The timing, coming in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn, put a strong spin on the discussion, of course. It is difficult to look forward during a time when the economy is in turmoil and the industry could possibly be undergoing a historic shift. The panel touched those bases as well.

You can watch the entire discussion on the video here, or read a summary of the discussion below.

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The Next Ten Years

Economic Drivers

Paul Deffenbaugh: What will be the most important economic drivers for the metal construction industry over the next 10 years?

Steve Browning: I think the number one economic driver is a favorable economy. We have to have a favorable lending environment; we can’t have too loose of a lending policy; and we can’t have two types of a lending policy. We need low interest rates and certainly need optimism from the consumer. We’re a big-ticket item, and from a standpoint of a business, we need the business owners to expand or build a new building. Also, in the next 10 years, we’ve got to keep the cost of our products low.

Steve Browning is the owner and president of Vulcan Steel Structures Inc., Adel, Ga., He has spent 33 years in the steel building industry and is currently serving as chairman of the board of directors for the Metal Building Manufacturing Association (MBMA).

Nick Sabino: Currently, in our environment with the pandemic, I’m seeing two very different consumers. The residential side of the business is very, very strong right now. On the commercial business, uncertainty has crept in. Over the next 10 years, one of the biggest things for us is a work force and being able to onboard and train people. There’s a major threat right now with the lack of workers and our ability to install the products we make. With that threat comes opportunity. The metal construction industry is very clean. It’s very desirable.

Another driver is an infrastructure bill being passed that could benefit the industry tremendously. I think there’s bipartisan support for an infrastructure bill. It’s not going to happen before the election, but it’s something we could expect after and it would really give our industry a boost.

Nick Sabino is the founder of Deer Park Roofing Inc., Cincinnati, which provides residential and commercial roofing services. Along with serving as National Roofing Contractors Association’s (NRCA) chairman of the board, Sabino has served as chair of several NRCA committees, including NRCA University Operations, Young Contractors, Industry Executives, and Career and Technical Education Outreach. Sabino is a member of the International Roofing Expo (IRE) Advisory Board and was the 2011 recipient of the Owens Corning Industry Innovation Award.

Mike Petersen: We’re seeing pretty healthy business conditions right now. I’m actually concerned about being late to the party in terms of being affected by the drop-off in the economy. Most of the roofers I’ve spoken with have said they’re busy now and are hunting hard for work in the fall.

One of my friends came up with the term zombie companies. There are a bunch of zombie companies out there right now that don’t know they’re going down. A good example is movie theaters. And how many hotel chains are going to go out of business before this is all over, because travel has been greatly affected? There are just so many unknown variables right now with the unusual nature of the complete shutdown of our economy.

Mike F. Petersen is CEO of Petersen Aluminum Corp., Elk Grove Village, Ill. He joined the family-owned business in 1977 and was named president in 1987. Petersen served as chairman of the Metal Service Center Institute from 2003 through 2005, and was president of the National Association of Aluminum Distributors from 1998 through 200. Petersen Aluminum was acquired by the Carlisle Companies, Scottsdale, Ariz., in January 2019.

There are a bunch of zombie companies out there right now that don’t know they’re going down. A good example is movie theaters. And how many hotel chains are going to go out of business before this is all over?

Mike Petersen

Deffenbaugh: I want to jump into the labor question. It’s clear to me that we are having a short-term resolution to the labor issue, but the underlying problems with the skilled labor shortage are still there. People aren’t coming into the labor market, and there might even be a chance that this downturn and how it’s affected the labor force may scare people away even more from coming into the construction work force.

Art Hance: Construction is a tough business at times, and we are going to see people migrate out of the industry as we did during the last downturn. Addressing the issue of economic drivers, though, one of the most dramatic effects on the economy, as well as the work force, is going to be China. We are going to see a resurgence in manufacturing jobs, I believe, and when that happens, people would rather work in a factory in the middle of winter than out on the job site. So, because of all of these factors, it’s tough to predict exactly what will happen, but I think that any temporary help that we’ve had work force wise is going to be met with an increased challenge coming ahead.

