Budgets are rebounding along with the market, and roofing products are benefiting from that boost. Customers have more wiggle room, and they realize roofs represent a large percentage of their home’s exterior look. When coupled with more knowledge about all the parts of a roofing system, the trends represent more opportunities for upselling to higher quality and better performing products.
“Roofing is the last detail homeowners concern themselves with, and it’s the first budget item that gets cut when they need to trim back,” says Rick Davis, vice president of marketing and product development at Headwaters Roofing. “Eighty percent of the market consists of asphalt roofing, mostly due to a lack of education and tradition. But that is changing a little bit now as more information gets out and consumers do more research.”
Dave DeRogatis, director of composites at Ply Gem Roofing, agrees. “We see the personalization of a home’s exterior as a growing trend,” he says. “Up until the last couple of years, the roof was treated as a secondary decision. Today, contractors and homeowners are considering the type of roofing to be just as important as the color or type of siding. This new level of consideration has been a welcomed trend.”
 Ply Gem has expanded its roofing products with the addition of the Engineered Cedar line, which was designed from hand-selected, milled cedar shingles laser-engraved into molds. They are available in weathered gray, designed withan authentic variation that is said to mimic the look of weathered wood. They can be cut and scored with a utility knife and attached with a nail gun. |
Roofs are gaining more attention as homebuyers realize they have choices, adds Chris Doucet, director of sales and marketing at EDCO. “In the past, homebuyers tended to take the roof for granted. But as home design has developed, it’s become more important to have good-looking products everywhere, and that’s extended to the roof. They’re rethinking what a ‘normal’ roof should be, and we keep pushing ourselves to improve what is normal. It’s not just black asphalt anymore.”
