Building off successive years of sales growth that pulled the roofing industry from any COVID-19 slowdown, commercial roofing contractors carried a healthy dose of optimism for 2025. By Q4, as backlogs dried up and new jobs stagnated due largely to economic uncertainty, questions about the health of commercial roofing for 2026 emerged.

As we do each year, RC gauged the pulse of the commercial roofing market with our annual survey of contractors and industry stakeholders.

With the expertise of myCLEARopinion Insights Hub — the survey and research arm of RC’s parent company, BNP Media — roofing contractors from around the country shared insights about the year they had and expectations for the future with our annual roofing survey.

The series of questions circulated during the fall helped identify the challenges and pain points commercial roofers felt, while also highlighting trends that may influence success for years to come. Respondents consisted of roofing contractors who subscribe to RC and are registered on roofingcontractor.com.

The commercial roofing contractors who responded represent companies that generate more than 50% of overall annual revenue from commercial projects — whether that be in roof replacement, repair or new construction. Most were company owners or held general management positions in roofing firms with roughly 51-100 employees, and a median annual revenue between $2 million and $15 million; however, several respondents also reported annual revenues exceeding $100 million.

Generationally, most respondents would be classified as millennials, in their mid-to-late 40s, with Gen X not far behind. The majority were men, and had a median age of 47.

Geographically, nearly half of all respondents were from Southern states, and one-quarter were from the Midwest. The West (18%) and Northeast (14%) were also represented. Full disclosure: each participant received a $20 gift card.

Charting Sales

Sales volumes held strong in 2025 for commercial roofers, with about two-thirds indicating overall sales would exceed 2024 totals. Robust sales, particularly in the first half of the year, pushed most commercial roofing contractors (66%) to report slightly or greatly increased growth in total sales volume from 2024 to 2025.

About 7% indicated sales would drop slightly, and another 5% said sales would drop greatly. Roughly the same total amount anticipated sales would drop this year (10% slightly; 3% greatly), according to 2024 survey results. The number of commercial roofing contractors who felt sales would drop held steady among contractor respondents from last year’s survey as well, when 7% indicated sales would drop through 2027.

Despite challenges, the commercial roofing sales outlook for the near future appears promising to most. More than three-quarters of respondents said they anticipate growth in total sales volume between 2025 and 2026, and about 20% said sales should remain the same this year and next. An even larger proportion (91%) said they expect continued growth through 2028.

The products fueling the anticipated optimism are relatively the same as in past years, survey data showed. On average, respondents said their companies are involved with five to six commercial roofing systems. Single-ply (80%), low-slope asphalt (77%), and metal roofing systems (75%) were the most frequently identified product categories in the survey.

More telling of single-ply’s dominance was the product’s 28% average share of overall contractor revenue, followed by metal (15%) and low-slope asphalt. While metal, coatings, and low-slope stayed largely consistent with last year's data, it’s worth noting that the average percentage share of single-ply system sales dropped from 43% in 2024. Steep-slope asphalt, slate, Spray Polyurethane Foam and garden roofing all made marginal gains among the average percentage share of revenue from last year.

In the latest survey, coatings and steep-slope asphalt were the next most popular in terms of product involvement, each at 59%. While it’s clear from the data that commercial roofing contractors predominantly rely on single-ply systems today — and will for the foreseeable future — the specific systems they’re using could be changing.

About 37% of respondents said TPO was their chief product category, followed by PVC (28%) and EPDM (24%). Last year, just under half (49%) identified TPO as the product category leader, and PVC trailed EPDM (23%) at roughly 20%.

Key Challenges

There were several unknowns about the nation’s overall economy on contractors’ minds as the second Trump administration started to implement changes following last year’s election. Among them were immigration enforcement policies, tariffs and regulatory enforcement. Taking all that into account, half of all respondents said the current economy and inflation were among the biggest perceived business challenges of 2025. This aligns with 2024’s survey results.

The big difference from last year’s survey was that the stagnant economy was the biggest concern (50%), while 36% highlighted a lack of qualified workers. In 2024, more than half (61%) of commercial roofers said the lack of skilled workers was their top concern going into this year.

In addition to finding workers, contractors also felt the pinch of labor costs in 2025. More than half of respondents (57%) said labor costs are up, with about 12% measuring the increase from 20-30%. About a quarter of respondents indicated labor hikes were between 11-20%, and 38% said it cost up to 10% more for labor this year.

Contractors are paying more to retain that top talent, the data suggests. The vast majority (77%) said paying well and giving bonuses are their top retention strategies. Providing a safe work environment ranked second (70%), just ahead of steady workload (66%). Providing benefits (59%) and training (50%) rounded out the top five.

Online job postings (68%) and employee referrals (61%) ranked at the top of recruiting methods, and about half of respondents used family/friends and more used social media (55%).

Tech Turning Point?

Technology continues to play a key role in how roofing contractors acquire, qualify and sell to clients. Business process software and cloud computing were the most popular types of technology adopted recently, at 68% and 66%, respectively. Data showed more than half of contractors also used business or accounting software, estimating software and aerial measurement tools most frequently. Customer Relationship Management systems and drones continue to gain wide acceptance, with just 14% of contractors indicating no plans to incorporate drones at all.

If there’s a specific area of technological growth within the commercial segment to highlight, it would be artificial intelligence and its applications in the commercial roofing space. Roofers are using new tools like automated chats and AI programs to streamline lead generation, scheduling, estimation and material ordering. There are innovations in safety, internal and external communications, and video creation that are also making inroads into the roofing industry.

If it feels like it’s moving fast, it is — even for an industry with a reputation for being slow to integrate technology. According to the survey, 39% of commercial roofing contractors say they currently use some form of AI, while another 27% say they’re discussing how to implement it over the next 24 months. That is a significant jump from last year’s survey, when just 20% of commercial contractors indicated using AI at the time. Another 22% said they planned to implement it in the next year or two.

Last year, about 20% of contractors said they didn’t know if they’d be using AI. That number shrank to 7% in 2025.

In this year’s survey, 14% of respondents said they had no plans to use artificial intelligence in their business model. More striking, a combined 32% of last year’s survey respondents said they have no plans of using AI or predictive data analytics at all.