Art Hance has been owner and president of Hance Construction, Washington, N.J., since 2000. Hance takes great pride in his work and the numerous awards for the quality and complexity of his design and construction. He has held multiple leadership roles in the MBCEA and actively served on many committees. He is a well-respected Butler builder, often called to add his voice and expertise to committees and/or subject matter. He is a passionate voice for quality, safety, training and excellence.

Jim Bush: I think we’ll see a resurgence in manufacturing and a shift in the type of work. There are certain segments of the market that have been vastly affected by the events over the last three or four months. You’re going to see a lot more in health care manufacturing and, going back to that, infrastructure is going to be one of the key things that we’re going to be looking at moving forward.

Jim Bush, CSI, is the vice president of sales and marketing at ATAS International, Allentown, Pa. He is also the current chairman of the executive committee for the Metal Construction Association (MCA). Bush has previously served as the chairperson of the MCA roofing council, MCA retrofit council, MCA roofing certification committee, and as the past organizer of the demonstration area at METALCON, the industry’s major trade show and conference, for many years. He was inducted into the Metal Construction Hall of Fame in 2014, and was the first recipient of MCA’s Patrick R. Bush Service Award in 2011.

Browning: I’ve had several discussions with other members of the [Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA)] board, and we feel like we’re going to see a resurgence in the manufacturing sector. We certainly have seen a loss in that sector over the last 10 or 15 years. Hopefully, we’ll see growth going forward as manufacturers come back to domestic manufacturing. That could be a big positive.

Rob Haddock: I agree with Steve. I think that’s also contingent on continued tax relief for employers, tax incentives for capital improvements and lower tax rates. I compete with the federal government to grow my company. Money I would be able to reinvest in my company for R&D and marketing and sales would increase my staff and provide jobs. It would buy manufacturing equipment, providing jobs for the people who make that equipment. And it would expand building, creating still more jobs.

Rob Haddock is a metal roof consultant, author, speaker, inventor and the founder of Colorado Springs, Colo.-based S-5! He is director of the Metal Roof Advisory Group Ltd., an international consulting firm. Haddock has nearly 50 years of experience in the metal construction industry, is an in-demand speaker and is a member of the inaugural class for the Metal Construction Hall of Fame.

I compete with the federal government to grow my company. Money I would be able to reinvest in my company for R&D and marketing and sales would increase my staff and provide jobs.

Rob Haddock

I’m a small company, and I know what works for me, but my businesses could work faster and better if I didn’t have to compete with the government to invest in my own business. And tax relief will bring manufacturing back to the U.S. In some cases, when there’s places like China out there where we need some government intervention, some tariffs, which this administration has been doing.

John Paul Lawrence: If I can just echo what Rob was talking about in terms of manufacturing. What this pandemic has taught us is that manufacturing strength in our nation is tied to national security. If we want to be a strong nation, we have to have a strong manufacturing base. We want to have a strong domestic economy. When we have problems getting aspirin, Band-Aids, etc., that tells a big story. One of the drivers for our next administration is how they tackle that manufacturing issue.

John Paul Lawrence is president of Modern Trade Communications, Skokie, Ill., which publishes Metal Construction News, Metal Architecture and The Metal Directory and Resource Guide. An industry veteran, Lawrence serves on the boards of directors for the Metal Construction Association and the Metal Building Contractors and Erectors Association. He is also actively involved in the Metal Building Manufacturers Association.

If we want to be a strong nation, we have to have a strong manufacturing base. We want to have a strong domestic economy.

John Paul Lawrence

The Skilled Labor Shortage

Deffenbaugh: For the last 10 years, the biggest challenge in the industry has been the skilled labor shortage. Are there things we can do to benefit our industry?

Sabino: When we look at our career and technical education side, vocational schools and as an industry, we’ve really been lost for a long time. I attended a Skills USA competition, and there were a thousand young men and women. They constructed walls, plumbing, electrical, but when they got to the roof, they stopped. There’s just no representation there.

