Perspective on the industry from those with their boots on the ground

By Emma Peterson.

From tariffs to AI and everything between, this contractor panel shared an overview of the trends in the roofing industry this year.

One of the best parts of attending trade shows like the International Roofing Expo (IRE) is getting to learn about the roofing industry as a whole by talking to professionals from a variety of different regions. Recently, Heidi J. Ellsworth got to host a live Coffee Conversations from IRE 2025 on The Coffee Shops soundstage, sponsored by SRS Distribution. She got to chat with four contractors from the field, Josh Martin of Great Roofing and Restoration, Onnie Diaz of Northern Arizona Roof Services, Brad Beldon of Beldon Roofing Company and Laurie Moore of Kreiling Roofing Company, about the trends and shifts they see coming in the rest of this year for the roofing industry.  

Laurie, who in addition to running her company (which is over 100 years old now!) is the current president of the Midwest Roofing Contractors Association, pointed to technology, or rather people’s reactions to it, as a huge influence in the rest of the year. She explained, “I think with all the different technology apps, AI and more, what I think is funny is that all of a sudden face-to-face communication is a way to differentiate yourself. Going back to basics and building strong relationships is key.”

When asked a similar question, Brad, who is a third-generation roofer with over three decades of experience, noted the pressures getting placed on the industry because of changing immigration policies. He explained, “Immigration continues to be a problem that's been around for quite some time. There's not going to be anybody left to do the jobs. We can all be great salespeople, but if we can't find people to do the work, we're going to have a problem.” Brad’s point is that there needs to be a reliable system that is efficient at helping people looking to work in the United States do so legally.  

Onnie, who has worked in the Southwest market for over four decades re-emphasized the idea that hiring immigrants is a crucial part of the industry’s workforce. He also noted that there is a cross-trade movement of labor, sharing, “We're seeing tradespeople coming over from different industries. And I never really thought that I would see that, which gives us the opportunity to train and train right, as opposed to getting somebody that's been trained wrong. And I've hired several framers, I've hired several concrete guys that just want to make a change in their business, and they even make significantly more than the roofers do.”

Josh added some thoughts on the effects of tariffs on the roofing industry in 2025, saying, “We had a customer two weeks ago kind of freaking out because of their multi-year project with wood shake because that product's made in and comes from Canada. So they were concerned about a 25% increase on the cost of the product. So we ended up writing it up in anticipation of that happening...There’s a lot of confusion and a lot of policy shifts that we wouldn't even think about before this year.”

Read the transcript, Listen to the full conversation or Watch the webinar for more insights from Laurie, Josh, Onnie and Brad.