth meets with industry experts from the metal industry to bring you wisdom straight from the trade show floor. Here, they talk about why metal is booming and why so many contractors and homeowners alike are drawn to this kind of roofing. 

“In our industry we have a premium product, it's called residential metal roofing. And so, what the asphalters are excited about is that when they have multiple metal roofing profiles to upsell, that is more money and more margin for that company,” says Sherwin-Williams' Sales and Marketing Manager Mark D. Macdonald. “And all it takes is some coordination with their representative manufacturer and the opportunity to get some.” 

Metal is one of the fastest growing sectors in the roofing industry, and with all of the benefits this material boasts, it looks like that growth will only continue. It isn’t a surprise then that so many contractors looking to differentiate their business do so by working more with metal and taking on the training that metal roofing requires. 

“In communities around the country, shingles dominated and a contractor put on shingles, they didn't have to do metal. But as more and more metal gets put on these communities, they have to take it on if they want to grow their business or get involved in something new and continue to grow,” adds McElroy Metal VP of Marketing Ken Gieseke. “So, that's another thing, too, that the growth of metal makes guys that do shingles want to get into metal or they're going to lose.” 

There is no denying the exponential growth we are seeing in metal, which comes as no surprise given the many advantages of the roofing material and the increasing accessibility of it. This shift in popularity is not only driven by contractors looking to add value to their businesses, it is also being championed by homeowners who love the long-term durability, lifespan, curb appeal and energy efficiency this roofing type adds to the home. 

“There was a time when metal and shingles were night and day. Metal was way more expensive than shingles, but over time metal has caught up,” says John Sheridan of Sheridan Metal Resources. “If you factor in lifecycle costing, metal is killing shingles right now.” 

As more and more homeowners and building owners look for sustainable, more efficient roof styles, metal only becomes more appealing. The material is 100% recyclable and has a long lifespan that makes it not only a sound investment, but a greener option. Not to mention, the obvious advantages of metal’s durability as weather grows more extreme.  

“What I see is that between some of the engineering that's behind some of the profiles, some of the changes in the weather, metal is becoming a more wanted product. Sometimes it's actually a product that's a required product, depending on the region and where you live, so the potential is huge,” says New Tech Machinery’s Terry McGuire. “A lot of the roofs are asphalt, and so it goes to show that there's a lot of opportunity.” 

Read, Listen or Watch the entire LIVE Coffee Conversation for more insight on what is happening in metal and for cutting edge insight on the metal roofing industry.

About Cass  

Cass works as a reporter/writer for RoofersCoffeeShop, AskARoofer and MetalCoffeeShop. When she isn’t writing about roofs, she is putting her Master degree to work writing about movies and dancing with her plants.