We’re working with NCCER, the National Center for Construction Education and Research, to get roofing and sheet metal into the curriculum and updating it. It hasn’t been updated since the late 1990s, and the only roof system in the entire curriculum is asphalt shingles. Partnering with these work force development groups is really key to our success.

The narrative is that nobody wants to join the trades and these kids are lazy. That’s totally opposite of what we’re seeing. When we go to talk to the construction schools, the vocational schools, we see a waiting list to get into the construction programs. We have to have a presence in those schools to represent our trade. For the last decade, we were really absent, and a lot of these kids are doing HVAC, electrical and plumbing, but not some other specialty trades.

The narrative is that nobody wants to join the trades and these kids are lazy. That’s totally opposite of what we’re seeing.

Nick Sabino

Deffenbaugh: The skilled labor shortage is not a new issue. I wrote my first story about it in 1992. This is a cultural problem we’ve been battling since then, and it’s become a constraint on industry growth. What can manufacturers do to help?

Bush: We try to be very engaged with the local community, inviting junior high school kids, and even sometimes younger students, into our facility for tours just to expose them. There is a world out there beyond going to a four-year college. As an organization and as related industries, we need to bring in that curriculum at the trade schools and band together to make that happen. Again, it’s exposure and letting people realize that there are good, high-paying jobs in both the manufacturing sector and in the trades.

Deffenbaugh: Building a career in the trades when there are economic downturns that threaten their job security can be tough. How do you make a career for someone in the skilled labor market?

Hance: There’s a core group of workers that you’ll keep regardless of the economy. You have to build a company that’s strong enough to maintain that. You need to look at ancillary services you can provide that can take you through those tough times.

People have a short memory and we are going to see a resurgence in manufacturing, but the reason they left was because of lack of competitiveness. We have to address that to sustain a manufacturing resurgence. And that’s not something the government is going to do for us.

The Metal Building Institute is working on a program right now that we can take to local schools. We need to get the message out there and start from the grassroots and get people interested in the trades.

Lawrence: I think you’re absolutely right. We can’t rely on the government to address this problem. It has to come from private industry. Twenty or 30 years ago, public school systems prepared students either for college or for the work force. It’s up to private industry to work with these public school systems and say, “Alright, we can help fill this void in getting these young men and women ready for the work force in the U.S.” And we also have to convey the notion that college isn’t the end all be all.

Hance: I sometimes wonder if the problem isn’t more with us than the schools and government. I think we all want our kids to go to college too, and there are parents that are not comfortable saying that their kid is an ironworker. We have to look inside and see how we push our kids.

I sometimes wonder if the problem isn’t more with us than the schools and government. I think we all want our kids to go to college too, and there are parents that are not comfortable saying that they’re kid is an iron worker.

Art Hance

Petersen: We have several leaders of trade associations for the industry on this call. The tool and die manufacturers in Chicago started an apprenticeship program, and they’ve successfully established several apprenticeships to feed the industry by starting their own programs.

Deffenbaugh: Is there a cultural shift going on that will drive the acceptance of skilled labor?

Hance: I think that college is important, and I want them to go to school. If my son went to school and worked in the business that would be the best I could hope for. Germany brings people up through trades, and they have a career. That career is served through the apprenticeship program, where they get their education and their practical experience at the same time. Except for some of the unions in the country, we’ve pretty much have lost that apprenticeship approach and we’ve wiped out any type of craft training in high schools.

Deffenbaugh: Steve, are you seeing a change in the type of applicants you’re getting?

Browning: We seem to be, yes. We’re having more discussions than we have in the past about workers and people going back to tech schools rather than colleges. What’s creating a lot of this discussion is the fact that college tuition has gotten to be so expensive, and that is driving the value of a four-year degree out of balance with the expense for it. So, you see kids now making a decision to go to a Vo-Tech school. This is a cultural shift that will take a number of years to get back in line with what we have to offer.

