Anati Zubia A recap of the 2026 Western Roofing Expo, September 27–29, from the Sales Rabbit team.
You’ve got thousands of people who work roofs over the entire western United States. The best in the business. They’ve survived hail, wildfires, 115-degree August tear-offs, and homeowners who “just have a few questions” at 9 pm.
And where does the industry send them for its big annual gathering? Paris Las Vegas. Right underneath a half-scale Eiffel Tower. And, if you’ve ever noticed, it has no roof.
Thousands of roofers walked under that thing every day, and not one of them thought to change it by adding shingles. That’s professional restraint from a room full of people who know when and where a roof actually belongs.
To Roof or Not to Roof: The best crews in the West could’ve added shingles to the French landmark on the Strip, helping it survive if a hailstorm ever rolls through. But they didn’t.
So what did a few thousand roofers do beneath a roofless landmark? Here’s the short version:
WRE 2026 in 30 Seconds
The 2026 Western Roofing Expo ran September 27–29 at Paris Las Vegas, hosted by the Western States Roofing Contractors Association (WSRCA). It packed in 28 seminars, a Spanish-language training track, keynotes on immigration, AI estimating, and mental health, plus the Roofing Games shingling competition and a sold-out trade show floor. The big topics were extreme weather, the labor shortage, material supply, and roofing tech that actually saves time.
WRE 2026 by the Numbers
Prefer your recap in numbers? Take a look:
WRE 2026 Seminars: School’s in Session (in a Casino)
Now, about those 28 seminars. We want to stop here and appreciate something. In a city built entirely on getting you to make bad decisions, roofers walked past the craps tables and into a conference room to learn about commercial claims.
Twenty-eight seminars, seven at a time.
- Commercial claims
- Customer experience
- Automation
- Shingle sales
- Growing the business
- More and more
Most came with IIBEC or AIA continuing ed credits, which means this may be the only group in Vegas history to leave town with more credits than they arrived with.
The standout for us was the full Spanish-language track: four seminars and two lunch-and-learns. It sounds like common sense to teach in the language a huge share of the workforce actually speaks. More of this, please. Every show, every year.
WRE 2026 Keynote Speakers Did Not Come to Play
You might expect a Vegas keynote lineup to be three motivational speakers and a guy with a headset mic who says “synergy.” Nope. This lineup walked straight into the hard stuff.
- Trent Cotney, partner and construction team leader at the law firm Adams and Reese, covered immigration enforcement and legal trends. It’s a big topic in a room full of people who already can’t find enough crew. Nobody left early. Everybody took notes.
- John Kenney, CEO of Cotney Consulting Group, talked AI-assisted estimating and how to actually grow a roofing operation. After 45 years in the industry, from the field to the corner office, he’s earned the right to tell a room how it’s done.
- Paul Reed, who co-runs the nonprofit Roofers in Recovery, took on mental health and addiction on the job. This one matters. Construction loses way too many good people to both, and it was on the main stage where it belongs.
- Amparo Sancen, CEO of Sancen Contracting and founder of Latinos en Roofing, covered hiring and business tech, because the crew problem and the software problem are the same problem wearing different hats.
- Shereen Thor, a comedian turned executive and leadership coach, closed out the Malarkey-hosted Tuesday luncheon.
Top Roofing Industry Trends From WRE 2026 (a.k.a. what everyone was talking about in the hallways)
The real education, as always, happened between sessions. If you stood by the coffee station long enough, every conversation boiled down to four things:
- The weather keeps getting meaner. Hail, wildfire, wind. The West keeps inventing new ways to wreck a roof, and roofers keep being the ones who show up to fix it.
- There aren’t enough people to hire. Every owner in the building had the same wish list, and the top item was “good crew who show up.”
- Materials show up “soon, probably.” Supply chains have gotten better. “Better” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
- Tech that actually helps. Not another login, not another app that doesn’t talk to the other five apps. Something that gives people their evenings back.
Roofers don’t want tech that replaces them; they want tech that does the paperwork so they can get home on time and eat dinner with their families.
The Roofing Games, the Feud, and Other WRE 2026 Events
Of course, nobody can live on continuing ed credits and hallway complaints alone. Now for the part where roofers remind everyone they know how to have a good time.
- The Roofing Games™. A live shingling competition. It’s the Olympics, except the athletes are doing something practical for homeowners and nobody has a sponsorship from a cereal company. The speed was something to behold.
- The Roofer’s Feud. A Family Feud-style game show for the industry. “Name something a homeowner says right before asking for a discount.” The survey says: this deserves a network deal.
