Contractor Advantage May / June 2021

OUTER BEAUTY

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DEMAND FOR ATTRACTIVE, HIGHER-PERFORMING ROOFS LOOKING UP

May / June 2021

Castle Building Centres Group Ltd. is a Canadian member-owned, Lumber, Building Materials and Hardware buying group representing over 300 member locations across Canada.

Contractor Advantage Magazine is the exclusive publication of Castle Building Centres Group Ltd. featuring quality Castle vendor brands available at Castle Building Centres locations.

Visit castle.ca to find a Castle location in your area.

Editorial Director Castle Castle Building Centres Group Ltd. Jennifer Mercieca Art Direction and Design Espress Labs Inc. Contributors Lawrence Cummer Lisa Gordon

Advertising Inquiries Jennifer Mercieca Director of Communications Castle Building Centres Group Ltd. 905-564-3307 jmercieca@castle.ca Material Contact Maryam Bashir Marketing Coordinator Castle Building Centres Group Ltd. 905-564-3307 mbashir@castle.ca Published and designed exclusively for Castle Building Centres Group Ltd.

by Espress Labs Inc. On the cover: Building Products of Canada

ABOUT CONTRACTOR ADVANTAGE

MAY / JUNE 2021 Volume 26 Issue 3

CONTRIBUTORS

LAWRENCE CUMMER Lawrence (“Law”) Cummer is a freelance writer and editor and has been a frequent contributor to Contractor Advantage, Ideas and Rough Construction for nearly a decade. Over his more than 20-year career, Law has written about contracting and construction, general business, information technology, health and safety, personal finance and almost every topic in between. He has a passion for storytelling and sharing how people can work better, easier — and “smarter” — from contractors to technologists to business executives.

LISA GORDON Lisa Gordon is a freelance writer and editor based in St. George, Ont. She operates Mustang Media Writing & Editorial Services, delivering informative and engaging articles for trade and association magazines in a variety of industries. Contact her at www.mustangmediaservices.ca.

DR. RHEA SEDDON Dr. Rhea Seddon is a renowned speaker, Astronaut and the author of “Go For Orbit”, a memoir about her adventures spending 30 days in space aboard the Space Shuttle. She is also a former surgeon, healthcare executive and entrepreneur. Dr. Seddon speaks to audiences of all kinds on the topics of teamwork, leadership and taking advantage of opportunities. To arrange a speaking engagement, visit www.RheaSeddon.com.

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CONTENTS

TABLE OF OF TABLE

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OUTER BEAUTY Today’s residential exterior siding comes in a plethora of materials, options and colours, offering homeowners impressive durability and a low-maintenance investment while ramping up curb appeal

TEAMING UP FOR TAKEOFF: SIX STRATEGIES THAT ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD Six men and I sat atop four and a half million pounds of explosives waiting for the fuse to be lit to begin our flight on the Space Shuttle Discovery

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DEMAND FOR ATTRACTIVE, HIGHERPERFORMING ROOFS LOOKING UP For most homeowners roofing projects are treated like a necessary evil // MAY - JUNE 2021

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OUTER BEAUTY

Today’s residential exterior siding comes in a plethora of materials, options and colours, offering homeowners impressive durability and a low-maintenance investment while ramping up curb appeal.

Written by Lisa Gordon

Photo courtesy of Kaycan Ltd. 6

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As any prospective homebuyer knows, curb appeal is critical. A home’s exterior instantly conveys a sense of what to expect inside its walls, whether timeless elegance, welcoming warmth or contemporary minimalism.

While many elements come together to create the magic of curb appeal, a big part of the equation is your home’s exterior cladding.

Today, there is a multitude of residential siding options to create any look, from clean modern lines to cottage-style shakes to wood-look accents. Best of all, modern siding is a durable, maintenance-free and affordable choice to help your home stand out from the streetscape.

With 2021 well underway, a few key exterior siding trends are evident. Homeowners continue to gravitate toward calming shades inspired by the outdoors. Earthy beiges and browns are giving way to a rich palette of blues, greys and a hint of green with cooler undertones. Darker statement colours, such as slate greys, deep blues and even midnight black are appearing on suburban streets across the country, while homeowners mix colours, textures and materials to broaden visual appeal.

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In many cases, traditional and contemporary design are merging to create a hybrid look that can be seen in the modern versions of the farmhouse, Tudor or cottage styles.

“In regard to architectural trends, we are seeing a surge in the farmhouse style,” confirmed Diana Sousa, marketing director for Kaycan Ltd., a manufacturer and distributor of vinyl, aluminum and engineered wood siding and accessories. “This style is well suited for a vertical board and batten siding, and the colour of choice is, surprisingly, white. However, for those who are renovating or building more contemporary homes, we’re noticing a push towards deep, bold shades.”