It’s not only a cultural problem, but we’re fighting the fact that our industry is cyclical. We go through times where we hire as many people as we can, and then we go through times where we have to become lean and get through the toughest of times. It makes it difficult to grow and build confidence in a work force to come into our industry. That’s just the nature of it. But I am hearing more chatter in the last five years about people interested in going to tech school to learn different trades than I have in the previous 15.

It’s not only a cultural problem, but we’re fighting the fact that our industry is cyclical. …It makes it difficult to grow and build confidence in a work force to come into our industry.

Steve Browning

Lawrence: In today’s world it’s necessary for workers to have a high level of aptitude to fill these positions, and I don’t think people understand that. Not everyone is going to have the natural talent or manual dexterity. There are no positions for the guy to make sure the gears are oiled anymore. With modern machinery, there has to be somebody who has logic and reasoning skills and understands the systems and how to work them.

Deffenbaugh: How can we support the person coming into the trades, to learn a trade and become a business owner? Is that a path?

Sabino: I think there’s definitely a path there. There’s a path into sales. There’s a path into project management. There are a lot of different ways for somebody to move up.

One of the trends that we’re seeing a lot of is people working hourly and then coming in and wanting to be a subcontractor. We’ve always tried to encourage that hourly work force, but that business model is slowly fading away as more and more of these foremen, who are good leaders and good teachers, are becoming subcontractors and effectively changing the work force. I don’t necessarily think that’s a good trend. But that’s the reality all across the United States.

More and more of these foremen, who are good leaders and good teachers, are becoming subcontractors and effectively changing the work force. I don’t necessarily think that’s a good trend.

Nick Sabino

Haddock: I agree with Steve’s point concerning the cost of education, but to bring things back to perspective, as he also pointed out, it’s a fragile industry since it’s subject to outside economic pressures. I’ve been in the construction industry for almost 50 years, and I’ve had booms and busts through the five decades. The last seven years have been a big boom, and when unemployment falls below 5%, there’s a labor shortage.

I think there is a trend due to the high cost of college, and a metamorphosis that working in the trades is becoming more and more acceptable.

As far as carving a path as an entrepreneur, I’m not sure you can do that. It’s just sort of an innate thing within a person. But there are plenty of opportunities out there to do that.

COVID-19 and the Future of Construction

Deffenbaugh: With the country’s reaction to the pandemic, companies have learned that working from home is a viable option and, by some studies, increases productivity substantially. If a significant portion of the work force can now work at home, what does that mean for the need for office space? Commuting infrastructure? Even impacting where people choose to live?

Petersen: I think we’re going to see a massive shift in cities. It might result in larger exurb areas. Everyone’s a little hesitant to get on a Metra train here in Chicago. Are we going to see more automobiles, more auto traffic? There’s going to be all kinds of massive changes that result from this.

I think it’s going to have a profound effect on the construction industry. It might not happen overnight, but you’re going to see fewer restaurant chains, fewer hotel chains. Are universities going to be a source of $100 million buildings going forward? We haven’t seen the ramifications of this yet.

Bush: The remote work force will be more prominent in larger cities because of the transportation issues and mass gathering going into subways or other mass transit. We were alternating who was in the office for a while and it was successful. It worked and people were productive, but we missed a lot of collaboration. I’m happy to have the entire team back together where we can discuss issues and so forth.

But there is going to be a lot more liberty given and more flexibility to the ability to work at home. The days of coming in when you were not quite feeling well are gone.

Browning: I certainly agree with what Jim said. As a manufacturer, we have to hand things from one department to the next, and it’s like a chain. When one link is missing, the chain is broken and we lose an awful lot of efficiency. We were able to function over the last two or three months, and we’ve proven we can function, but we do lose a lot of efficiencies, sharing and collaboration.

Lawrence: I think all businesses are about personal relationships. You have to have that interaction with people and colleagues. That’s where the ideas come from, and that’s where the problems are solved.

A lot of people I’ve been talking to are from all different walks of life and they’re ready to go back in the office. They can’t take any more Zoom meetings. I’ve seen studies where online meetings are more mentally draining than when you’re face-to-face in a meeting. There are too many distractions at home.

