Commercial Roof Maintenance: Take A Proactive Approach

If you are a building owner or facility manager, roofing costs have always been among your major concerns. In its January report, Reed Construction Data indicated that a faster-than-projected economic recovery will accelerate commercial construction activity and push material prices even higher than general inflation. Combined with today’s soaring energy costs, it’s clear that managing commercial roofing costs is critical, especially for owners and facility managers with multiple buildings. Education and strategic budget planning are the best defense to managing a building.

Where to Begin?
Proactive versus reactive maintenance is a good place to start. Owners and facility managers who react to problems as they occur, pay an average of 25¢ per square foot annually for maintenance. Owners and facility managers who inspect and repair routinely (proactively) – before problems happen – spend an average of only 14¢ per square foot annually. Plus, proactively maintained roofs last an average of 21 years compared to an average lifespan of 13 years for reactive maintenance. The longer you can extend your roof’s life before replacement, the more your overall savings increase and your life cycle costs decrease.

Repair or Replacement
A roof undergoes serious wear and tear throughout its lifetime, with factors such as weathering and degeneration taking their toll. Through scientific testing and analysis, RAMCON can outline the current condition of your roof and to help you decide if roof repair or restoration is an option or whether roof replacement is necessary. At RAMCON, we install every type of roofing system for just about every manufacturer. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution. We believe your building and specific circumstances should dictate the roofing system, ensuring compliance with building codes, energy solutions and specific roof conditions (there are 9 major roofing systems and more than 60 subsets—so we help you make the best decision for your specific system and building type). Choosing a roofing provider that offers repair and restoration options, not just replacements, improves the likelihood of an accurate analysis and a successful plan for your roof and your budget.

Technology is an Important Tool
The construction industry has been notoriously slow to adopt information technology, even though research has shown that contractors who use technology have:

• Lower costs
• Higher productivity
• Better organized schedules

RAMCON has made a considerable investment in technology that helps you take the guesswork out of your roof repair and maintenance decisions. Our MyRAMCON software can help you manage roof assets easier, and through a variety of tracking and reporting options, including inventory management, in-depth reporting, invoice tracking and data tracking, you can more accurately determine your roof’s lifespan and avoid unexpected costs associated with emergency repairs.

We also use technology internally which ensures to provide cost-efficient procedures and operations. GPS tracking enables our management team to supervise technicians from anywhere, which has been shown to increase technician productivity by 23%. In turn, this reduces costs to you. Lastly, electronic invoice auditing combined with the GPS tracking and proper accounting software can ensure that you are billed accurately and fairly.

Experience Matters
Surprisingly, weather is not the most common threat to a roof’s durability. Approximately 40% of all roof problems occur because of human error due to workers going on your roof for window washing, HVAC repair, etc., faulty maintenance or poor installation in the first place. Therefore, proper training, experience and consistent performance are all essential when choosing a roofing provider.

Experience refers to both the roof technicians and the company because there are literally thousands of substandard, unqualified contractors out there who might not be in business long. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in just the last three-year period, 45% of all roofing contractors were newly formed while 41% of existing contractors had gone out of business. To truly measure stability and longevity, it is best to work with a provider that has been in business for at least 10 years.

You need to really know who is on your roof. Ask potential roofing providers about their self-performance policy. Contractors who self-perform vs. sub-contract can offer more peace of mind because you know the roofing technicians have been properly trained in safety and trained in uniform standards. Even though contractors claim they perform background checks and e-Verification, if they are sub-contracting the work, those technicians may not have gone through the same type of screening.