Principia asked roofing contractors in a recent survey, “What challenges or issues in the residential roofing industry are you encountering this year?” The top three challenges reported by roofing contractors are labor recruitment and training, product issues, and pricing.
Labor was mentioned with nearly 20% of all responses citing as a major challenge, specifically finding skilled labor, training workers, and improving efficiency. Another 18% of responses were product-related including performance, sustainability, and variety. Pricing at 15% rounded out the top three challenges as price increases were viewed by contractors as likely to have homeowners shop around for additional roofing quotes.
Further challenges cited by contractors include availability, weather, customer issues, safety, and competition. Availability has become a frequently encountered issue since mid-2020 due to a supply-constrained environment that still continues to this day. Roofing manufacturers have been forced to limit colors and styles to optimize production while contractors continue to experience longer lead times and spot shortages. Weather is projected to account for 7.2% of roofing demand on a volume basis in 2021, however, weather delays hurt contractor productivity and profitability.
You can access more on the top three challenges roofing contractors are encountering in 2021 below:
Principia’s extensive voice of customer research informs our syndicated BuilderSeries® supply-demand products and is also a cornerstone of our custom consulting services. Contact us for more information on our syndicated data products and full range of custom consulting capabilities.