A lot of people I’ve been talking to are from all different walks of life and they’re ready to go back in the office. They can’t take any more Zoom meetings.

John Paul Lawrence

Haddock: Our manufacturing is in North Texas, and you can’t run machines from home. They’re pretty vigilant with respect to PPE (personal protection equipment). That operation continued to function.

In Colorado is the rest of the corporate functions—sales, marketing, etc. Before COVID, everyone wanted to work from home, and during COVID we essentially closed the office, and it was quite effective. Several weeks ago, we could reopen the office, and we decided to have the staff back in shifts, and give employees the option to continue to work from home. Everybody wanted to come back to the office, so to JP’s point and others, there’s no substitute for face-to-face interaction.

The Future of Sustainability

Deffenbaugh: One of the significant changes over the last two decades has been the emergence and growth of LEED certifications, energy codes, the Living Building Challenge, AIA 2030 and other programs geared to improve the sustainability of buildings. The result has been major changes in design and performance. Are we hitting a diminishing marginal return on sustainable practices or is there more improvement to come?

Haddock: I think both things are true. We are seeing a diminishing return, but we will definitely see more improvement to come with technology and innovation advancing at the incredible rates that it is. It’s hard to predict where and how, but change is always a certainty, and anything can always be made better. There are some things though, that I think are somewhat predictable, because they make sense and have public support.

We’re seeing smart homes and smart construction in general with automated controls that conserve energy and cut costs and can be operated remotely. Materials are more durable and require reduced maintenance and have longer service lives. That just makes sense.

The solar thing, it’s not a fad. It’s here to stay because it makes good economic sense. All you have to do is pencil out the ROI, and solar becomes cash positive in five to seven years. In some cases, even less.

Sabino: I think sustainability is not a fad that’s going away, it’s here to stay. Someone mentioned the German model earlier and how engaged they are with the work force at a young age. One of the things that the German roofing contractors association does is sell sustainability to the younger work force. That’s how they get them to join the roofing industry. We’re insulating buildings and providing all kinds of sustainable products. I think that’s an important component of what we do, and we need to remind everybody in our industry, the purpose that we serve. That’s something that really resonates, especially with the younger folks.

We’re insulating buildings and providing all kinds of sustainable products. … We need to remind everybody in our industry, the purpose that we serve. That’s something that really resonates, especially with the younger folks.

Nick Sabino

Petersen: One thing the metal roofing industry has missed is our products hold up a lot longer than other products. We’ve tested buildings that have been out for 25 years and they still have within about 10% of the initial reflectivity. I always thought it’s important that our products fit in, in terms of sustainable and resilient design. Both of those things may have lost some of their early panache, but they’re very much in play.

Deffenbaugh: One of the things we keep hearing about on the manufacturing side is the difficulty of developing a product that doesn’t use ingredients on the Red List. Is that a real hurdle?

Bush: The Red List issue in the painted metal industry can be hard to overcome. But I look back and ask if there’s going to be long-term durability? The systems we use in the marketplace today are time proven. They put out 40- or 50-year warranties. As we migrate to some of these newer technologies, I’m concerned we may lose the ability to survive the elements. Can we provide a paint system that may be Red List compliant, but what’s going to happen in 20 or 15 years when it has to be recoated?

We’ve got to be a little cautious of moving forward. Obviously, metal in itself brings a lot of other attributes to the party, particularly longevity and resiliency. It’s going to be there forever. It’s not going to have to be replaced.

Hance: I think there are times where people strive to get a trophy or something indicating that they’re being sustainable, and they go through all these steps. There are some great areas that are low hanging fruit that are still there that nobody wants to address. We need to do air infiltration studies and get that dialed in better on our buildings. It has to be practical. It has to pencil in long term. If, as Jim said, you have a project that goes south on you 10 years down the road, what are the environmental implications of going back and resurfacing that 10 years from now?

Deffenbaugh: Have there been big innovation drivers other than sustainability and energy conservation over the last 20 years or so?