With darker colours becoming more popular, the company set about perfecting its Helios

technology, which protects rich colours from fading while dispersing the heat they absorb.

Kaycan is predicting another strong year for home renovations, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact travel plans.

“Many people have been working from home and that certainly makes us focus on what is around us and how we can change it,” continued Sousa.

Kaycan sells insulated vinyl siding, lap siding, vertical siding and polypropylene shakes in 62 colours, some solid and others with a textured wood-grain appearance.

While the sheer number of options available in residential exterior siding can make any

Photo courtesy of Kaycan Ltd.

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FEATURE STORY // OUTER BEAUTY

Photo courtesy of Royal Building Solutions

homeowner’s head spin, Kaycan offers a number of tools on its website, including Home Designer 2.0, a service that allows customers to upload a photo of their home and then visualize it with different siding options.

Royal Building Solutions also offers a wide range of exterior residential siding options, from traditional vinyl to cellular composite, aluminum, shakes and shingles, wood and stone. The company’s Canadian business is

concentrated in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland.

Canadian Marketing Manager Mical Kasweka agreed that darker-coloured siding continues to gain momentum in the marketplace, with greys and blues being popular. For 2021, Royal Building Solutions is offering an updated array of colours.

“We work hard to ensure our colour palettes stay on-trend and offer a range of choices to deliver

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Photos courtesy of Royal Building Solutions

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FEATURE STORY // OUTER BEAUTY any design aesthetic,” she said, pointing out that some homeowners are choosing to mix multiple materials to pack an aesthetic punch.

Some of those mingled mediums include the Cedar Renditions aluminum siding line, which delivers the look of multi-toned stained wood while promising maintenance-free durability.

Royal Building Solutions also offers the Celect cellular composite siding family, featuring

a special interlocking join that provides a virtually seamless look.

Kasweka said another popular choice is Atlas Stone composite stacked stone panels, which install easily without special tools or repointing.

And, if the timeless warmth of cedar shake is the goal, the Portsmouth Shake Line offers colour, texture and functionality in cedar, hand-split shake and half-round accents.

Photo courtesy of Gentek Building Products

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FEATURE STORY // OUTER BEAUTY Photo courtesy of Gentek Building Products

Gentek Building Products is also seeing great success with its new ALIGN Composite Cladding, a fade-resistant product available in 20 colours with the rich look of milled cedar. Thanks to its patented glass-reinforced polymer and graphiteinfused polystyrene technology, ALIGN boasts the beauty of wood with a seven-inch flat face exposure and strong, lightweight construction.

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“Homeowners get a lifetime of beautiful exterior that is fade- and impact-resistant, and installers have an easy-to-use solution that enables them to deliver a high-end exterior in a fraction of the time, compared to fibre cement and engineered wood,” said Pierre Lefebvre, product manager at Gentek Building Products.

Photo courtesy of Mitten Building Products

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FEATURE STORY // OUTER BEAUTY Homeowners concerned about energy conservation can consider ALIGN, as well as Gentek’s line of insulated vinyl siding. The company also offers regular vinyl and steel siding as well as a selection of specialty stone, faux wood, shakes and composites.

“We also anticipate rising popularity in vertical siding,” continued Lefebvre. “We’ve seen increased demand in recent years for our board and batten product, which offers visual appeal through a rustic charm and contemporary look.”

He said grey is currently the most popular colour family sold by Gentek, in shades such as Storm, Iron Ore, Dover Grey and Chesapeake Grey. In

addition, the company is tracking an increase in white across its product lines.

Grey and blue are currently the most popular colour families in the Mitten Building Products line of vinyl siding. The company – which also sells Novik shake and stone, Lux steel siding and ClipStone – offers 18 standard vinyl siding colours as well as 37 premium colour options.

Richard Brunet, vp of sales at Mitten’s headquarters in Brantford, Ont., said homeowners are looking to mix different mediums for maximum impact.

“The trend is to use no less than three complementary siding materials,” he said. “For

Photo courtesy of Mitten Building Products

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Photo courtesy of Mitten Building Products

example, most new homes or renovations consist of a stone skirt, siding up the wall and shake used in the gables.”

As a national distributor with branches across the country, Mitten’s 2021 sales have been ahead of 2020, and Brunet expects this trend to continue.

He said one of the company’s fastest-growing products is the Sentry Variegated Vinyl Siding series, laminated with a woodgrain film that gives the appearance of real wood – at a fraction of the price and without the need for maintenance.

