We’re Obsessed With Coatings! Why you Should be too.

By Dani Sheehan. 

Learn why the coatings business is flourishing and how you can grow your business with this growing industry. 

The Roof Coatings Manufacturers Association (RCMA) recently wrapped up their summer meeting in Cleveland, Ohio. Covering all things coatings, it’s always a great opportunity to bring together great minds across the coating industry. In season five, episode 44 of Roofing Road Trips®, Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with Chris Huettig, RCMA president, to discuss the immense growth in the industry and some of their highlights for the meeting. 

Chris has been in the industry for 29 years, working with KARNAK for the majority of his career and joining RCMA for the last 10 years. He loves being a part of the organization because “it’s nice to have all the minds together who care about preserving and restoring and extending the service life of roofs out there and have a real focus on coatings. And that’s really our purpose is help advance and promote the coatings industry in roofing.” 

Within the last 10 years, and even through Covid, the coatings industry has seen some impressive growth. “We are doing things today and have technologies and chemistries from our great raw material manufacturers that we didn’t have in the past, that were able to help that segment of the business extend and provide services for contractors to expand their business.” The coatings industry did not face as many supply chain constraints as the rest of the roofing industry, and it’s provided more opportunities for building owners to use coatings as a viable solution when money is an issue for a full roof replacement. Contractors have been able to add these offerings to their business portfolio and have become more resilient in both fast and slow economic times. 

One of the great benefits of the summer meeting is the contractor panel that allows a firsthand account of how these products are helping customers. “Having those contractors tell their stories of how they’ve incorporated coatings, how they’ve used coatings... and their best practices to share with all of us is really eye opening.” It’s always the favorite part of the meeting, but there are also some great opportunities to learn about the technical aspects and where technology is headed for the coatings industry. 

This year had a great lineup of speakers, and they further discussed their partnership to promote a new roof coatings training. Read the transcript, listen to the podcast, or learn more about the virtual training program to bring coatings to the forefront of your business. And don’t miss RCMA’s fall meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana this November.