Gary A. Cohen, Executive Vice President, Certified Contractors Network (CCN) - January 2026
For many roofing contractors across Florida, 2025 was a challenging year. Market conditions felt tight. Competition intensified. Lead quality and volume fluctuated, material costs remained unpredictable and labor shortages continued to put pressure on production and scheduling. Many contractors shared a similar reflection as December closed out: “We spent more time reacting than executing a plan.” And now, as we step into the new year, the message is clear: if 2026 is going to be different, the planning must be different.
January is the perfect moment to reset, refocus and rebuild your business strategy with intention. The companies that will scale successfully in 2026 are the ones entering the year with a detailed, department-by- department business plan, not just a revenue target.
If 2025 taught our industry anything, it’s that growth will not happen by accident. A strong plan, supported by clear processes, a trained team and measurable KPIs, are essential in today’s roofing market.
Florida roofing contractors face unique challenges: weather-driven demand cycles, a tight labor market, rising operational costs and an increasingly educated consumer. Add in the rapid evolution of technology, financing options, digital marketing and customer expectations and it becomes obvious that the old way of planning simply won’t cut it. To thrive in 2026, roofing contractors must embrace a more structured approach:
■ A comprehensive business plan for every department.
■ A clear, realistic budget tied to revenue and margin goals.
■ Defined training and hiring needs for the next 12 months.
■ Weekly scorecards and KPIs to track execution.
■ A system to continuously improve operations throughout the year.
This level of structure is no longer reserved for the “big companies.” It’s becoming the baseline for anyone who wants consistent performance in a rapidly changing market.
Every January, thousands of roofing businesses set revenue goals without building the operational plan required to achieve them. That creates what we at CCN call a “hope-based business plan.” A real business plan answers deeper questions:
Marketing
■ Do we have enough leads to support our revenue target?
■ Which channels will drive predictable, cost-efficient lead flow?
■ What is our plan for tracking key marketing metrics?
Sales
■ Do we have the right number of salespeople and are they trained properly?
■ What sales KPIs will we track weekly?
■ What is our strategy for coaching, accountability and consistency?
Production and Operations
■ Can our current production capacity handle our revenue goals?
■ Are our firewalls strong enough to prevent costly mistakes?
■ How will we maintain job profitability and scheduling efficiency?
Finance
■ Does our overhead align with our revenue expectations?
■ What gross margin must we maintain to hit our net profit goal?
■ Do we have a 12-month cash flow plan?
Human Resources
■ Who do we need to hire and when do we need them?
■ What skill gaps exist on our team?
■ How will we train and develop our people throughout the year?
Companies that skip these questions enter the year blind. Companies that ask and answer them enter the year in control. This is precisely why CCN’s Business Roadmap to Success bootcamp remains our highest-attended training of the year. Contractors are learning that planning is not a once-a-year exercise. It is discipline.
Outcomes like revenue, profit and close rate are lagging indicators. They reflect the activities that happened 30, 60 or 90 days earlier. If you want better outcomes in 2026, you must define and commit to the activities that drive them:
■ How many marketing campaigns will run each month?
■ How many sales appointments will be set weekly?
■ How many one-on-one coaching sessions will your sales manager conduct?
■ How many jobs will be pre-inspected and quality-checked?
■ How many financial KPI reviews will leadership conduct?
■ What improvements will be made every month?
When you plan your year at the activity level, your results become predictable.
Many contractors know they should track KPIs. Far fewer do it consistently. In today’s environment, a roofing company must have a simple weekly scorecard for:
■ Marketing
■ Sales
■ Production
■ Finance
■ Customer experience (TQM)
This creates visibility, accountability and early warning signals when a number moves in the wrong direction. Smart contractors aren’t waiting until March or April to see whether the year is on track. They’re catching issues weekly – and correcting them in real time.
One of the most powerful tools roofing contractors use today is CCN’s Virtuous Cycle of Success, an eight-step operational loop that guides contractors to make small, consistent micro-improvements every single month. It includes improvements across:
■ Marketing
■ Call center
■ Sales
■ Sales management
■ Pre-production
■ Production
■ Post-production / TQM
■ Financial review and root-cause analysis
The power of this model is in its simplicity: improve a little every month in every area and the cumulative impact becomes transformational by year-end.
This one percent better mindset is what turns ordinary contractors into highly profitable and operationally excellent companies.
The real question isn’t whether 2025 was hard. The real question is: what will you do differently in 2026? Roofing companies that will thrive this year are the ones that:
■ Built a true, detailed business plan
■ Aligned their budgets with their goals
■ Set KPIs and scorecards for every department
■ Committed to building strong processes
■ Invested in ongoing training and accountability
■ Adopted a culture of continuous improvement
Whether you are aiming to grow, stabilize, restructure or scale, the formula is the same: Clarity + Process + Continuous Training & Practice + Measurement = Success.
If the challenges of last year created stress in your business, let those challenges fuel your discipline this year. Make 2026 the year you run your business with intention, one plan, one dashboard and one improvement at a time. Your team will feel the difference. Your customers will feel the difference. And your bottom line will absolutely feel the difference.
Gary Cohen is Executive Vice President of Certified Contractors Network (CCN), the nation’s premier training and business development organization for home improvement and roofing contractors. CCN helps contractors scale their revenue, profitability and leadership effectiveness through proven systems, coaching and education.