Here are 3 massive roofing industry trends in 2025, according to Roofing Contractor’s Homeowner Survey.
Earlier this month, Roofing Contractor released their 2025 Homeowner Roofing Survey, sponsored by Roofle Technologies and Owens Corning. As always, it brought some fascinating insights about the roofing industry in 2025. But before we dive into the top three takeaways, there are a few important things to know about the survey itself. Understanding how the survey was done helps us see the bigger picture. So let’s dig into that first, before we start breaking down the insights.
The really interesting thing about surveys like this is not just what they reveal, but what they’re actually reviewing, if that makes sense. They’re showing what homeowners think they want and what roofers think they’re doing. It’s a common thing researchers run into. You ask a bunch of people questions, they answer, and then those answers get treated like gospel truth. But the reality is, the people answering often don’t really know the full story themselves.
A perfect example of that comes from this survey, and it’s a good place to roll into our first big insight.
Insight 1: Response Time Expectations
According to the survey, about 50% of homeowners said they want a response from a roofer within one to two days of inquiring. That’s what they say they want. But at ProLine, we’ve seen firsthand that you’ll close way more roofs if you respond immediately — with a text or an email right away, and then maybe a call just a few minutes later. There’s a huge difference between what people say they want and what will actually make them choose you.
In fact, if you read this survey and think, “Okay, no rush, I’ve got a day or two to respond,” you’re setting yourself up to lose deals. Fast. You’ll lose out to roofers who are moving quicker. The ones who text, email, and call while the homeowner’s still sitting at their computer. Speed wins in 2025. It’s not about meeting the expectations people think they have. It’s about doing what actually closes jobs
In fact, Mike Goldenstein of Roofle acknowledged that in a webinar he co-hosted reviewing the findings. A huge segment of the webinar focused on the need to respond within minutes, if not seconds. In his words, “Seconds beat minutes.”
So in 2025, you must respond before your competitors. If you wait even 10 minutes, they could poach a roofing sale from under your nose.
Insight 2: The Role of Social Media
Another interesting statistic from the survey highlights a big gap between roofers running Facebook ads and homeowners actually finding their roofer through social media. About 60% of contractors said they use social media to promote their business. But only around 24% of homeowners said they use social media to find a roofer. Even when you break it down by generation, the numbers stay lopsided. Millennials lead the way, with 40% using social media to find a roofer, while Gen X sits at 27% and baby boomers at only 15%.
So what is happening here? In a lot of ways, roofers are actually more on target than it might seem, but there are a couple of important catches. The first is that you probably should not run direct response, transactional Facebook ads if you are a roofing company. Trying to grab a homeowner during the tiny window when they need a roof replacement is almost impossible. You will have much better success by catching that demand through search engines, email lists, or other inbound channels.
That said, social media ads still play a massive role. They just work differently by building brand awareness instead of chasing immediate sales. Scott Tebay shares a great story about running radio ads for his roofing company. After the ads aired, his inbound inquiries would spike. But when he asked homeowners where they found him, almost all of them said, “Google.”
Technically, they clicked a website. But the only reason they clicked on his company was because the radio ads had already planted the seed. The same thing happens with Facebook. Running Facebook ads or even posting steady content builds name recognition and trust. When homeowners finally need a roofer and start searching online, they are far more likely to pick the company they already know. You already did the heavy lifting ahead of time, and that gives you a serious advantage.
Honorable Mentions
Before we get to the final big insight, there are a couple of honorable mentions you should know about. First, referrals are still the number one way homeowners choose a roofing company. In the survey, 79% of homeowners said they would seek out word-of-mouth recommendations before anything else. Most homeowners will ask friends, family, or neighbors before they even start searching the internet. A quick note here, coming again from Scott Tebay, is that a lot of homeowners are not asking for referrals face-to-face anymore. They are looking inside local Facebook groups for advice and personal recommendations.
It is also no surprise that reviews matter, and they matter a lot. According to the survey, 67% of homeowners said online reviews were either “very” or “extremely” important in making a purchasing decision. Another 28% said they were “important.” That leaves only 6% who said reviews were unimportant. Homeowners will not trust a restaurant with a three-star rating, so why would they trust a roofer with one? If you have been dragging your feet on collecting more five-star reviews, now is the time to make it a top priority. In today’s market, bad or missing reviews hurt far more than most people realize. A strong reputation online is not just an advantage anymore; it is survival.
Another important insight is that homeowners want transparent pricing. In fact, 78% of homeowners said they are more likely to call a roofing contractor if pricing is listed on the company’s website. Only 1% said pricing would turn them away, and 21% said it would not make a difference. That is a big reason why tools like Roofle, one of the sponsors of this survey, are growing in popularity. Roofle and similar tools make it simple to give homeowners the transparency they are asking for without adding more work for your team. Giving buyers what they want is one of the best ways to stay ahead in today’s competitive market.
Insight 3: The Deal-Breaker
But the biggest insight, and the third big takeaway you need to know, is this: if a homeowner has to choose between two roofing companies, they will almost always pick the better communicator. Even over the one that offers the easiest purchasing process. According to the survey, 67% of homeowners said communication mattered most when making their final decision. Compare that to just 17% who cared more about how easy the buying process was. It’s not even close.
It gets even crazier. 40% of homeowners said that poor communication was the biggest challenge they faced when working with a roofer. That’s higher than complaints about the actual quality of workmanship, which came in at just 25%. In other words, homeowners would rather work with someone who’s okay at roofing but great at communicating than work with someone who’s amazing at roofing but terrible at picking up the phone.
There’s so much anecdotal evidence to back this up it’ll make your head spin. Homeowners all over the internet complain about roofers ghosting them. It drives them nuts. Sometimes you literally have people standing there with thousands of dollars in their hands, trying to give it to you, and they can’t even get a text back. If you just respond with a text, a call, or an email, you would win those jobs. You would make that money.
That’s why roofers, more than ever, need a system that can automate most of that communication. A system that answers fast. A system that makes sure no lead gets lost.
If you want to dig deeper into the full results, you can check out the 2025 Homeowner Roofing Survey right here. There’s a lot more data packed in there than we had time to cover today. It’s well worth a read if you want to stay sharp and stay ahead of your competition.
And if you’re ready to take what we’ve learned and start closing more roofing jobs faster, ProLine can help. We’ve seen firsthand how faster response times, better communication, and smarter follow-up can change the game for roofers. Book a ProLine demo here and see for yourself why speed wins.
You can also check out our overview video on YouTube to see ProLine CRM in action.
The 2025 market doesn’t wait around — and neither should you.
