Inspiring tomorrow’s roofers, honoring today’s

By Emma Peterson. 

How Donovan Morgan brings together roofing history and future talent at the Roof Museum. 

In recent years, the roofing industry and other related trades have been eager for new blood to enter the profession. We’ve been reading headlines about labor shortages for a decade now. In response to this challenge, industry leaders have launched many different programs and initiatives in an attempt to address the shortage and encourage the next generation to enter the industry. Many initiatives have sparked interest, including the incorporation of roofing in SkillsUSA and youth outreach programs like Let’s Build Construction Careers Camp (LBCC) for girls. In this episode of Roofing Road Trips®, we spoke to Donovan (Don) Morgan about the work he and his team at the Roof Museum in Atlanta, Georgia is doing to bring the next generations of roofers into the fold. 

Don, who you might also know by the moniker Roofs by Don, is the owner of his own roofing company, The Roof Gallery, and is the driving force behind the creation of the first roof museum in the world. In explaining the inspiration behind the founding of the museum, he shared, “I feel like it's important to give homeowners some kind of education on what they're getting when they get a reroof. So, at the Roof Museum, we have roofing education, classes and things like that. We also have the first roofing hall of fame!”  

This hall of fame is not only a fun, community-building space for members of the roofing industry; it’s a powerful tool for showing non-roofers the potential for a rewarding and successful career. And roofing really is a powerful career full of opportunities, contrary to what some of the misconceptions might lead others to believe. Don explained, “Roofing’s amazing. You don't have to necessarily go to school for it. You can start, you get training, you can get paid while you're training and at the end of the day, you can have a real career, you learned a real trade and you are making real money.”  

Sharing this message is something that Don is very passionate about, and that is very clear from the way he runs the Roof Museum. Not only does the museum act as an introductory space for non-roofers to learn about the amazing industry, but they also partner with other organizations, like CobbWorks, to run outreach events. Overall, Don sees this museum as part of his legacy. He shared, “I want to be able to leave a legacy, and I feel like this could be one. Not only mine, but also a place for other people leave their legacies... It highlights the best of the best of the industry and creates a space for community events and things like that where roofing is on the forefront.” 

Read the transcript, Listen to the episode or Watch the recording to learn more about Don and his work with the Roof Museum.