Building paths into the roofing industry

By Emma Peterson.

Learn how the roofing industry is engaging and supporting the next generation in a variety of ways

In response to the ongoing labor and skill shortage, the roofing industry has truly come together to create innovative and engaging workforce development and education opportunities. In this Read, Listen, Watch® (RLW), Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with Sherri Miles of Miles Roofing, Rick Damato of Damato Enterprises, Tim Stephens of Architectural Sheet Metal, Jamie Treglio of Johns Manville and John Esbenshade of National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) to talk about the workforce development initiatives available.  

Trade schools

Traditionally, individuals who have wound up in roofing are there because they knew someone (or were related to someone) already in the industry, or they attended a trade school. Tim, who works in Florida, shared a bit about working with these types of programs, saying, “The great thing about trade schools is these are adult kids. They're 18 and older, they graduated from high school, so they're almost immediately able to hire. And I've told the story before, I had a project where we had to run some 106-foot-long metal panels out on a military base, so I needed people to help carry these panels that I could get quick background checks on. I called the instructor for the trade school and in two days I had 10 kids signed up, and by the next week I had 10 of them on a job site. Since then, we've hired three of them.”

Clemson University

Another path into the industry that has emerged is through academic institutions. A prime example is the Roofing Alliance’s work with Clemson University, specifically with Dr. Dhaval Gajjar. Rick explained, “We're on the way to having roofing as a minor at the college level. The Alliance is now funding an effort to start a roofing center within Clemson, a four-year university that will address skilled workers in our industry, not just the construction management side.”  

Sherri noted that one of the biggest challenges with developing new programs like this is getting people involved. She shared, “Persistence is number one. You have to stay on top of the teachers who are pulled in a million directions by emailing, texting, showing up, doing what you say you're going to do, connecting them with distribution and manufacturers, sponsoring the kids... A lot of the teachers in the CTE world have retired from their career and they're not apt to change what they are doing, so if you can make their life easier in any way, if you can make their job easier, they are very grateful.”

Competitions

A great example of how the industry shows up, sponsors and supports is through industry competitions. Available to both students in more traditional trade schools and the academic degree programs, these events aim to raise awareness and engagement with the roofing and larger construction industries. This is even a great opportunity for dedicated individuals not in official programs. John shared a story, “There was a competition winner, a kid named Tyler, who was by and large self-taught. He spent time on YouTube videos, connected with a contractor who helped him get some materials with a local distributor, and then really took up the torch and ran with it.”

One example of these competitions is SkillsUSA, which is a national career development organization. Roofing was only recently added to the SkillsUSA portfolio a few years ago through a push by the NRCA. John shared a bit of what it looks like today, saying, “The roofing industry now has several different areas of participation in the SkillsUSA umbrella, not only at the regional and state level, but also the national contest.”  

An example of the roofing industry showing up to support was Johns Manville’s role as one of last year’s SkillsUSA competition sponsors. Jamie shared a bit about what motivated them to get involved, saying, “As a sponsor, we are here because we hear contractors struggles, we see them struggling with not having enough qualified work in an industry that is aging. And so, from our standpoint, it was a really exciting time to just participate in attracting, qualified, interested, exciting and excited people into it.”  

Read the transcript, Listen to the podcast or Watch the recording to learn more about workforce development and education in the roofing industry.