Where we stand: A look at the Q1 2025 Market Index Survey for Reroofing

By Emma Peterson.

Looking at the industry through key takeaways and highlights from the Q1 2025 Market Index Survey.

Only one quarter into the year, 2025 has already presented unique challenges for the roofing industry. It can be a bit overwhelming to try and keep up with everything going on in the market and the industry, which is one of the reasons the Market Index Survey for Reroofing is such a valuable resource. Organized by a group of trade organizations, associations and industry leaders that includes National Roofing Contractors Association, National Women in Roofing, the Canadian Roofing Contractors Association and The Coffee Shops™, this survey aims to help all members of the industry get perspective on what’s happening, both in the short term of the quarter and the long term of year-to-year. We recently got some of the highlights of the 2025 Q1 results from Justin Koscher, the president of Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association (PIMA), one of the sponsoring organizations.

Respondent demographics

• Businesses: Of the 127 responses, roofing contractors accounted for 86% of the respondents and roofing consultants made up the remaining 14%.  
• Markets: As for markets served, 83% of the respondents indicated that they operate in primarily low slope or a mix of low and steep slope. The remaining 17% said they work in steep slope alone.
• Materials: When it comes to material usage, 35% of roofing contractor participants reported an increase compared to Q1 of 2024. Another 36% reported a decrease and the remaining 28% reported no change.

Customer inquiry questions

34% of participants surveyed reported an increase in customer inquiries compared to a year ago, 39% reported no change and 27% reported a decrease.

In addition to this data, the survey also uses a Customer Inquiry Index measured on a scale of 0-100 to make generalized assessments of the industry. A score of 50 or higher indicated growth where 50 or below indicates contraction. This quarter we saw a reading of 53.6 as opposed to the Q4 2024 result of 47.0.

Combining the information from these two data sets gives us a generally positive outlook for all business segments, but especially steep-slope roofing.

Project contract questions

In general, 32% of participants reported project contracts increasing as opposed to last year, with 36% reporting no change and 31% reporting a decrease. Diving a bit deeper, 31% of respondents reported a project backlog of three months or more (this is a two-point increase compared to the reports in January 2025). Another 28% reported no backlog and the rest (41%) reported a one-to-two-month backlog.

Looking to the bigger picture, the survey also creates a Project Contracts Index, which is rated on the same scale as the Customer Inquiries Index. This quarter the contracts index slipped a bit, going from 52.0 in Q4 2024 to 50.4 in Q1 2025. When looking at this index by segments, it was found that primarily steep-slope businesses had actually experienced a significant increase (reaching 66.7) while low-slope or mixed businesses were registering lower (50.0).  

The next survey (Q2 2025) will open in early July. Please plan on conducting the survey between Tuesday, July 1 and closing on Monday, July 14. Sign up for notifications online!