Whether you consider yourself a commercial or residential roofing contractor, or one who works on structures of all types, you should be offering metal roofing as an option to many of your prospective customers. If you do not, I urge you to get working on a plan to start offering installed metal roofing ASAP.

Here are a few reasons why:

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Metal roofing continues to be one of the fastest-growing segments in the roofing industry. Yes, metal roofing does not represent a huge piece of the pie, but that piece of the pie grows constantly. The day may come, even before I can extract myself from this business, that metal roofing will command the kind of market presence that will begin to upset the balance of power in the roofing industry.

Next, consider the baby boomers. They control a sizeable percentage of the built spaces in this country. Born in 1951, I consider myself something of an expert on this population segment. In spite of the vagaries of the Great Recession, a lot of boomers have money in the bank and very little debt. Many of them buy on value and tend to read and study where the value proposition lies. They make savvy customers who know their stuff and will not typically buy based on price alone.

Boomers have learned the hard lesson that their homes are not “investments” that grow in value. They do, however, understand that the money they spend maintaining their homes and buildings is an investment, and many are likely to consider all options. One other small point, but do not ignore it: Boomers care about the environment. Most metal roofing systems are recognized as green.

Already installing metal roofing systems? This is a good time to ramp up your sales efforts. Most projects you change to metal are upgrades and should result in more sales volume and better margins. If you do not find it this way you may want to do a little shopping to learn about new products and systems that continue to emerge. Metal may be one of the oldest types of roofing on the planet, but new metal roofing systems and accessories are being rolled out (pun intended) all the time.

This is also a good time to ramp up your production capacity. The economy continues to grow at a snail’s pace, but it continues to grow. The combination of a growing market segment and a growing market sounds like what you need to consider capital improvements. And that is what I am suggesting.

As much as metal roofing systems have improved over the years, production improvements by way of innovative metal working machinery has improved dramatically. To stay up with (or ahead of) competition, you should invest some time studying your production methods and machinery. Some minor tweaks may result in improved productivity, but you may find yourself a position to take the proverbial “quantum leap” to greatly improve your competitive stance and profitability by investing in some new equipment.

So no matter what kind of roofing contractor you are, keep an eye on metal. Do not let the inertia of your day-to-day routine prevent you from exploring the great opportunities that are before you with metal roofing.