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With so many innovative siding products available on the market, it’s easy to transform a home’s tired exterior with a stunning facelift. Cookiecutter houses are passé in a world that values the unique experience. Today, homeowners are searching for ways to express their home’s individuality, and that often starts with new exterior cladding.

Durable, affordable and attractive, today’s exterior siding options always get a second look. —

FEATURE STORY // OUTER BEAUTY

Photo courtesy of Kaycan Ltd.

Photo courtesy of Gentek Building Products

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// MAY - JUNE 2021

TEAMING UP FOR TAKEOFF: SIX STRATEGIES THAT ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD

Written by Dr. Rhea Seddon

Six men and I sat atop four and a half million pounds of explosives waiting for the fuse to be lit to begin our flight on the Space Shuttle Discovery.

We knew that for the next seven days our lives would depend on our acting synergistically. If anything went awry during the flight, if we didn’t work together, we might not make it home safely.

How did we come to that moment in time? We had been selected for the Astronaut Corps and this particular flight because we had proven track records of being good team players, both as leaders – and as followers – and had the requisite

skills to accomplish a variety of space missions with varying payloads. Many of the skills I learned about teamwork are applicable to any group coming together to accomplish their goals. Here are some of the specifics.

Everyone has been a part of a team at one time or another whether it be on the playing field or at the office, or even in your own home. Can you recall a mediocre team, a terrible one or a lazy disorganized one? There are strategies to choose team players, to mold them into a great team, to define their goals, to motivate them for

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success, to deal with “outliers” and to learn from failure – and success.

CHOOSING AND DEVELOPING TEAM PLAYERS When you are considering putting a potential team together or adding new members to a current team, the interview process is crucial. Do applicants have the requisite skills or must they be trained? You should consider whether each of these people has experience working well with similar teams. Can he or she give examples of types of projects those teams have worked on and how success was achieved? Also be sure your current team feel comfortable with this candidate.

MOLDING A GROUP OF PEOPLE INTO A TEAM Not all groups of people can come together to form a great team. You’ll find natural leaders, potential leaders and excellent followers who will carry the ball down the field for the rest of your team. Each of them has a role to play. It is up to your leadership to learn the competencies and capabilities of each one of them and how to put them to the best use to accomplish the work that needs to be done.

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DEFINING TEAM GOALS Your team will only be effective if there are clear cut, well-defined goals which all of the team members understand and are willing to work toward. The role of your management or team leaders is to be able to state these goals precisely and make sure the team understands and is on board with achieving the goals. Your leadership should take responsibility for monitoring progress of the group and each individual. Should the goals of your team change, all team members must be briefed so there is clarity going forward.

RECOGNIZING WHAT MOTIVATES YOUR TEAM It is imperative that you understand what motivates the people on your particular team.

For some team members learning new skills, a sense of accomplishment or a feeling of success will be the best motivators. Others may value the opportunity for advancement or recognition.

Financial rewards, raises or prizes may work in your company. Often the praise of their fellow members is sufficient. Have you considered a little friendly competition? Only by asking the team members will you find out.

// BUILDING BETTER BUSINESS

DEALING WITH OUTLIERS What if one of your company’s team members is not performing well or is ill-suited to the team, making the workplace uncomfortable and jeopardizing success? Can you show data that his or her performance is not up to the standards you have set and expect? What about negative reports from coworkers? A frank in-person discussion about these issues is crucial and it is imperative you solve the problem or let the person go so as not to poison the morale of the entire team.

PRACTICING AND LEARNING FROM FAILURE – AND SUCCESS When things go wrong, it is imperative that you seek to learn all the causes and fix them right away. You must also be sure that team members learn from the failure so the same mistakes are not repeated. Never forget that learning from success will make your team and your outcomes better, too. Incorporate processes or procedures that worked well in the past and be sure to recognize those team members who made significant contributions to the achievement. // MAY - JUNE 2021

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// BUILDING BETTER BUSINESS

Teams of all sorts are ubiquitous. Whether at a work site, on a sports team, in a nonprofit organization, or in a hospital operating room (or in today’s world, virtually or in-person), teams are everywhere. Undoubtedly you have been a team member and perhaps had the opportunity to be selected or hired as a team leader. Great teams that produce superior results are built following the following simple principles that lead to outstanding teamwork. You must: 24

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- choose and develop great team members - mold them into the best team for your organization, - define your organization’s goals, - motivate the team appropriately, - deal with problem team members, - learn from success and failure And you’ll find you have built a team that is out of this world! —

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DEMAND FOR ATTRACTIVE, HIGHER-PERFORMING ROOFS LOOKING UP

Written by Lawrence Cummer

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Photo courtesy of IKO Industries

For most homeowners roofing projects are treated like a necessary evil. But in recent years, householders have been putting more thought into the performance and aesthetics of their roofs, and with good reason.

