Why siding is a huge growth opportunity

By Emma Peterson.

Siding is a natural extension for contractors looking to expand their offerings, strengthen customer relationships and increase project value while leveraging existing building envelope expertise.

siding has become a key value-add for many contractors for many reasons, including the fact that homeowners prefer one-stop, do-it-all contractors. To learn more about the rise of siding offerings in the roofing world, Heidi J. Ellsworth spoke with Josh Wilens of QXO, Alex Birnbaum of QXO and Kristina Hill of HomeShield Roofing & Exteriors in an episode of Coffee Conversations®.

Making the jump

Siding is actually more similar to roofing than it might sound on paper. Both are parts of the building envelope and key to keeping water, weather and other elements out of homes and buildings. Further, many of the suppliers and distributors that contractors know and trust, like QXO, not only carry roofing materials but also carry siding materials.

In fact, Josh shard that at QXO they’re actually working with organizations like the Polymeric Exteriors Products Association (PEPA) to provide training to help ease the transition into this field:

In terms of the training, a lot of the groundwork is already there for roofers and we just need to raise awareness. In prior days, some contractors didn't even know that we sold certain products in our locations. We've been working with PEPA and some other internal resources to really develop training materials for contractors to help them know about siding and how they can add it to their roofing operations.

A strong market

And not only is it an accessible market, it’s a thriving one. As Alex described, “The exciting thing is there's never been more types of siding or more products out there and a lot of them come with innovative new features.” Alex went on to give some examples, sharing, “Fiber cement is something people are really excited about. It is really durable, has a nice look and for markets like the Southeast and Southwest, where termites are an issue, the market is really looking for this kind of thing.”

Another factor that makes the market demand for siding strong is the return on investment it offers. Kristina explained, “I have lots of conversations with people who are wanting to sell their home or boost their curb appeal and I always tell them that siding is really a great way to do that. Roofing in my area gets 26% recoup on your investment where vinyl siding is 88% and fiber cement siding is 101%.”

Value to contractors

The combination of the accessibility of siding installation and the strong market for siding makes this expanding into siding a valuable move for contractors. Kristina has experienced how valuable expanding into siding is firsthand at HomeShield Roofing & Exteriors, sharing, “We offered a few types at the beginning, mostly vinyl siding and then Hardie and LP...But because the demand has been there, we’ve expanded way more in the years since.”

Listen to the whole episode or Watch the recording to learn more about adding siding to your business offerings.