Las Vegas roofer elected to lead national association

When hotels on the Strip are filled and room rates increase, Dennis Conway knows it’s going to be a good year for his industry.

Conway, co-owner and vice president of Commercial Roofers Inc., has lived through the boom and bust in Las Vegas with the company he acquired 21 years ago with Scott Howard. The commercial roofing contractor has installed seven roofs at City Center, done the Wynn and Encore roofs and installed and maintained other roofs along the Strip.

“We’re starting to see an upturn,” Conway said. “Hotel room rates are back up substantially and when they’re up in the $300 range or more, it gives hotels a little more money for maintenance.”

Coupled with roofs having a lifespan of 15 to 20 years in Nevada, that means a lot of upcoming renovation for his company that employs 150. With planned resort projects on the north end of the Strip, roofing contractors are going to be busy. Generally, roofing constitutes about 2 percent of construction cost, he said.

Any construction along the Strip is a plus to the entire roofing industry in Southern Nevada, added Conway, who will take over June 1 as chairman of the board of the National Roofing Contractors Association. He was elected in February at a national convention in Orlando, Fla.

The national association, which has about 3,500 members, including companies that roof homes and other residential properties. Conway said there’s an uptick in that business in Las Vegas.

“You get this whole momentum with some of these big projects,” Conway said. “In 2005 and 2006, there was a lot of building and everything was booming and when it fell down, everything went down the drain. … When Vegas starts to do new construction, it spreads out and has a positive economic impact.”

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While construction is good, it also highlights the challenge the industry faces and issues for his association. Roofing contractors nationwide don’t have enough employees to do the work and Conway said there are stories in California of unfinished projects because of the lack of manpower.

The association has worked to train more Americans and lobbied the federal government for guest workers.

“If you talk about things that keep the heads of construction companies up at night, the No. 1 issue is trying to find qualified workers,” Conway said. “It’s very difficult these days to find people who want to be in the construction business and let alone the roofing business, which is very tough business to work in.”

Conway said he’s not talking about unskilled workers but roofing mechanics, foreman and journeyman to replace an aging workforce. Younger workers are needed for jobs that pay $15 to $17 an hour to start and within three years $25 to $26 an hour plus health and pension benefits.

Besides a lack of workers, the other issues the industry is dealing with area government regulations and rising health care costs that are making it more expensive for roofing contractors, Conway said.

The industry is dealing with pending federal regulations that make silica sand in concrete a carcinogen and requires water and respirators on roofs to hold down the dust and protect employees when they saw into concrete, Conway said.

“We don’t agree it’s a carcinogen,” Conway said. “Why have water on the roof when you’re trying to keep water out? It adds up the cost and just makes it more burdensome when putting an estimate together because when you got a guy up on the roof sawing a tile, he will not put it in as fast. I have been in the roofing business for 35 years and not had one employee have a problem inhaling a little bit of dust.”

The 68-year-old Conway said he’s humbled to take his new role and looks forward to hosting the association’s annual convention in 2017 in Las Vegas.

The trade group was founded in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire and is one of the oldest in the nation, Conway said.

“I am in the fourth quarter of my business career, and I have been involved with the NCRA for a long time and asked a number of times to be president,” Conway said. “This seems to be the right time.”

Bill Good, the association’s chief executive officer, said Conway brings a unique combination of skills and experience to his role. Having worked for a general contractor before he entered the roofing industry gives Conway an understanding of the entire construction process, Good said.

“Dennis is a great thinker and communicator, which will make him ideally suited to take on this challenge,” Good said.