Of course, one major factor is that roofing plays a greater role in the curb appeal of homes built in the last 30 years. Combined with increased available options and readily accessible online inspiration, this has driven some homeowners

to put more thought into the look and appeal of their house topper.

RAISING CURB APPEAL The shift to higher-pitch roofs in new home design make them more visible, giving them a far greater effect on curb appeal, notes Mackenzie Adkin, key accounts manager at Owens Corning Canada.

This has driven homeowners to increasingly seek more aesthetically attractive roofing options, especially around colour and dimension. // MAY - JUNE 2021

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Photo courtesy of IKO Industries

“Colour blends and colour choices is subjective, and the roof has to be paired with the brick or siding and trim,” Adkin adds. “But by and large we’re seeing consumers more interested in highcontrast colour blends, where there are multiple colours and transitions throughout the shingle, so the roof really ‘pops.’ It has high-contrast, high-dimension, and the result is a higherdegree of curb appeal.”

For homeowners, the purchase of a new roof can be a painful one. Roofing contractors would do well to ease that pain by spending the time helping homeowners make aesthetic choices that will leave them happier.

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Rob Davidson, vice-president, residential sales, Canada, at IKO Industries, says a lot of jobs are sold based on the difference between more muted “three-drop” colour blends and punchier “four-drop” ones.

“I know a lot of our contractors are selling the product based basically on the colour options.

Consumers love them and they help contractors get the job,” Davidson says. While black remains a perennial favourite, complimenting internal and external colours, Davidson says he sees “a lot of trends moving to punchier colours.”

Still, for contractors themselves, performance is key. Davidson says that many of the

FEATURE STORY // DEMAND FOR ATTRACTIVE, HIGHER-PERFORMING ROOFS LOOKING UP Photos courtesy of Owens Corning Canada // MAY - JUNE 2021

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FEATURE STORY // DEMAND FOR ATTRACTIVE, HIGHER-PERFORMING ROOFS LOOKING UP improvements his company has made in its Dynasty line to create a wider, reinforced nailing zone are focused on giving contractor’s an easierto-install high-performance product.

“With the challenges around the labour pool, this really helps with that because you need skills, yes, but it’s easier to hit a 1¼” zone with a nail gun than it is a little line.”

Eric Belley, roofing product manager at BP Canada, echoes the different perspective

that consumers and contractors bring to roofing system choice, with homeowners looking for stronger visuals and contractors seeking the high-performance that prevents failures and call-backs.

“Roofers have a lot of influence on selecting better performing products, because the average consumer doesn’t buy a roof every day,” he says. “For the roofer, it’s human nature to want to recommend a higher-performing roof that is easier to install and works better.”

Photo courtesy of Building Products of Canada

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Photo courtesy of Vicwest Building Products

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FEATURE STORY // DEMAND FOR ATTRACTIVE, HIGHER-PERFORMING ROOFS LOOKING UP Photo courtesy of Building Products of Canada

“A lot of performance innovation is geared toward the roofer, and around making them not have to go back and repair the roof,” he adds. He’s always surprised when homeowners don’t prioritize performance. “Everyone calls a home, ‘a roof over your head’, and the roof over their head is what’s protecting all the beautiful kitchens, floors and other renovations made inside the house.”

HIGH-PERFORMANCE DEMANDS While eyes are drawn to a beautiful roof, at the

end of the day it must do its job. With dramatic weather conditions on the rise, while performance might not be the first thing homeowners see, it’s a key element that roofers must address with them.

“Impact resistance is an important factor when selecting a new roof system,” says Alex Pecora, director of product management at CertainTeed Roofing. “Those living in a hail-prone area should ensure the shingle carries a Class 4 impact resistance rating.” He adds that, “Superior asphalt // MAY - JUNE 2021

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FEATURE STORY // DEMAND FOR ATTRACTIVE, HIGHER-PERFORMING ROOFS LOOKING UP Photo courtesy of CertainTeed Roofing

shingles will often include other important attributes such as UV protection, algae resistance and bond strength to protect from delamination.”

how bad the weather gets, you’re not going to see a tile fall off the roof and end up in your back yard after a storm.”

Of course, wind resistance is also increasingly becoming more critical to the performance of the roof.

