Gary A. Cohen, Executive Vice President, Certified Contractors Network (CCN) - November 2025
Roofing contractors face challenges and opportunities, from shifting material costs and supply chain delays to evolving technology and tighter labor markets. In this environment, relying on instinct alone is risky. The most successful roofing companies stay ahead of the curve through structured, disciplined self-assessment.
One of the simplest yet most powerful tools for doing this is the SWOT Analysis – evaluating your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. When performed quarterly, a SWOT Analysis becomes more than a strategic exercise; it becomes a powerful leadership habit that helps you identify what’s working, what’s not and how to continuously grow your business in the right direction.
Many contractors complete a SWOT Analysis once, perhaps during a business planning retreat and then shelve it for the year. But roofing markets shift too fast for that. By conducting a SWOT every 90 days, you create a feedback loop for strategic clarity. You begin to spot small performance cracks before they become
major leaks. You and your leadership team can evaluate what’s changed since last quarter in your market, team or financial performance and adjust accordingly.
Quarterly SWOTs protect your company’s profitability and long-term health. Think of a quarterly SWOT as your company’s inspection report. It tells you exactly where you’re strong, where you’re vulnerable and where new opportunities are emerging.
Your unique value proposition (UVP), the reason customers choose your company over the competition, is the heartbeat of your brand. But it must evolve with time. Each quarterly SWOT reveals how your UVP can become sharper and more relevant:
■ Your strengths highlight what sets you apart right now
■ Your opportunities point to where you can expand that advantage
■ Your weaknesses show where your promise to customers might be slipping
■ Your threats indicate how external pressures might force a pivot.
For example, if your company is known for clear communication and spotless jobsites, your UVP might focus on the stress-free roofing experience. But if a competitor begins advertising lifetime warranties or sustainability features, your next SWOT session might lead you to enhance your offering – perhaps by integrating
energy-efficient roofing systems or stronger financing options. This ongoing evaluation ensures that your UVP isn’t based on where your company was last year but on where it stands today.
Most contractors can list their company’s strengths but few intentionally leverage them for growth. Your quarterly SWOT gives you the structure to ask, “How can we double down on what we already do best?” Let’s say your strengths include:
■ Highly skilled crews with manufacturer certifications
■ Strong referral rate and reputation for trustworthiness
■ Longstanding local brand recognition
■ Excellent relationships with suppliers or manufacturers.
Those are more than bragging rights. They’re growth assets. You can turn them into fuel for expansion by:
■ Featuring crew certifications and safety excellence in your marketing
■ Formalizing your referral program to incentivize more customer advocacy
■ Using supplier relationships to co-market high-performance systems
■ Showcasing your longevity and reputation in community partnerships.
Each quarter, review your top strengths and ask how to amplify them through your marketing, operations and customer experience. Strengths are not static, so they can and should evolve into new competitive advantages.
Every roofing business has weaknesses. The question is whether you’ll ignore them or turn them into stepping stones for growth. A quarterly SWOT exposes weaknesses early enough to fix them before they have an impact on your profitability or reputation. Maybe your lead follow-up time is too long, your production time is creeping up or your online reviews have dipped. Each of these can be transformed into future strengths:
■ Current weakness: Slow lead follow-up
Convert to strength: Implement automated CRM follow-ups that respond within minutes
■ Current weakness: Thin management bench
Convert to strength: Invest in leadership training and delegate more effectively
■ Current weakness: Outdated website
Convert to strength: Launch a modern, mobile-optimized site that builds trust instantly.
By tracking these improvements quarter after quarter, your team begins to view weaknesses not as failures but as improvement opportunities waiting to be converted into competitive advantages.
Opportunities are the seeds of tomorrow’s strengths but they only grow if you act on them. Quarterly SWOTs help your company identify external openings and move fast. For example:
■ A new tax credit for energy-efficient roofs creates an opportunity to market green roofing systems
■ A competitor’s recent negative press creates a chance to highlight your own reliability and ethics
■ A forecasted storm season presents an opportunity to ramp up emergency response marketing
■ Advances in AI-powered estimating or scheduling tools create new operational efficiencies.
When you identify these opportunities, assign owners and timelines. Track progress by the next quarterly review. Over time, the actions you take become embedded strengths that drive sustainable growth. “Opportunities that are not acted upon become someone else’s strengths.”
Threats are the external forces that could derail your progress. Examples are labor shortages, material inflation, competitor expansion or regulatory changes. You can’t control them but you can prepare for them. A quarterly SWOT keeps your radar up, allowing you to create proactive mitigation strategies. For example:
■ Rising material costs: Negotiate long-term supplier contracts
■ Competitors undercutting on price: Differentiate through craftsmanship, warranty and communication
■ Labor shortages: Build an in-house training program and grow your talent pipeline
■ Supply chain instability: Diversify vendors and improve forecasting.
By anticipating these threats each quarter, you build organizational resilience. Many companies even convert threats into strengths. One contractor who struggled with labor availability launched a training program and is now known locally for having the most professional crews in the market, a direct result of addressing a threat head-on.
A quarterly SWOT works best when it becomes part of your leadership rhythm and not a one-time event. Here’s how to make it stick:
■ Put it on the calendar. Hold a SWOT session every quarter with your leadership team
■ Come prepared. Review performance data: leads, close rates, margins, reviews and KPIs
■ Encourage openness. Create a safe space for candid discussion across departments
■ Assign accountability. Turn insights into actionable priorities with clear owners
■ Review progress next quarter. Begin each session by celebrating wins and measuring follow-through.
When you treat the SWOT Analysis as a recurring management discipline, it becomes a strategic compass that keeps your business on course, even when the winds change.
In roofing, success doesn’t just come from hard work: it comes from clarity. A quarterly SWOT Analysis creates that clarity. It keeps your value proposition current, your strengths focused and your team aligned. It helps you see around corners, anticipate risks and seize opportunities faster than your competitors. In short, the quarterly SWOT turns reflection into momentum and momentum into growth.
Gary A. Cohen is Executive Vice President of Certified Contractors Network (CCN), North America’s leading training, coaching and networking organization for home improvement contractors. With over 30 years of home improvement industry experience and a background in business education, Gary specializes in helping contractors achieve scalable growth through proven systems and processes. He can be reached at gary@contractors.net.