The continual innovation in roofing suggests that there is a significant market for premium products that provide more than adequate coverage and stop-gap fixes.

Editor’s note: Jack Hageman is president of Hageman Roofing Com. in Ridgefield Park, N.J., a roof contracting firm founded in 1925. In 1985, Hageman patented the Polara roofing system, a hot built-up roofing system using polyester felts and Type III asphalt.

Yet the continual innovation in roofing suggests that there is a significant market for premium products that provide more than adequate coverage and stop-gap fixes. Those that can save labor or material seem to have a better time of acceptance but the dance between manufacturers, distributors, contractors and owners is a complicated one. The best products don’t automatically rise to the top.