Case Study:They Thought They Knew What They Were Doing

Our “Case Study” reports are designed to illustrate various ways we have helped clients so that you can see the many ways to maximize your resources at RAMCON. All names have been changed to protect confidentiality.

The Case of “Too Good”
A few months back we did an evaluation of a shopping center roof. The roof was approximately 18 years old, while the mall was nearly 40. The large, original, multi-zone HVAC units were rusting through and leaking from general old age. In fact, they were so old that replacement parts were no longer available. The units were being replaced with smaller paired units. The on-site operations manager was specifying a very extensive (and expensive) flashing detail to be used at the new units and to patch the hole where the old unit was removed. The detail being used was terrific and had worked very well….or had it?

The detail being used was a great choice for a roof that was less than five years old. But the roof being tied into was 18 years old, aging and beginning to fail. The “repair” might well last 20 years, but the roof it was attached to sure wouldn’t! The owner was wasting money. After dozens of leaks that the other contractors could not solve due to the flashing tie-in, the manager called RAMCON to take a look. We re-flashed the units with a less expensive flashing detail that cut their cost per changeover in half, while stopping all leaks.  The owner spent just $3,400 trying to fix these leaks and more than $7,000 in the original flashing of the units for a total of $11,400. We corrected the problem for just $3,100 with no more leaks; which is less than 1/3 of the cost he actually spent on something that did not work. There have been no leaks throughout the entire summer.

An Important Point
The point we would like to make is that this “mistake” was not being made by “amateurs”. The owner of this strip center has extensive experience with roofs and roofing. The company who installed the units is quite experienced. They thought they knew what they were doing. Unfortunately, they didn’t.  They knew how to install a “good detail”. They didn’t know how to install one with “good value” that works in this particular scenario.

Conclusion
It is unusual that an owner would “over specify” a repair.  Generally the opposite occurs. But it doesn’t make any difference to us what is going on; if money is being wasted like it was here, we’ll help you find it.