Browning: When you look at the basic components of a metal building system, not much has changed over the last 20 or 30 years. Certainly, the standing seam roof innovation was monumental, and it continues to be the premier roofing system for our industry. But there’s been more innovation in energy improvement and in building design than anything that I’ve seen in the last 30 years. And it’s important. We’re responding to it.

Sabino: Prior to COVID, as we talked about our work force issues, we saw a lot of innovation in roofing where the manufacturers were trying to make installing a roof system less labor intensive. I think that’s the biggest trend. I don’t know if the sustainability and labor intensity have to be mutually exclusive.

Deffenbaugh: Are the sustainability and energy conservation improvements butting up against our ability to be detail oriented? Are we requiring people to do be too detail oriented in construction?

Hance: The roofs are pretty well dialed in. The wall systems, particularly with the insulated metal panels, are great, but we still see channels at all of our overhead doors that are uninsulated. We still lose a lot of energy up there. There are different places in the building where we’re just bleeding out energy. And unfortunately, we often in the metal building industry get looked at as a cost-effective solution, so people tend to look at that bottom line pretty hard. To remedy those short circuits in our buildings requires labor, and then it’s going to require training. And now the question is, do people want to pay for it?

Sabino: From a project-management standpoint, as contractors, we tend to shy away from products that are more labor intensive. We tend to shy away from more complicated products and use ones that are easier and cleaner to install, and not have to worry about being involved in a lawsuit because they weren’t installed correctly. I’m all for training and attention to detail, but it comes a point when enough is enough and you move on to something that’s easy to install.

Hance: I think that going forward, we’re going to see more manufacturers pushing for modularized construction where we get a wall assembly that’s made in a factory. China has started using robots in construction. They’re looking at prefabricated units and it’s impressive what they do over there. We’re a bit behind the curve in that.

Deffenbaugh: Cost is in opposition to quality, when it comes to the consumer. How do you translate that for metal building systems?

Browning: We as an industry have faced a difficult challenge with the architectural community, trying to get that point across as we try to influence architects to use metal building systems in a more favorable fashion. We have our work cut out for us. The architectural committee was formed this year to address the fact that we’re not educating old school architects or doing a good enough job in the curriculum for the new architects to understand the benefits of metal building systems. We’re building systems now that make dramatic effects visually. We’re capable as an industry. We just need to educate.

Petersen: As a manufacturer, we’re always trying to work on little things that might make our product a little quicker to install, cheaper to install, but not necessarily affecting the quality of the product.

Deffenbaugh: One of the things that’s happened in some product lines is the supply chain is become more consolidated and the manufacturer or distributor is doing installation. Do you see the potential for that kind of supply chain consolidation to happen?

Petersen: We’ve seen roll-ups of roofing companies. That’s a new phenomenon over the last 15 years. When I started 40 years ago, distributors weren’t a big part of the roofing industry, and now they are essentially a banker to the industry. Training programs have migrated from manufacturers to distributors.

Deffenbaugh: Pull it all together for us, John Paul. When you talk with people across the industry, what is on their minds for the next 10 years?

Lawrence: What’s on everyone’s mind for the next 10 years? That’s a big question. Talking with readers, I don’t get that what’s going to happen in 10 years. I get the question, what are the next three years going to look like? I could say that in the next 10 years, a big topic is integrating automation technology, which Art brought up that the Chinese are doing.

One of the things that comes up a lot is 3-D printing technology and how that’s going to affect our industry. What will 3-D printing technology look like in 10 years for our industry? You can 3-D print any kind of metal, but it’s currently at the stage where it takes a lifetime to 3-D print anything big. For what we do, our industry is going to need that. But, it’s hard to say that 3-D printing technology is ever going to get there.

Sabino: I wanted to comment on the China situation. In 2019, I attended their technical symposium and waterproofing show, and I would be cautious to think that anything innovative is going to come out of China for the metal roofing industry. Now, Europe is a whole other story. One of the technical symposiums was concerning standing seam roofs. I listened as they talked about all these airports and everywhere they put on a standing seam roof, they were leaking. At the end, they came to the conclusion that standing seam roofs needed underlayment. They had been installing roofs without underlayment. I was just really, really shocked at how far behind us, especially from a manufacturing standpoint, from a technical standpoint, from a design standpoint, they are. What they’re doing is really decades behind what we’re doing here in the United States.

