By Emma Peterson. 

Check out our shortlist of popular articles from October. 

Every month at The Coffee Shops™ is a busy one, but October took it to a new level! Not only did our incredible crew publish hundreds of articles across our existing sites (RoofersCoffeeShop, MetalCoffeeShop, CoatingsCoffeeShop and AskARoofer), we also celebrated the launch of a new Coffee Shop – OutdoorCoffeeShop.com! 

As explained in a Coffee Shops press release, OutdoorCoffeeShop (OCS) is a site focused on creating a space for contractors and outdoor professionals to meet. In the traditional Coffee Shop model, OCS will build professionalism and networking opportunities for the industry along with one-of-a-kind educational, informational and community experiences. As Heidi J. Ellsworth, president of The Coffee Shops, put it, “For over twenty years The Coffee Shops have built trusted online communities for contractors. With the launch of OutdoorCoffeeShop.com, we are bringing that same model of connection and resources to the outdoor living construction industry.”  

In addition to this announcement, our top 10 monthly article list featured a variety of articles. We saw an emphasis on safety with an article from Dani Sheehan all about safe load distribution making the list alongside an article from our friends at Cotney Consulting Group about driving safety tips for roofing professionals. 

This month also saw an uptick in interest in sustainability, with two environmentally focused articles from Emma Peterson making the list. One concentrated on the power of biosolar roofs (roofs that use solar panels in conjunction with biophilic design) while the other covered a conversation with Alan Scott of Intertek about the overlap between resilient design and sustainable construction.  

Explore the official October 2025 top 10 article list!  

10 – Safety first, every time by Dani Sheehan 

9 – TopShield® underlayment keeps you covered and protected for the long run by Emma Peterson 

8 – Smart hiring for sales success by Cotney Consulting Group 

7 – Staying safe before you arrive on site by Cotney Consulting Group 

6 – The Coffee Shops™ Announce OutdoorCoffeeShop™ 

5 – Estimating isn't just math — It's risk management for roofers by Cotney Consulting Group 

4 – The road to IRE 2026 by Emma Peterson 

3 – Biosolar roofing in action by Emma Peterson 

2 – Construction attorney and industry veteran Zack Rippeon joins Adams & Reese 

1 – The intersection of resilience and sustainability by Emma Peterson

By Emma Peterson. 

Explore the overlap between resilient design and sustainable construction with Alan Scott of Intertek. 

In a new episode of the Contractor Outlook Newscast, Heidi J. Ellsworth got the chance to chat with Alan Scott, the director of sustainability at Intertek. Alan’s career began as an architect and he has over 25 years of experience as a sustainability consultant. As for Intertek, they are a global company that inspects, tests and certifies products for quality assurance. Alan explained more about how they work with the built environment, saying, “Our building and construction division works on quality assurance in the built environment, things like geotechnical and environmental services, as well as concrete testing and rebar inspections and building science, where we work on consulting, inspection and testing for high-quality building enclosures.” 

One of the big factors that Alan and Intertek look for in building enclosures when inspecting them is resilience. Alan elaborated on what they mean by that, saying, “In the built environment space that we're talking about today, resilience refers to the physical and operational measures that you can put in place in buildings and infrastructure that increase its capacity to withstand and or recover quickly from adverse events like extreme weather events or natural hazards.” When you design with this idea of resilience in mind, you often end up getting benefits beyond just durability. Alan explained, “Resilience provides sustainability co-benefits and smart construction makes both of these more feasible.”  

A great example of a sustainability co-benefit is embodied carbon. This refers to the “hidden” carbon impacts of creating a material, coming from things like transportation, operations and maintenance connected to the material, rather than the carbon emissions it creates post-installation. So, how does embodied carbon connect sustainability and resilience? Alan pointed out that “durability, which is part of resilience, means that we want to make sure that the materials we put in and the embodied carbon impacts they have aren't repeated multiple times. In other words, we don't want to lose buildings to damage from hazard events and subsequently have to throw that material in the landfill and put new building in.” This means that when you design a more resilient building, that won’t need replacement as frequently, you are also helping avoid excess embodied carbons from being created. 

Another good example of how resilient design and sustainable practices interact is in the face of heat events. Alan explained, “A lot of extreme heat events are often accompanied by power outages, so we can't necessarily rely on air conditioning. So, a resilient building would be designed to be naturally thermally efficient and maybe with renewable energy systems, backup power and energy storage to provide thermal resilience in a heat wave when the power is out.” This has multiple added bonuses, including reducing the cost of operating the building and the carbon emissions of the building by lowering the energy use in the space.  

At the end of day, it is inevitable that the path to creating a resilient building will intersect with the path to creating a sustainable space, leading to a variety of benefits, both economically and environmentally.  

Listen to the full conversation or Watch the recording to learn more about resilient building design.