Roofing Contractor Blog

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One of the best bargains of the New Year from Roofing Contractor will be our State of the Industry report and survey that highlights our February 2009 issue.

I recently spoke with Allen Bradley, the CEO and President of Amerisafe Inc., a provider of high hazard workers compensation insurance. He shared some insight on the roofing market from the insurer’s perspective.

Chip Macdonald is the owner of Best Safety LLC and Roofing Contractor’s safety columnist. I spoke with him recently about the prospects for the roofing industry in 2009 for our State of the Industry report, and he was quick to point to several signs of a tough road ahead, as well as some hopeful trends.

Last January I put forward some resolutions for 2008. It would be easy to hit the restart button and start over, but I choose to hit the rewind button instead.

The recent spate of mergers caused me to wonder why we--the valued customers of these companies--were not consulted about their unions. I know we could pick better partners.

It would not amaze anyone to learn that I am a fan of magazines. My first subscription was to Boy’s Life back when I was around 11 years old. The sub probably cost less than one lawn mowed or whatever other manual labor I managed to peddle back in the old neighborhood.

As we look forward to the New Year in the roofing industry, it’s safe to say ‘good riddance” to 2008.

I recently spoke with Chip Macdonald, owner of Best Safety and Roofing Contractor’s safety columnist, about safety trends in a tighter economy.

According to a report in the Sudbury (Ontario, Canada) Star a roofer was caught practicing some bad business and wound up in the pokey for 30 days. Seems he took a homeowner’s money as a deposit for work he never managed to begin.

The construction market stinks. The stock market brings constant pain. The financial bailouts grow more insane by the day. Manufacturers are struggling. Nonprofits are laying off staff. Retailers are filing for bankruptcy.