A decade of roofing trends

By Emma Peterson. 

This report showcases the trends shaping roofing and gives unique insights into how the industry has grown in the last ten years.  

Over the last 10 years, the RoofersCoffeeShop® Trends Report, sponsored by QXO since 2022, has provided key insights into what contractors are seeing and experiencing in the field as they continue to roof buildings and keep people safe and dry. Over that decade, there have been seven surveys conducted, resulting in over 1,600 responses. Here are four of the biggest shifts recorded in these surveys.  

1 – Company demographics 

While all the surveys had a fairly consistent split between contractors serving commercial, residential or both, we saw the size of companies grow. Between 2016 and 2020, most respondents reported having 1-10 employees. However, between 2021 and 2025, 10-49 employees was the most common response.  

2 – Products offered 

Another interesting thing that these surveys highlight is how the products that roofers are offering have changed since 2016. For example, in 2019, 81% of survey respondents reported installing liquid applied roofing (LAR) 0-10% of the time. By 2022, an average of 46% of contractors were reporting installing liquid applied roofing. Similar to this growth of LAR, the surveys show a significant growth in metal installation. In 2019, approximately 17.3% of all the contractor-installed materials were metal. By 2022, that number had jumped to 64% and by 2025 it was up to 83%.  

3 – Operation processes 

The trends surveys also asked contractors about their operations. One of the interesting things we noticed in this data was a rise in digital purchasing methods (in 2022, 14% of contractors reported purchasing off of distributors’ websites, in 2025 this rose to 21%). Interestingly, field sales representative purchases also rose (17% in 2022 to 29% in 2025). Combined, these two purchasing methods have now overtaken phone and in-person at branches, which were the top two methods when the survey began. 

4 – Information engagement 

We wanted to take a moment to touch on the different ways that contractors are getting their information and engaging with our community today versus in 2016. In 2016, the top information sources were emails from roofing website, distributors and manufactures’ representatives. But in 2025, the top sources had shifted to roofing associations, roofing websites and then manufactures' representatives. Another notable change was the rise of social media as a resource. In 2016, 22% of contractors reported using it for information. In 2025, that number rose to 50%.  

Learn more about the last decade of roofing by downloading our 10-year Trends Report.