Malarkey Featured Our Bigfork Vista Install in Contractor Corner

The short answer: Malarkey Roofing Products featured one of our Bigfork Vista shingle installs in Contractor Corner, the editorial series on their national site where their team highlights contractor work they consider worth showing off. Malarkey picks these features themselves, so a roof from the Flathead Valley landing there says something about the install quality coming out of our crews. We’re proud of it, and we want to explain why it matters and what the product on that roof actually is.

A manufacturer put one of our roofs in front of the country

Contractor Corner is the section of Malarkey’s site where their editors profile contractors and specific installations. Recent features have covered roofers from Idaho and California, companies chosen because the work or the story behind it stood on its own. There is no application form and no fee. Malarkey’s team decides what gets published.

One of their features covers a Vista shingle roof we installed in Bigfork, on the northeast shore of Flathead Lake. We won’t pad the story with details that aren’t ours to share. The homeowner’s information and the specifics of the job stay private, the way every customer’s do. The fact that matters is simple: the manufacturer whose products we install looked at work coming out of the Flathead Valley and decided ours was worth writing about.

For a company working out of a shop in Kila, that recognition carries weight. National manufacturers see thousands of installs a year through their certification programs. When their editorial team singles one out, it reflects the crew that put it on the roof, one shingle course at a time.

Are Malarkey shingles good for Montana?

Yes, and the reason comes down to what the asphalt inside them is made of. Malarkey builds its shingles on what it calls NEX polymer modified asphalt. Instead of the standard oxidized asphalt used in most shingles, Malarkey blends the asphalt core with rubber polymers (SBS, the same family of modifiers used in commercial roofing membranes) and plastic polymers. The result is a shingle that stays pliable instead of turning brittle.

Brittleness is the quiet killer of roofs in our climate. Kalispell sits near 3,000 feet and averages roughly 56 inches of snow a year, about double the national average. Winter here isn’t one long deep freeze. Valley temperatures cross back and forth over the freezing line for months, and every crossing expands and contracts the roof surface a little. Standard asphalt hardens with age and UV exposure, then cracks under that movement. Rubberized asphalt flexes instead.

Then there’s hail. Montana earns its reputation here: Farmers Insurance claim data has ranked Montana first in the nation for the share of springtime comprehensive auto claims caused by hail. The Flathead sees fewer severe hail days than the eastern half of the state, but the storms that do roll through the valley are real. Malarkey’s Vista shingle carries a Class 4 impact rating under UL 2218, the highest rating the test awards. The rubberized core absorbs and disperses impact rather than fracturing under it.

What the Vista shingle actually is

Vista is Malarkey’s architectural laminate shingle, the workhorse of their residential line. A few specifics from the manufacturer’s published data:

• NEX polymer modified asphalt core. Rubber and plastic polymers blended into the asphalt for flexibility and tear resistance.
• Class 4 impact rating. The top rating under UL 2218 steel-ball impact testing.
• Up to 25% greater tear strength and up to 65% greater granule adhesion than the ASTM D3462 industry standard, per Malarkey’s testing. Granule loss is how shingles age; granules are the UV armor, and shingles that hold them last longer.
• 110 mph wind rating in a standard installation, with higher ratings available as part of a complete Malarkey roof system.
• 3M ceramic-coated granules, including smog-reducing granules. These granules react with sunlight to break down smog gases. Malarkey estimates the effect of an average roof at roughly the air-cleaning work of two trees.
• Upcycled content. Malarkey states an average roof of its shingles diverts about five rubber tires and 3,200 plastic bags from landfills.

That last point isn’t why anyone buys a roof, but it’s a nice side effect of the polymer chemistry: the rubber and plastic have to come from somewhere, and Malarkey sources part of it from recycled material.

Why we install Malarkey here

We’re a Malarkey Certified Installer, which means our crews install to Malarkey’s specifications and our customers can register enhanced coverage on qualifying roof systems. We didn’t pick the brand because of the certification. It went the other way. We looked at what fails on roofs in the Flathead Valley, and the failure pattern kept pointing at brittle, aged asphalt: cracked shingles, blown-off tabs, granules filling the gutters after a decade. Polymer modified asphalt addresses that pattern directly, so that’s what we put on houses.

The Bigfork install Malarkey featured was a Vista roof doing exactly what we spec it to do: an impact-rated, rubberized shingle on a home in a valley that freezes, thaws, and occasionally gets hammered by hail. If you want to see what that looks like in your neighborhood, our residential shingle roofing page walks through the full system, and our Bigfork roofing page covers how we work on that side of the lake.

What this means when you get an estimate from us

Recognition from a manufacturer is nice. What it should tell you as a homeowner is more practical: the company you’re considering installs to spec, and the manufacturer has looked closely enough at that work to publish it. Every estimate we produce starts with a drone survey of your roof, so you see the same documentation we do: every slope, valley, and flashing detail, photographed before we talk numbers. Owner Ben Wuollet built the company on that kind of transparency, and it’s the same standard that put a Bigfork roof in front of a national audience.

Frequently asked questions

What is Malarkey’s Contractor Corner?

Contractor Corner is an editorial series on Malarkey Roofing Products’ national website where Malarkey’s own team profiles contractors and specific installations they consider standout work. Contractors don’t apply or pay for placement. Malarkey featured one of our Vista shingle installs in Bigfork, Montana in the series.

What makes Vista different from a standard architectural shingle?

The asphalt itself. Vista is built on Malarkey’s NEX polymer modified asphalt, which blends rubber and plastic polymers into the core so the shingle stays flexible instead of turning brittle with age. It carries a Class 4 impact rating, the highest under UL 2218, plus stronger tear strength and granule adhesion than the industry standard.

Does a Class 4 shingle matter in the Flathead Valley?

It does. Hail here is less frequent than in eastern Montana, but valley storms still drop it, and Montana as a whole ranks among the worst states for spring hail claims. A Class 4 rating means the shingle passed the toughest UL 2218 impact test, and some insurers offer premium discounts for it. Ask your agent.

Can I see the roof Malarkey featured?

The feature lives on Malarkey’s website in their Contractor Corner section. We keep our customers’ addresses and project details private, so we don’t publish the location beyond what the manufacturer chose to share. We’re glad to show you Vista color samples and comparable local installs when we put together your estimate.

Thinking about a shingle roof that can handle a Flathead winter? Reach us through our contact page and we’ll start with a drone survey.