Building smarter roofers with expert training

By Emma Peterson. 

From field installation and project management to executive leadership, John Kenney brings a unique perspective to roofing education. 

This November, right before the holiday season begins, John Kenney, the CEO of Cotney Consulting Group, will be hosting a two-day live classroom training workshop. This workshop, which runs Nov 17-18, 2026, promises to provide attendees with high-level skills related to project takeoffs, estimating and unit pricing. To learn more about how this training and others hosted by John help professionals improve their expertise and boost their businesses, we brought John onto an episode of Roofing Road Trips®. 

All of John’s trainings are based off of his own 45+ years of experience in the roofing industry. He shared a bit about his experience with us, saying, “I started in the field and worked my way through estimating project management, operations, leadership and eventually up to the executive roles. All that experience has allowed me to see the industry from a wide variety of angles.”   

And that wide perspective gave John a clear understanding of where companies often struggle and what they need to change in order to find success. He went into more detail: 

One of the biggest challenges that I've seen is that estimators are taught how to measure roofs and how to price materials, but not how to manage the most important items, which are their assumptions, communicate scope and protect the margins of a company. This is because people see estimating as just a math problem, and not the risk management it actually is.  

In his courses, John helps attendees overcome misconceptions like this. He explained, “I work with my classes to help them recalibrate the way they think about sales and estimating... I reframe estimating as a decision-making role, not a takeoff role and from there we dive into things like scope clarity, assumptions, production planning and communication.” And at the end of the course, John’s students leave with clear, actionable ways to build better estimates and better workflows in their businesses. 

Want to learn more about John’s training offerings? Listen to the whole episode or visit the Cotney Consulting Group training page.