The roofing industry today: jobs, demand, and the future

Roofing is a trade with broad application. Everything that people build and live in has a roof that must be laid, maintained, and eventually replaced. This means roofers are in demand both during growth periods when new construction is happening and in quieter times when it's about renovating and repairing what we already have.

Most newly qualified roofers start in a roofing company or contracting company. But the trade encompasses many different types of workplaces:

• 01Specialized roofing companies where you gain broad experience in tasks
• 02Larger contractor and building companies with roofing department
• 03Housing companies and municipalities that maintain their own properties
• 04Industrial and commercial buildings with large flat roofs
• 05Self-employed business when you have experience and wish to stand on your own feet

The need for roofers is linked to construction in general, but not only. Even when less new is built, the enormous amount of existing roofs in Denmark still need maintenance. A roof that is not looked after begins to leak — and then it gets expensive. Maintenance and re-roofing are therefore a stable and recurring task that does not disappear. Unemployment among trained roofers has been low for years.

Energy renovation green roofs and solar panels

A large part of future construction is about improving what already stands. When buildings undergo energy renovation, roof work often follows — additional insulation, new roof membranes and better airtightness. At the same time, interest is growing in green roofs with vegetation and roofs that carry solar panels. Both create new tasks for the roofer and make the trade more versatile than it was just decades ago.

Many trades are pressed by automation and artificial intelligence. The roofing trade is more robust: the work takes place in complex, changing surroundings, at height, in the weather and with solutions that must be adapted to the individual roof. A machine cannot itself climb up on an old property, assess the roof and lay a tight solution from edge to edge.

The craft doesn't stand still. Roofing materials develop, demands for tightness and energy rise, and new methods come for installation and safe work in height. As a roofer you're therefore never completely done learning — and that's precisely what makes the craft alive to stay in.

“As long as people build and live under roofs there will be a need for someone who can make the roof watertight — and keep it watertight.”