Education Accessible for Everyone in the Roofing Industry

By Alec Doniger. 

Owens Corning University is helping to ensure that our roofing professionals are as knowledgeable as possible. 

The roofing industry is constantly changing. You might be certified to work in the industry, but you’ll quickly realize that ongoing education is a must if you want to stay up to date on important information or skills. In Season 4, Episode 46 of Roofing Road Trips, Heidi talks with Jon Gardner about Owens Corning University. Jon has been in the industry for 29 years. He knows the roofing industry like the back of his hand. His goal with OCU is to ensure contracting companies enable their employees to have similar knowledge.  

“It's a vehicle for our contractors in the industry to leverage training and development content simply to help them get better and help them with their growth strategies and specifically help them with what their current issues are,” Jon explains. 

Every facet of the roofing industry is taught through Owens Corning University. There are classes on training, marketing and sales. Not only will participants learn about roofing, but they’ll gain substantial business knowledge. 

OCU is also about expanding the contractor network through shared knowledge. Contractors from all over the nation connect their employees with OCU, giving them connections to other contractors. A shared understanding means that the culture within contracting companies becomes richer.  

Outside of OCU, Jon knows of another information well in the industry – The NRCA.  

“NRCA is the roofing industry's association, really, and it is filled and packed with content and really smart people that are there to help our contractors.” 

The NRCA encompasses the entire roofing industry. If you have any roofing question, someone at the NRCA can certainly answer it. This is also why OCU exists. The NRCA shouldn’t be the only informational source in the roofing industry. Jeff, along with the rest of Owens Corning, has a vision of accessible education for all people in the trade. OCU is making this a reality. 

Listen to the podcast here. 

Learn more about Owens Corning in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory 

About Alec 

Alec is a reporter for RoofersCoffeeShop, MetalCoffeeShop and AskARoofer. When he isn’t investigating the state of the roofing industry, you might find him playing drums with his bands in Denver.