Not just staying ahead of the curve, leading it

By Emma Peterson. 

Learn about what’s driving the rise of mergers and acquisitions in the modern roofing industry.  

Recently, the roofing industry has experienced a variety of game-changing mergers and acquisitions (M&A). A rise in consolidation to this scale hasn’t been seen since the 1990s and can seem unsettling at first glance. To take a deeper look at what’s going on, Heidi J. Ellsworth hosted Paul Trombitas and Paul Giovannoni of FMI Corp, a leading research firm for the construction industry, for an episode of Contractor Outlook. 

Paul G. gave some context to the history of M&As in the industry, saying, “Over the last 5 to 10 years, you've seen mergers and acquisition activities really ramp up in the broader construction market. While it’s always been present and there's always been certain investors who had interest in the space, it seems like it's steamrolling and gaining momentum.”  Paul G. cites this growth to a change of perception.  

Historically, the roofing industry has been seen as both cyclical and highly volatile – which investors are realizing is not actually true. We saw it happen before our eyes during the COVID pandemic. While much new building and construction work faltered, the service and maintenance side of the market remained strong and resilient. In addition to this shift in perception of the industry, investors realized that the roofing world has a lot of space for growth. Paul G. elaborated, “Investors realized that with family owned businesses, there's a lot of opportunity for improvement both operationally through technology and through growth through acquisition and add-ons.” 

Looking to examples of big M&As in 2025, one of the first ones that likely comes to mind is QXO acquiring Beacon. Paul T. gave some insight into this industry shift, echoing some of Paul G.’s thoughts, saying, “With QXO, I think there was an initial draw because of the idea that roofing was a highly fragmented market. While that’s true for contracting, when you look at it in that roofing distribution space, there's really only three major firms. But it got them interested, and then it turned to a conversation of these digital platforms, everything from configurator tools to full online storefronts and the adoption curve in construction.” In general, the roofing and larger construction industries can be slow to adopt new technology — using AI or online sales. What QXO realized was that acquiring Beacon was a way to get ahead of that curve, to be the ones leading the way into those technologies rather than following.  

Read the transcript, Listen to the episode or Watch the entire recording to learn more about the role of mergers and acqusitions in today’s roofing industry.