Looking at roofing as a career, not just a job

By Emma Peterson.

Take a deep dive into the responsibilities of four positions out of the many career options in the roofing industry.

The roofing industry has struggled for years with the perception that there are not viable career paths with room for growth. But that perception is far from the truth, something that James McDonald and Maureen Greeves of Weatherproofing Technologies Inc (WTI), a subsidiary of Tremco, can attest to. This duo stopped by The Coffee Shops™ for an episode of Roofing Road Trips® with host Heidi J. Ellsworth about the different career paths in the industry.

One of the factors that contributes to the misconception of the industry is the belief that it is an inherently unsafe job. While getting on the roof does come with risks, Maureen, who has been in the industry for over 15 years now, shared why this is not a reason to avoid the industry as a whole, saying, “Technology makes a big difference. We have drones to go up and check safety. We have so many advancements in the safety industry that I think you can have those conversations with parents.”  

The other big concern for many is that there will not be room for growth in the industry. However, there are a wide variety of positions in the industry that offer incredible careers options. Maureen and James shared just four of them during their conversation with Heidi.

Technician

Technician is probably the closest thing to what people imagine when you suggest a career in roofing. Maureen explained, “Technicians, hourly based employees that come on board with us with that do our day-to-day, they are our heavy lifters. They're mobilizing, they're staging equipment, they're prepping the roof, they're doing repairs, they're chasing leaks. There's a lot of skill set in that level.” What people don’t realize is the variety of projects and focuses technicians can have. Just at Tremco, they have their roofing technicians, but they also have specialized technicians. Maureen gave a few examples, sharing, “We have our Pure Air business where we're going in and doing HVAC restoration and repairs there. And we have a group that focuses on facade.”

Foreman  

Another option to becoming a specialized technician is moving from hourly positions into management positions, like foreman. Note, both men and women can both be roofing foremen, but the terminology for the position has not yet caught up. James explained a bit of what this position entails, saying, “Our WTI foremen have the skill set of a traditional foreman where they could plant themselves on a project and run that from start to finish. But for the most part, our foremen manage multiple projects with teams, and they too are responsible for the overall quality and safety of our personnel. They handle customer communication from the field standpoint.”

Supervisors

Moving up in the chain of command, you have supervisors. These are key leaders in companies who oversee things on a regional level. Maureen explained, “You can have multiple supervisors within a region. But some of our supervisors can be managing 20 foremen and 80 technicians underneath them.” In addition to this they are responsible for estimating, pricing, quality control, safety initiatives, strategic hiring and more. There is a lot of responsibility with the position and, as Maureen says, it is crucial for supervisors “to have leadership skills, so they can be a strong leader and get messages out to people.”

Inspector

For those not necessarily wanting to move up in managing worksites, there is also the inspector path. James explained briefly, “At Tremco, our inspectors do a variety of different types of inspection services... These are the individuals that show up on the worksite once a year, twice a year and do a thorough inspection to make sure that that asset is protected. We get ahead of any failing kind of flashes, some minor repairs and of course housekeeping.” Inspectors are also brought in on projects to inspect for quality control and warranty reasons. And, as James pointed out, “If the inspection work demand is down for any reason, they are still roofing technicians, so they can still go out and execute on our patch and repair.”

Read the transcript or Listen to the episode for more about career options in the industry.