Shingles that stand up to higher winds has been an industry-wide trend over the past few years, Adkin says. “I’d like to say we were ahead of the curve on that with our Duration Series shingles, but just in general that’s one of the main design improvements to shingles over the last several years.”

Geoff Bernstein, director of marketing at Vicwest Building Products points to his company’s True Nature steel roof tiles, which in addition to impact and fire resistance features, was recently tested to withstand winds of 215 mph. “We bill it as a maintenance-free solution. It doesn’t matter

“We are observing more frequent high-wind storms in the last five, seven, 10 years than // MAY - JUNE 2021

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Photo courtesy of CertainTeed Roofing

Photo courtesy of Vicwest Building Products

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FEATURE STORY // DEMAND FOR ATTRACTIVE, HIGHER-PERFORMING ROOFS LOOKING UP we have historically, so shingles need to be upgraded in their wind resistance designs to meet changing weather patterns.”

Adding to the performance of its product line, GAF made recent innovations around the asphaltto-asphalt monolithic bond in their roofing systems to achieve durability, strength and wind uplift performance, according to Adam Prestwich, director of Canada sales at GAF Canada.

“As a result, we have put out the industry’s first no limit wind warranty opportunity with the Timberline HVZ.”

“Our hope is that because of this monolithic bond, we do believe that we’ll be able to get a lower activation point, which is great for Canada. If we can get the shingles to try to seal at a lower temperature, that really extends our season on both ends.”

Cold weather is, of course, common in regions across the country, and as such manufacturers continue to invest in developing shingles that better meet cold weather conditions.

“Roofing contractors can’t afford installation delays caused by frigid weather, because

Photo courtesy of GAF Canada

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FEATURE STORY // DEMAND FOR ATTRACTIVE, HIGHER-PERFORMING ROOFS LOOKING UP the shingle specified is too brittle to work with,” Pecora says. To reduce these delays, manufacturers have developed high-performance shingles featuring polymer-modified asphalt that permits deeper embedded granules. This allows the shingle to maintain pliability during cold installations.

Such flexibility also provides long term benefits for homeowners. “When a rapid temperature shift occurs, a good shingle will expand and contract, whereas a lesser shingle may become brittle,” Pecora adds.

For leading manufacturers, there’s never any stop to the innovation around asphalt chemistry and the fiberglass mat composition in a bid to constantly improve products, Adkin notes.

“Technology improves all industries and all products, and shingles are no exception,” he says.

“The product being made today is much better than it’s ever been.”

METAL ROOFING’S UPTICK Consumer demand for metal roofing continues to grow, say manufacturers, with several factors

Photo courtesy of GAF Canada

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Photo courtesy of Ideal Roofting Company

driving interest, including environment, longevity and improved aesthetics.

“If we go back 15 years, steel roofing was about 5% of the market; now it’s close to 14% and it’s going to keep growing,” Patric Saint-Denis, general sales manager at Ideal Roofing Company says.

“With the pandemic, a lot of people who didn’t go on trips last year, see it easier to justify a metal roof this year.”

Bernstein says metal roofing aesthetics have evolved a lot in recent years, pointing to his

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company’s release of steel tiles with the look of wood shake, slate and terracotta. While there’s a premium attached to metal roofing compared to shingles, he says his company’s products actual put these higher-end profiles in financial reach for consumers.

“A wood shake roof is three times the cost of our True Nature roofing,” he says. “You may want to put that shake roof on, but really that’s out of reach. Where am I going to find that extra $50,000 of budget for the roof of my dream home?”

FEATURE STORY // DEMAND FOR ATTRACTIVE, HIGHER-PERFORMING ROOFS LOOKING UP Popular colour choices are seeing a shift in metal roofing, suggests Saint-Denis, general sales manager at Ideal Roofing Company. “Before, our number one colour was forest green, but lately the most popular are blacks, greys, browns and earth tones from the roof to the siding,” he said.

Saint-Denis expects demand for steel roofing this year will outstrip supply, attributing the popularity to roofing but also the need for steel for other applications like auto manufacturing. This will inevitably lead to price increases. “Be aware of that pricing volatility,” he urges contractors. “And don’t guarantee your own prices for too long.”

The roofing industry in general today is seeing an unprecedented amount of activity, especially in the U.S., which is expected to lead to shortages across the board.

“States side they are on fire,” Prestwich notes. “They are just consuming everything North America has and then some. I know that in the States right now, the demand outweighs the current capacity… which is really incredible, because these machines can make a lot of shingles.” —

Photo courtesy of Ideal Roofting Company // MAY - JUNE 2021

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