Roofing Road Trip - METALCON

By Heidi J. Ellsworth, RoofersCoffeeShop® Partner.

RoofersCoffeeShop serves up coffee and fun at the 2018 METALCON.

This Roofing Road Trip is a little late, but I cannot skip over the amazing time we had at METALCON.  We had the pleasure of attending the 2018 METALCON Conference in Charlotte, NC and although it is now 2019, I could not leave it up as I am catching up from a crazy end of the year and 2019 IRE.  But now with our new website launched, all our partners moving full steam ahead and the IRE show behind us, I wanted to share some of our 2018 travels.

As many of you know, my husband Tim, and I are in charge of traveling to as many tradeshows as we can to spread the word about RoofersCoffeeShop.  It is our honor and privilege to meet with so many awesome roofing professionals.  A goal of Vickie and I last year, was to get involved with the metal roofing associations.  Metal roofing is a growing segment and we wanted to be in the front of all the great innovation and installations that are going on.

We reached out to Claire Kilcoyne, Vice President Tradeshows at METALCON to work together to promote their show and the industry in general.  We were also in discussions with the Metal Roofing Alliance (MRA), a nonprofit association dedicated to educating consumers and roofing contractors to the many benefits of residential metal roofing.  We were very happy to welcome both groups to the Coffee Shop and attend the 2018 METALCON.

An interesting note was that METALCON had a new format in 2018.  They launched The Total Experience with everything including exhibits, keynotes, competitions, show highlights, education and the RoofersCoffeeShop all on the same show floor for 3 full days!  It was a great success.  With attendees enjoying and participating in metal roofing certifications, roofing games and visiting with hundreds of exhibitors. 

A highlight for Tim and Karen Edwards, RCS Editor, was meeting Steve Smith, Sr., a 16-year NFL veteran and former five-time pro bowl, three-time all-pro receiver for the Carolina Panthers who worked with METALCON to raise funds for the Steve Smith Family Foundation.  The foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping families impacted by domestic violence and to promoting child health and wellness.

I was able to visit with a number of metal roofing contractors, manufacturers and distributors while offering free coffee at our booth outside the theater.  Business is good in metal and I consistently heard how the metal market is growing.  It made me realize that roofing contractors are going to need to think about diversifying to keep up with market demands that are changing due to economics, environment, technology and overall consumer demand.

The MRA confirmed the growth in their 2017 release, “As consumer demand for sustainable building products continues to grow, the Metal Roofing Alliance reports another market share gain for metal in the residential retrofit market. New independent research conducted by Dodge Data & Analytics on behalf of the MRA shows the total market share of metal roofing gained another 3 points in 2016, growing from 11% market share in 2015 to 14% in 2016.  Between 2015 and 2016, the total demand for metal roofing increased from 17.7 million squares to 19.4 million squares.  Metal roofing is second only to asphalt shingle roofing in the remodeling market.”

Asphalt and synthetic shingles are excellent residential product offerings, but many contractors are also looking at how to add metal for their homeowners to consider.  Their customers are growing in sophistication and being able to address their questions about all types of roofing while offering several options is key to the success of roofing sales teams.  The demand for different types of roofing is growing and it was great to see so many roofing contractors at METALCON getting more information and building strong relationships.

We will be visiting a number of roofing association trade shows in 2019 and I am looking forward to adding more associations and their unique offerings to the Coffee Shop.  Be sure to let us know if there is a group you would like us to visit.

Visit the METALCON and MRA directories hear on the Coffee Shop for more information.

From the road,

Heidi

For more Roofing Road Trips with Heidi read them here.