The case for commercial advisory in roofing — and why now is exactly the right time
When did you Last work on your business?
The case for commercial advisory in roofing — and why now is exactly the right time
Let’s be honest about where we are.
The roofing and wider construction market is under pressure. Material costs remain volatile, labour is scarce, margins are being squeezed from every direction, and the pipeline that looked healthy twelve months ago feels a lot less certain today. Contractors across the sector — from sole traders to established SMEs — are navigating one of the most challenging trading environments in recent memory.
And yet, for most business owners in roofing, the response to that pressure is to put their head down and work harder. More hours. More firefighting. More reactive decisions made at speed, under stress, with one eye on the next job and the other on the bank balance.
I understand that instinct. I’ve lived it. But it’s precisely the wrong response — and it’s costing businesses more than they realise.
I Learned This Industry the Hard Way — and I’m Proud of It
My introduction to roofing came through my dad. Like so many in this sector, I grew up around the industry, absorbing its rhythms, its language, its values. That grounding is something I carry with me and genuinely treasure.
There is a quality of knowledge that only comes from having people you respect show you how things are done — from the ground up, without shortcuts. My dad was exactly that person for me, and the work ethic, pride in craft, and commitment to doing a job properly that I witnessed in him shaped who I am as a professional.
But the industry my dad came into and the industry we operate in today are very different places.
The commercial requirements now placed on roofing contractors — particularly those working in or moving into the commercial sector — have changed beyond recognition. Procurement processes are more complex. Contractual risk has multiplied. Clients and specifiers expect a level of professionalism, compliance, and documentation that simply wasn’t part of the conversation a generation ago. Health and safety legislation, fire performance requirements post-Grenfell, sustainability expectations, digital project management — the list of things a roofing business must now demonstrate competence in, before anyone even looks at your price, is substantial.
That is not a criticism of where the industry came from. It is a recognition of where it must go.
Over more than twenty years working at director level across roofing and construction — leading commercial functions, managing complex contracts, building and developing teams, and driving business growth — I’ve had a front-row seat to that transformation. I’ve negotiated contracts that protected businesses from serious risk. I’ve built commercial teams from scratch. I’ve helped businesses win work they didn’t think they could win, and I’ve seen what it costs businesses that aren’t prepared for the commercial environment they’re operating in.
That experience is what I bring to the contractors I work with through Elevate. Not theory. Not a framework lifted from a generic business textbook. Roofing-specific, commercially grounded, hard-won knowledge — applied directly to your business, by someone who has sat in the chair you’re sitting in.
“The industry my dad came into and the industry we operate in today are very different places — and bridging that gap is exactly what Elevate exists to do.”
An Industry in Transition
The roofing sector is at a genuine inflection point.
Regulatory change is reshaping how buildings are designed, specified, and maintained. The Building Safety Act and its wider implications are still working their way through the supply chain, and contractors who understand their responsibilities — and can evidence them — will be in a very different position to those who don’t. Competence is no longer assumed. It must be demonstrated.
At the same time, the workforce is changing. An ageing demographic means the industry is losing experience faster than it is building it. The skills gap is real, and it will not be solved without deliberate, sustained investment in training, development, and the attraction of new people into the sector. This is not someone else’s problem. It is every contractor’s problem — and every contractor’s opportunity.
Client expectations are shifting too. Sustainability credentials, social value commitments, and supply chain transparency are increasingly standard requirements on commercial tenders, not optional extras. The contractors positioning themselves to meet those requirements now will be the ones winning the work tomorrow.
The roofing businesses that will lead in this environment are not necessarily the biggest. They are the best prepared — professionally, commercially, and culturally.
The Firefighting Trap
There’s a version of running a roofing business that looks productive from the outside. The phones are ringing, the vans are moving, and everyone is busy. But busy and purposeful are not the same thing.
When you’re firefighting every day — chasing payments, managing last-minute scheduling, dealing with site problems, plugging gaps in your workforce — you are operating entirely in the reactive. You’re not running your business. Your business is running you.
The real danger isn’t the fire itself. It’s that while you’re putting it out, nobody is thinking about where you’re going.
Strategic goals — the things that actually determine whether your business is still here and thriving in five years — don’t get achieved through good intentions. They get achieved through deliberate, consistent decision-making. Every pricing decision, every hire, every subcontractor relationship, every tender you do or don’t pursue should be aligned with where you are trying to go. When you’re firefighting, that alignment disappears. You make decisions based on what’s urgent, not what’s important. And that gap between urgency and importance is where businesses quietly start to drift.
“You’re not running your business. Your business is running you.”
Why Now Is the Right Time to Review
I hear it regularly: “Things are tough right now — we’ll sort the processes out when it’s busier.”
