The importance of building a sustainable business

By Emma Peterson.

EagleView CEO Piers Dormeyer shares some insights on the challenges contractors are facing today.  

If you ask contractors what the biggest industry concerns are today, they probably will mention some or all of the following: labor shortage, material access and natural disasters. One of the really interesting things is how all three of these issues tie back to concerns of how to build a sustainable business model. Heidi J. Ellsworth was able to catch up with a few experts in the industry about these types of challenges during the 2025 International Roofing Expo for an episode of Coffee Conversations. One of these experts was Piers Dormeyer, the CEO of EagleView.

Traditionally, when faced with natural disasters, contractors might see an uptick in business. But that hasn’t been happening recently. Piers explained, “From where we sit, insurance is a huge area of uncertainty. You have perils like flooding from disasters like Hurricane Helene, you have thousands of homes particularly on the coast that you can't get permits for because the flooding is just forcing teardowns. So where you would've had re-roofing, for example, hurricane-driven demand, you're not getting that anymore.”

In addition to this, there are a variety of supply chain issues and material shortages that are harming the industry. Piers explained, “All of these supply chain issues, the tariffs are all going to have knock-on effects. Not only does it harm our workforce, but it also leads to a very high cost of capital. When the cost for capital is very high, the cost of finance is very high. The result is a really difficult environment for the consumer and dropping rate of individuals investing in their roofs and other home improvement projects.”  

Overall, Piers said that he thinks the main challenge for the industry in 2025 will be sustainability. He elaborated, “When you say sustainability, we always think eco and green. What I am talking about is sustainability of the business model. That’s something that we're really concerned about. And add a shrinking workforce to all of that, we've got some real problems that I think we all need to put our heads against.

But this is not an insurmountable challenge. Piers shared an example of how collaboration has improved parts of the industry this year, “I think that there's a lot more collaboration between the insurance companies and roofing contractors, and there's been a lot of fraud that's been removed through technology and other tools, which is really good for everybody, including ultimately the consumer and the homeowner, building owner. I think it's changed for the better. I really do.”

Read the transcript, Listen to the full Coffee Conversation or Watch the recording to hear more of Piers’ thoughts.