- DMF Bob Porter Golf Tournament and Sporting Clays. Both raised money for the Davis Memorial Foundation. Charity, sunshine, and in one of them, shotguns. Something for everyone.
- National Women in Roofing Table Talks Breakfast. A room full of women entrepreneurs running crews, companies, and job sites, talking leadership over coffee. The future of this industry was sitting at those tables.
- Welcome event and live auction. Nothing gets a roofer’s heart rate up like a competitive bid, and this time it was for a good cause.
- The trade show floor. Free for contractors, product demos every hour, and so packed that booth space went to a waitlist. That’s the trade show version of a sold-out stadium.
Meanwhile, at the Roof Rabbit Booth: AI Roofing Quotes in 29 Seconds
Speaking of that packed floor, this is where we spent the show. Here’s how a Roof Rabbit demo goes: A contractor walks up. They’ve already heard “one platform for everything” at 40 other booths, and they’re ready to nod politely and keep moving toward the free coffee.
Then someone types in an address. About 29 seconds later, there’s a full roof quote built from satellite measurements and real manufacturer pricing, with Good, Better, Best, and Plus packages, and financing already laid out.
And they stop walking.
First they try it on their own house. Then they try it on their competitor’s house. (We saw nothing. We know nothing.) After that, the rest of it tends to land:
- Storm finder, hail maps, and radar built into canvassing. At a show where half the talks were about extreme weather, a tool that shows you where the hail just fell is right on topic.
- Pin-drops that save you time. It keeps two of your reps from knocking on the same door on the same Tuesday. Every company in that building has had it happen.
- AI buyer scoring and route optimization, so reps spend the day efficiently at doors that are likely to say yes.
- Lead to paid in one place. Sales, quoting, crew scheduling, live margins, supplements, ACH and card payments, and QuickBooks, all in one place instead of six apps that don’t talk to each other.
- An instant-quote widget for your own website, so homeowners can price a roof at midnight while you’re asleep. You wake up to fresh leads.
The healthy skeptics ask the right questions: “Does it handle a complex roof?” “Will my guys actually use it?” Good. Those are the questions that decide whether a tool earns a place on your crew. Early access exists so roofers can put Roof Rabbit through its paces on real jobs and tell the product team exactly what they think.
Missed the Show? You Didn’t Miss Your Shot.
Roof Rabbit early access is still open, and it’s completely free to apply. No credit card. Setup and implementation are included. Selected companies get a direct line to the product team, and the application takes about three minutes, which is less time than it takes to find parking at Paris Las Vegas.
Quote First. Sell First. Paid First.
Apply for early access at roofrabbit.ai
That’s a Wrap on WRE 2026
So that was the 2026 Western Roofing Expo. An industry getting hit from every direction at once (hail, hiring, supply chains), and a half-scale tower with no roof, showed up. It learned a ton, gave to charity, and shingled faster than should be legal.
Same time next year, Eiffel Tower. We appreciate you, even with no roof.
Western Roofing Expo 2026 FAQ
When and where was the 2026 Western Roofing Expo? The 2026 Western Roofing Expo (WRE) ran September 27–29, 2026, at Paris Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Who hosts the Western Roofing Expo? The Western States Roofing Contractors Association (WSRCA), a nonprofit that has served roofing contractors across 14 western states since 1974.
How many seminars were at WRE 2026? 28 educational seminars, seven at a time, covering commercial claims, customer experience, automation, shingle sales, and business growth. Select sessions offered IIBEC and AIA continuing education credits.
Who were the keynote speakers at WRE 2026? Trent Cotney (immigration enforcement and legal trends), John Kenney (AI-assisted estimating), Paul Reed (mental health and addiction in the workplace), Amparo Sancen (hiring and business technology), and Shereen Thor (leadership), who gave the Malarkey-hosted Tuesday luncheon keynote.
Did WRE 2026 have Spanish-language training? Yes. There were four Spanish-language seminars and two lunch-and-learn sessions.
What are the Roofing Games? A live shingling competition held on the Western Roofing Expo show floor.
What were the biggest roofing industry topics at WRE 2026? Extreme weather, the labor shortage, material supply, immigration and legal trends, and AI and automation for estimating and operations.
What is Roof Rabbit? Roof Rabbit is the roofing machine, built by Sales Rabbit, that runs sales, quoting, canvassing, and production in one place. It generates roof quotes from an address in about 29 seconds and includes storm and hail maps, crew scheduling, and payments.
How do I get Roof Rabbit early access? Apply at roofrabbit.ai. Early access is free, needs no credit card, includes setup, and the application takes about three minutes.
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