Two trends that defined roofing in 2026

By Emma Peterson.

From immigration enforcement challenges to the rapid expansion of data center construction, contractors faced significant opportunities and risks this year.

As another busy year begins to come to a close, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the trends and changes that have occurred. To help us do that, Trent Cotney, partner at the Adams and Reese law firm, stopped by RoofersCoffeeShop® to record an episode of Roofing Road Trips®. Looking back on the last year, he highlighted immigration challenges and the rise of the data center market as two of the major stories of the industry.

The immigration situation

Immigration has been top of mind for many contractors and crews this year with the uptick of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity. In fact, off the top of his head, Trent could recall four different contractors that he knew of who had lost between 50-150 employees due to immigration crackdowns.

The big takeaway from this? The importance of operational clarity. Trent explained, “We're seeing increased worksite enforcement through raids, I-9 audits and a lot of greater scrutiny of employers that are out there. One of the best ways to prepare for this that I can advise is to make sure you are doing things correct operationally.”

Trent recommends building an I-9 checklist and engaging in routine audits:

Having a checklist can help you make sure you’re getting the correct documentation when employees are onboarded. And then auditing your I-9s, I recommend having a third-party do it every year, makes sure that everything stays up to date and correct.

As for any other advice, Trent emphasized the importance of taking the time to make sure that your employees know what to do if ICE shows up or someone comes to audit. He explained, “You need to be training your employees on what happens if ICE shows up to a jobsite or the home office. I recommend having employee rights cards as well as superintendent what to do cards.” He continued, “Having these playbooks is great, because ICE showing up is a stressful situation, so even with training it can be hard for your team to remember what to do.”

The data center question

This year has also seen a unique rise in data center projects. He shared, “Data centers are huge right now and we’ve seen stuff like this before with server rooms and such. The difference is the sheer size and amount of these projects cropping up at once.” This market has been a huge growth sector for the industry, but it’s not without its caveats. Trent shared:

In the last week alone, I've had a couple of contractors call me with data center projects that have been shut down because of community opposition. These projects aren’t just easy bids; there’s a lot of issues related to local and federal governments because you're dealing with water usage, electrical usage, environmental concerns, footprint, traffic and more.

Trent’s advice for navigating this data center trend? Be cautious. He explained, “There's a lot of money to be made out there, but there's just so much risk associated with it...A lot of contractors are getting caught in the middle of data center debates and issues.” He continued, “Overall, I want contractors to be careful. We saw the boom happen, but you don’t want to get to entangled because I think we’re going to start seeing some of these projects get terminated, whether that’s because of community opposition or because technology advances to the point we don’t need these building, like it did with server rooms.”

Want to hear more from Trent about the trends of 2026? Listen to the whole episode or Watch the recorded episode on YouTube.