The state of roofing halfway through 2026

By Emma Peterson. 

Trent Cotney shares both his long- and short-term thoughts about the current state of the industry.  

Trent Cotney recently stopped by The Coffee Shops™ for a new episode of Roofing Road Trips® all about what’s new in the industry. Trent is a partner at Adams and Reese law firm with a specialization in roofing litigation and arbitration. Looking at the state of roofing today, he highlighted the diversity of the experiences of contractors, sharing, “Demand is uneven. There are certain sectors where things aren’t as good, like the Florida residential market. But there are also other areas where it's booming. Think data centers, military/federal work, commercial, even some residential markets.” 

What has caused such irregularity across the industry? Looking at the short-term, Trent pointed to things like residual post-COVID adjustments and rising gas prices. He explained, “There’s some post-COVID adjustment that's still happening, but bigger than that is the gas prices. The immediate impact of that is everything from fleet to shipping costs is doubled. That’s a big thing people are struggling with in our industry and outside of it right now.”  

As for the long-term factors impacting the state of the industry, things like oil inputs and manufacturing costs are top of mind for Trent. He shared: 

It goes beyond the gas price we see; it’s about the petroleum-based inputs for materials manufacturing. They’re going up, which is typical; prices always rise. But the rest of our industry isn’t adjusting margins for that, and the longer we aren’t adjusting for that, the more potential impact there is. 

Where will that impact be felt? In your bottom line. Trent explained, “It's basically another charge on top of what you had already priced in. So, as long as that remains there, you're against margins.” 

In the face of all these concerns, Trent always recommends going back to the basics of your business by prioritizing purposefulness and consistency. He explained:  

You can’t control wars or immigration policies, but you can make sure that you are showing up every day, sticking to the fundamentals and running your business appropriately. And what the last few years have shown is that the businesses that do that, that are purposeful and consistent, are the ones that will weather the storm of uncertainty better.  

Listen to the episode or Watch the recording to learn more about the state of roofing today.