Commercial Roofing Market
Robust Year for the Western Low-Slope Roofing Market
by Marc Dodson, Editor
Well, the market has finally started to stabilize and grow after our long nightmare. I don’t believe anyone though that COVID would have had such a long-term and ripple effect on the construction economy. First construction projects slowed since people weren’t allowed work in close proximity to each other, that morphed into supply-chain issues, which brought about inflation, and now the economy is finally recovering from the long list of postponed construction projects.
Now, only one major issue remains: finding and keeping qualified roof workers. This problem is nothing new and will probably remain with us for years to come. Most of the roofing contractors we spoke with at the recent Western Roofing Expo in Las Vegas stated that they are as busy as ever. Many of those also said they would be even busier if they could get more boots on the roof. Even with the labor issue, Western commercial and industrial roofing projects have been increasing steadily this year.
The low-slope roofing market will account for about 55% of the total Western roofing market this year. While this percentage is about the same as last year, the overall dollar volume of both the steep-slope and low-slope segments are up. The residential market has increased as more people are working from home and subsequently remodeling, adding a home office, or even a second home.
Figures compiled from our own survey, plus information derived from several industry sources, indicate that commercial and industrial roofing construction will continue to increase in the Western half of the United States. The Associated General Contractors noted that overall construction is up nationwide, and the West has been leading that trend.
Reroofing, as always, dominates the Western low-slope roofing market taking a predicted 57%, a slight increase over last year. Repairs and maintenance account for 24%, with new construction picking up the remaining 19%.
As far as the popularity of commercial roofing products, we saw some changes again this year. All modifieds, SBS, APP, and Self-Adhered, now account for 20.5% of the low-slope roofing market. All forms of single-plys, TPO, EPDM, PVC, and CPE, now have a combined share of 50.9%, or essentially half of the commercial roofing market in the West. Among single-plys, TPO showed the biggest gains by once again claiming the number one spot with a 36.5% market share, a very slight increase over last year. EPDM takes the number two spot with 9.6%, about the same as the previous year. Both architectural and structural metal roofing products also saw a rise in their market shares over the past year.
While nobody knows for sure what will happen next year, from all economic indicators, it looks like the national construction economy looks strong. Building and facility owners are willing to spend some money to expand their businesses. Hopefully, this next year we’ll see continued growth in the low-slope market.