Deffenbaugh: What is going to get your attention over the next 10 years? What are you going to be focused on?

Petersen: Looking back 40 years and then extrapolating forward, what I see is more combinations of our materials used on commercial projects. Three or four different roofing profiles. Different wall profiles. Woodgrain finishes. A metallic finish to emulate Corten. We’re seeing a lot of architects realizing our product brings color to the project. You can basically really take advantage of our product line to dress up your building if you will.

Bush: One of the things that I think our industry needs to understand is how all of these systems interact together. As a single-skin manufacturer, we rely on insulation materials, air barriers and other things to bring the wall system together. The ability to understand how these products work as a whole so we can offer better guidance to the design community.

From energy efficiency to fire codes, there are a lot of changing technologies that can vastly affect the way systems come together. When something new comes out, it may affect the other products, so I think we have to have an overall understanding of the science behind what we do.

From energy efficiency to fire codes, there are a lot of changing technologies that can vastly affect the way systems come together. When something new comes out, it may affect the other products, so I think we have to have an overall understanding of the science behind what we do.

Jim Bush

Hance: We’re working on a succession plan, and as we do that, we’re looking at a five-year and a 10-year plan, and we want to identify what industries will be emerging. So, we’re targeting those. I think that the other thing that we’re doing, we have a very long-term relationship with a specific manufacturer of metal buildings. Our business has been helped by looking outside of that for some of the components, and we incorporate that into the buildings we build. It just makes our product more robust for the owner.

If you look at the buildings over the last 10 years that have received the MBCEA [Metal Building Contractors & Erectors Association] Building of the Year award, they have gotten so much more aesthetically pleasing and are pretty unidentifiable as a metal building. That’s because of bringing other manufacturers products to the buildings.

Haddock: Sometimes, the future fools me, Paul, but personally I’m bringing up the next generation. If I can interject a kind of new thing here. Most of the things we’ve talked about in this meeting actually favor metal construction. We talked about sustainability and durability and those kinds of things. MCA [Metal Construction Association] did a research project and survey that proves the life of a metal roof is beyond 60 years. This is the best kept secret in the whole construction community. People don’t know and we’ve got to get that message out. I think that presents an enormous opportunity.

The life of a metal roof is beyond 60 years. This is the best kept secret in the whole construction community.

Rob Haddock

Solar panels have a life expectancy of 35 years right now and it’s getting better all the time. You put solar on any roof other than metal and you’d be replacing the roof before the life of the solar has expired. What kind of sense does that make?

We need to extol our virtues more than we have as an industry. The future of the industry and the outlook for the metal construction industry is really bright because of the many things we’ve talked about today.

Sabino: We’re seeing a trend in roofing that a company is a gigantic roofing company or a very small company. Mid-size roofing companies are going to fade away. We talked about a lot of roll-ups, but I think you’ll see more vertical integration. I think you could see a manufacturer buy a roofing contractor that has a nationwide footprint. Fifteen years ago, there weren’t any $100 million roofing companies. Now we have scores of them. As private equity gets involved, the roofing industry could see some dramatic changes.

Browning: You really have to look backwards at what technology has done for our industry. As a manufacturer, we’ve come so far in our design ability, estimating and detailing abilities. We can do things in minutes that used to take days to do. It’s really exciting to think about where we’re heading in that regard as fast as the technology is being innovated.

Again, we have to do a better job as an industry to educate the consumer about metal building systems. We’ve got some work to be done there. So, I think we need to spend a great deal of our time as an industry association promoting the benefit of the metal building system.

Lawrence: It’s hard to predict where things are going to be given the time that we’re going through right now. I believe that we will see the emergence of new companies as our industry expands. We’ll also see a greater expansion on the fabricator side in the role that they play. I like to watch and see how the fabricator side is doing, and we’ll see more of them.