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Economy

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Inside the $40 million ‘Hurricane Lab’ stress testing America’s roofs

How insurers are using full-scale storm simulations to expose roofing failure points — and what it means for contractors

Roofing wholesale prices ticked up slightly in April

Compared to April 2025, the reading is up 0.75 percent, per the BLS — and 31 percent over the past five years, since April 2021

Plumbing wholesale prices didn’t budge in April

Compared to April 2025, the index is up 8.6 percent — and 31.9 percent over the past five years, since April 2021

Homeowners ‘selective’ about home service spending amid budget pressures: Survey

Rising costs are affecting homeowners’ spending on repairs and upgrades, a new Housecall Pro survey highlights

Legal

Bay Area regulators split over first-of-its-kind gas water heater ban

The rule, beginning in 2027, stands to affect about eight million residents

AHRI, HARDI challenge New York HFC rule in court

A state rule significantly expands prohibitions on the sale, use, and installation of a range of products containing HFC refrigerants

And then there were six: HVAC manufacturer lawsuits move toward consolidation

Attorneys on Wednesday agreed to coordinate for pretrial purposes, moving the cases along three distinct tracks representing three categories of plaintiffs

DOJ sues company behind thousands of fake home service businesses

“Since at least 2018,” Premium Home Service has “deceived well over 100,000 consumers,” according to a lawsuit

M&A

USA Hometown Experts exploring sale, reports say

While the reported process is in the early stages, it follows a string of private equity-backed platform activity this year

Redwood Services buys five-contractor group for $220 million

The deal marks just the second platform-buys-platform transaction among today’s residential HVAC, plumbing, and electrical platforms

Watsco to buy $230 million HVAC distributor Jackson Supply

Jackson Supply Company counts 25 locations across the Sunbelt, including Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Arizona

Roto-Rooter snaps up two franchises for $20.6 million

The Roto-Rooter corporate entity has been acquiring franchises to “boost productivity, market share, and profitability”

Management

Google channels diverged on paying customers, average ticket in Q1: Analysis

Google’s primary lead generation channels, from Business Profiles to Local Services Ads, in the first quarter of this year told different stories, according to one analysis