Growth and innovation take center stage at IRE 2026

By Emma Peterson. 

Key takeaways from the dynamic Coffee Conversations® panel at IRE.  

In a special Coffee Conversations® sponsored by SRS Distribution and recorded live at the 2026 International Roofing Expo (IRE), Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with Sarah Sutton Shouse of Raincoat Roofing, Jewels DeCorsey of All Craft Exteriors, Tim Garrison of River City Roofing Company, Inc. and Ashley Moss of MRS Roof Pros for a discussion centered around the growth of the roofing industry.  

The first topic the panel highlighted was the technological growth seen across the roofing industry. Ashley pointed to AI specifically, noting, “As homeowners get younger and/or more adept with technology, they’re wanting faster response times. A lot of contractors are trying to meet that by utilizing AI.” An example of how AI can speed up your response time is by having it field phone calls, collecting valuable lead information even if it is outside your office hours.  

And while AI might be one of the most talked-about forms of technology today, it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how roofing professionals can leverage software and other technological innovations to succeed. Jewels explained, “Technology is not going anywhere...There's no pulling back or going back, so I think for companies in the roofing industry, if you are not at least looking into speed to lead, online booking and other digital tools, you’re going to fall behind.” 

The conversation also touched on growth in the realm of physical products. Tim highlighted the expanse of product options, specifically for growing markets like roof coatings, sharing, “Thinking back to 10 years ago, there’s just so many more systems out there for retrofits, restorations and recovers.”  

As for the increased access to products in general, Sarah shared, “One of the challenges is always the availability of the product. Because as a contractor, if I have to pay thousands of dollars in freight, I have to offset that somewhere...Recently, we’ve seen a lot of manufacturers getting into supply houses and working hard to make their product available. That growing network for product availability is huge at the moment.”  

To learn more, check out the full Coffee Conversations on demand!