Market research matters! Highlights from the latest reroofing survey

By Dani Sheehan. 

Spearheaded by a coalition of trade associations, the Quarterly Market Index Survey for Reroofing provides a snapshot of the industry’s successes and gaps throughout the year. 

Surveys are incredibly useful for gauging the market and serving as a barometer of the industry’s business conditions over time. Each quarter, a coalition of industry trade associations put together a market index survey for reroofing. Read the full release here. We asked Justin Koscher, president of the Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association (PIMA) to provide the highlights for us. Here are some key takeaways from the Q3 survey and reasons for participating in the Q4 survey, which will be released in January 2024. 

Respondent demographics 

• Business type: 81% of respondents were roofing contractors and 19% were roofing consultants. 
• Market type: 14% of respondents were in steep-slope only, while 86% indicated that their business is primarily low-slope, or a blend of low- and steep-slope. 
• Materials installed: This question was recently added to the survey. The results found that 51% of roofing contractors reported an increase in the volume of materials year-over-year for Q3 2023. 25% reported no change and 24% reported a decrease in materials installed from the same quarter in the prior year. 

Customer inquiry questions 

The customer inquiries index is based on a 0 to 100 scale. Any score above 50 indicates expansion or optimism, while a score below 50 suggests contraction or pessimism. The score rose to 63.8 for Q3 compared to 60.3 for Q2 2023 which was driven by an increase in positive sentiment from the steep-slope market. The low-slope market segment reported a decrease in positive sentiment for this quarter. 

In terms of number of customer inquiries for the quarter, 50% of respondents reported an increase compared to the same quarter in 2022. 28% reported no change and 22% reported a decrease. 

Project contract questions 

Similar to the customer inquiry index, the project contracts index is also based on a 0 to 100 scale. Again, there was an overall increase in the total industry compared to the previous quarter, up to 63.9 from 61.0, but it was the steep-slope market that drove the increase. The low-slope market still has an overall positive sentiment but decreased from 60.5 in Q2 2023 to 55.3 this quarter. 

For the total number of project contracts, 50% of respondents reported an increase from the previous year, while 28% reported no change and 21% reported a decrease. Project backlogs are three months or longer for 47% of respondents, which is similar to the results reported in July 2023. 

Want to help contribute to the pulse of the industry for next quarter? The Q4 2023 survey will open for responses in early January 2024. Sign up for notifications and to participate here. All survey respondents receive a full report of the results and access to an online dashboard to analyze the response data.