Metal roofing: Longevity and value

MCS Influncer Emily Marshall says metal roofing delivers durability, vibrant color and long-term savings that homeowners value most.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with MCS Influencer Emily Marshall. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the recording.

Alex Tolle: Hello, I'm Alex Tolle with MetalCoffeeShop.com and I'm back today with Emily Marshall for another influencer question. How are you, Emily Marshall? 

Emily Marshall:  I'm doing great. Thanks, Alex. How are you today? 

Alex Tolle: I'm good. So our August question is what unique aspects of metal should contractors be sharing with their customers to help grow metal construction sales? 

Emily Marshall: Sure. That's a great question. And I love talking about using metal roofing for homes, barnaminiums, whatever type of project the contractor is usually engaged in. one for me, one of the biggest things to bring up is the longevity of the color of the metal roofing. Most of the metal options that people have are going to have color guarantee 30, 40, 50 years. 

So a client can rest assured that like there's gonna be a lot of, if it's well maintained, you're gonna have vibrancy with your color. You're gonna be able to keep it looking good for a long time, which that's for a lot of the customers that is up top priority is that their home looks good. So that's a huge benefit to give them. Another one of the major benefits of promoting metal roofing with your customers is again on the longevity standpoint is that this is not a roofing system that has to be replaced. So the client is going to be able to save money over time. So especially for those forever homes or higher end custom homes, metal roofing is giving that client an opportunity to save money on it.

One of the other things that I like to bring up with metal roofing is sort of a like dispelling a myth and showing how it's still a great option is with insurance. So some people are afraid, oh, I'm not going to be able to get it insured or something like that is gonna happen, but it's actually quite the opposite. There are actually insurance carriers that favor metal roofing because of it's, if it has a fire rating on it, so if there's a class A fire rating on the product, then it's like, that's more favorable because it's going to reduce the risk of the home. Also with like hail damage or something like that, there are, we have found in personal experience that you can kind of have it go one way or the other. Some companies do want an extra, you know, add-on to cover hail damage if it's cosmetic, not actually damaging the functionality of the roof system. And then others are just like, no, we cover it. So if there's a lot of cosmetic damage, no problem, we'll still replace it. So it's dispelling that myth that it's going to make things more difficult. So the homeowner doesn't have to use that as like a reason not to go with metal.  

Alex Tolle: Yeah, I think that's so important to have. There's so many reasons to go with metal and for a homeowner, especially like you said, the forever home, being able to just like buy a roof or, you know, use metal in your building and just know we're good. This is going to hold up. I'm not going to have to replace this in 10 or 20 years. Like we're good. We're set. 

Emily Marshall: Right, right. And really when you do cost comparisons on hot, you know, good quality architectural shingles versus metal roofing, I mean, you're really, you're not having a massive disparity like some people might think. Of course there are bargain products out there, you know, but that's not what we're talking about. If you want to actually compare apples to apples, somebody is going to be able to afford a metal roof system almost as easily as they would a comparable shingle product. 

Alex Tolle: Right. And then they won't have to replace it in 20 years. So really it's a lot cheaper. 

Emily Marshall: Right, right. Yeah. Every 15 years or so you're saving whatever it would have cost you to redo your roof system. And like with any product, some people will bring up, well, what if it leaks or this or that? The other thing it's like any other product that requires ongoing home maintenance. You need to get up in your attic. You need to check for leaks. You need to, you know, here and there, you might have to replace a screw because a washer might go bad on it or something, but that's actually really normal. That's not saying, that means metal roofing is bad. It's just, it's part of regular home maintenance.

Alex Tolle: Yeah, absolutely. Well, Emily Marshall, thank you so much for sharing your expertise on metal buildings. We always appreciate it. All right, and we'll see you on the next one. 

Emily Marshall: Absolutely. Thank you so much. Sounds good.