Taking Roofing Service to the Next Level
Another year of the industry’s largest annual tradeshow, International Roofing Expo (IRE), has come and gone, and once again the RoofSnap team is walking away proud to be part of such a strong and passionate service-focused community.
Every year, the IRE brings together thousands of roofing professionals and hundreds of industry vendors, shedding light on the new trends rising in the roofing industry. This year, we were also excited to see the impact our community is starting to make outside of roofing alone.
Some of the key social, economic, and environmental impacts we saw the show focus on included:
1. Sustainable Practices
The roofing industry is going green. Customers are now looking for contractors and businesses that follow a high standard of sustainable practices and material use that reflect their values. Being a green-friendly roofer is now a competitive differentiator that your business needs to consider in order to maintain its edge in the market.
IRE led by example with their “Sustainability Hub” where they asked show attendees to make a pledge to make a difference and lower their footprint by carrying reusable water bottles and walking to the show from their hotels. They also offered multiple education sessions around how to set up sustainable practices and lower your footprint as a roofing business. IRE did their part to minimize the shows environmental impact by composting and working with sourcing sustainable, US-based booth-furnishings, show guides, and badges.
2. Inclusion and Diversity
One of the industries’ biggest challenges is the labor shortage. A great solution is to widen our perspective of who makes up our labor force, focusing on expanding our inclusion of women, people of color, and LGBT+ people.
The National Women in Roofing (NWiR) hosted their 5th annual NWiR day in advance of IRE, where they focused on sharing the latest business strategies and tactics and their secrets to success. A large focus of the conference was on allyship and how to successfully expand our workforce in a diverse and inclusive manner.
3. Community Support
Something that all roofers have in common is that our work on homes contributes to maintaining and strengthening our local communities. We saw a lot of focus on the value of community building and volunteering at this year’s show. Our team even spoke with a few roofers who are now allocating a portion of their sales to fix structural damage on roofs of the elderly, disabled people, and those living in disadvantaged areas, without the means to pay for repairs.
Each year the IRE partners with Rebuilding Together to make critical home repairs for those in need. Our RoofSnap team was honored to be part of this year’s volunteer efforts, assisting homeowners in need in New Orleans, including families with young children, seniors, and people with disabilities.
The RoofSnap team left 2022 IRE as proud members of the roofing community and inspired to continue to support the industry with our ever-improving roof measurements and estimating tool.
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