I’d argue the opposite. A quieter pipeline is not a threat to your business — it’s a window. It is arguably the best opportunity you will have to step back, look honestly at how your business operates, and build the foundations that will determine how you come out the other side.
When the market improves — and it will — the businesses that thrive will not be the ones that simply survived. They will be the ones that used this period to sharpen their systems, clarify their purpose, strengthen their teams, and position themselves to win better work. The ones that are still winging it, still running on chaos, still without clear processes and a defined direction — they’ll be busy again, briefly. But they won’t be better.
Now is the time to review your processes and procedures. Now is the time to look at your estimating, your contract management, your supply chain relationships, your HR practices, your financial controls. Not because they’re broken, but because good businesses don’t wait for something to break before they look at it.
Standing Out as a Brand
In a market where price pressure is intense, the easiest trap is to compete on price. It’s a race to the bottom, and there are no winners.
The businesses I most admire in this sector — the ones building something genuinely sustainable — have made a different choice. They’ve decided to stand for something.
Your brand is not your logo. It’s not your website. It’s the answer to the question: why would someone choose you? And in roofing, where trust is everything, that question matters enormously. Clients want to work with contractors who are professional, reliable, and credible. Specifiers want partners they can stand behind. Main contractors want subcontractors who won’t let them down.
If you can articulate clearly what you stand for — your values, your standards, your approach — and if that is visible and consistent in everything you do, you will attract better clients, better projects, and better people. Brand is not a marketing exercise. It is a commercial strategy.
Creating an Environment People Are Proud to Work In
One of the most powerful things a roofing business can do right now costs very little money and requires no consultant.
Treat your people properly.
I don’t mean just paying a fair wage, though that matters. I mean creating a culture where people know what’s expected of them, where they’re developed and supported, where their contribution is recognised, and where they feel they belong to something worthwhile. An environment that people are proud to be part of.
The labour challenge in roofing is not going away. The businesses that will be best placed to attract and retain the right people — in any market — are those with a genuine culture of respect and investment. That includes investing in skills: formal qualifications, on-the-job development, mentoring. It includes investing in the future generation of the workforce, because if we don’t bring new people into this industry with pride and purpose, we will all be poorer for it.
Doing the right thing — by your people, your clients, your subcontractors — is not idealism. It is good business.
The Right Support, at the Right Stage
Every business has a different set of challenges, and no two roofing contractors are at the same point in their journey. What they share is the need for clear thinking, strategic direction, and someone who understands both the commercial realities of running a building business and the specific dynamics of roofing.
That’s what commercial advisory brings.
Whether you’re going through a period of significant change — a restructure, a rebrand, a key person departing — or you’re actively growing and need the infrastructure to support that growth, there is value in having experienced, independent support. Whether you’re exploring succession planning and need to build a business that can stand without you, or you’re a domestic contractor taking your first steps into commercial work and navigating a very different procurement landscape, the right advisory relationship will accelerate your progress and reduce your risk.
Moving from domestic to commercial is one of the biggest transitions a roofing business can make — and one of the most misunderstood. It is not simply doing the same work on larger buildings. It is a fundamentally different commercial environment: different contracts, different risk profiles, different client relationships, different cash flow dynamics. I’ve operated in that environment for over two decades, and helping contractors navigate that transition safely and successfully is one of the things I find most rewarding about this work.
Elevate is not about bringing in an outsider who tells you what to do. It’s about having someone alongside you who asks the right questions, challenges your assumptions, helps you align your daily decisions with your long-term goals, and holds you accountable to the direction you’ve set. At Elevate I help completely understand the business and each challenges and every business has a very different story. I then help write the next chapter.
The Question Worth Asking
When did you last spend a full day working on your business rather than in it?
If you can’t remember, that’s your answer.
The market will improve. The question is what kind of business you’ll be when it does. The decisions you make now — about your systems, your brand, your people, your direction — will determine that far more than the next job you price or the next fire you put out.
The industry is changing. The requirements are greater, the scrutiny is sharper, and the gap between businesses that are genuinely well-run and those that are not is widening. That is not something to fear. It is something to use.
“The businesses that will lead are not necessarily the biggest. They are the best prepared.”
If this has resonated, I’d welcome a conversation.
Kate Whatley is the founder of Elevate Roofing Advisory, a specialist consultancy for SME roofing businesses, and Co-Founder of Raise the Roof, the UK diversity, inclusion and leadership organisation for the roofing and built environment sector. Kate is also Director of SPV Training and set up a roofing provision with Juniper Training that has brought over 250 new entrants to the sector.
With over 20 years of director-level experience across roofing and construction, Kate works with roofing businesses at every stage — from growth and commercial transition through to succession planning and cultural development.
She is recognised as one of the Top 100 Influential Women in Construction 2025, a 5% Club Fellow and Honorary treasurer of the Institute of Roofing