The top seven components of a written specification,
related issues and what property owners need
to be prepared for are covered in this multi-part
series on why roofing specifications are so important.
Roof systems should last twenty years and its
not uncommon to achieve closer to a thirty year
return on investment. In markets like the Bay
Area, its an unfortunate reality that roof ROIs
can be far below fifteen years.
A specification assures the Type of Roof System
and Scope of Work is consistent between bidding
participants, Roofing Materials meet common standards
and invited Contractors are Qualified. Bid specifications
also minimize Change Orders through Pre-Bid Reviews
and more importantly define Best Practice Roofing
Techniques.
Overview
Commercial Roof Systems are generally considered
to be low sloped or barrel roofs. Buildings
that house business operations are not isolated
to a single type of roof system though and
may include a hybrid of roof systems – both
low and steep sloped styles.
Commercial roofing today is no longer limited
to buildings with office or retail space because
commercial properties encompass apartments, condominiums,
townhouse that are typically designed with sloped
roofs which may have low slope equipment wells.
And, whether the property is a multi-family dwelling,
a warehouse or thirty story business center,
property owners all expect to meet certain financial
goals.
Property owners’ financial objectives
may include the least out of pocket expense,
best warranty and for those skilled in the art
of investing, the greatest long term value. The
latter based on minimizing out of pocket installation
expense and year over year maintenance requirements.
Many perceive the Serviceable Life of a roof
is linked to the material warranty. Indeed, manufacturers
offer varying degrees of warranties – at
ever increasing cost. Achieving the maximum serviceable
life (ie: ROI) has less to do with warranties
and more about the quality of workmanship during
installation.
Type of Roof System
On occasion out of town property owners call
looking for a roofing contractor. These blanket
calls tend to be location specific meaning
they are looking for a contractor in the general
vicinity of their property. This is problematic
for both local and distant property owners
who do not understand the buildings’ requirements.
Time and again this “blanket affect” results
in property owners who get three quotes, from
three or more contractors, for as many different
types of roof systems. The only basis to quantify
the quotes is how well the sales person did in
convincing the caller his/her system is the best.
For most at this stage, it’s nearly impossible
to qualify the proposed roof system(s) or the
contractor.
Whether the caller is owner of a residential
or commercial property, the challenge is the
same. For example, take the typical homeowner,
currently a resident of California who has a
wood shake roof installed. The homeowner is likely
to request replacement match the currently installed
roof system. Unfortunately, the State of California
discourages wood shake shingles and many insurance
companies no longer cover shake shingle replacements
in their policies.
Commercial property owners, operators and managers
face a more difficult task because multiple types
(three or more) of the roof systems identified
in Table I can be installed on a single building.
Contractors are more than willing to install
the system they are certified for and familiar
with. But is their particular system appropriate
for your building? Are there critical issues
that affect the timing of replacement and how
will weather conditions influence the decision
process?
PART II
This is Part II of a four part series on why
roofing specifications are so important, where
we explore the top seven components of a written
specification. Previously, we introduced the
typical approach to Requests for Proposals,
the Type of Roof Systems and misperceptions
on material warranties and the serviceable
life of a roof system.
Part II takes a logical approach to selecting
a warranty providing background and statistics
as a guideline. Then we turn our attention to
the next step in the process focusing on the
Scope of Work and why it’s such an important
component of any Request for Proposal.
Roofing Material Warranties
Material warranties seem to be a driving force
for many property owners as if the warranty
on material will determine the serviceable
life or life cycle cost. Properly prepared
specifications define minimum quality standards
for materials, material handling and workmanship.
As mentioned in Part I, Material Warranty has
little effect on the Serviceable Life of a roof
system. Few of us know warranties can be voided
by contractors in many ways. For instance, the
handling of materials prior to any installation
may be one of the most frequently cited legal
arguments but there are several subtle issues,
similar in nature that can affect the warranty.
How well the roof membrane is manufactured during
installation should be the focal point of concern.
This piece of the process is hidden by the top
layer (cap sheet) which usually looks great upon
completion. Once the membrane is covered though,
it’s difficult to discover imperfections
until failures begin to appear.
The only way to guarantee the membrane is installed
using best practices is to have an independent
project manager on-site. The end benefit is a
roof system that will last twenty or more years,
realizing tangible ROI and minimum disruptions
to the tenants.
Materials are unlikely to fail but what would
the manufacturer’s limit of liability be?
Most warranties are prorated reducing the payout
every year. Buyers can purchase an No Dollar
Limit warranty at inflated prices but how will
unplanned replacement affect the tenant and who
will pay for damages to the building interior.
There are two better approaches to selecting
a material warranty. One is reviewing replacement
statistics for a particular region. For example,
roof systems in Northern California have a replacement
cycle between twelve (12) and sixteen (16) years.
So, why purchase a forty (40) year warranty on
the material if the life cycle of a roof falls
short of its anticipated serviceable life of
twenty (20) years.
Scope of Work
Presume property managers are familiar with local
building codes, the current system and the
type of system they want to install, will their
Request for Proposal (RFP) from participating
roofing professionals actually match a common
set of criteria or use the same bill of materials
(BOM)?
“All things being equal, when people are
unfamiliar with technologies or the process becomes
complicated, buyers tend to fall back to evaluating
solutions based purely on price.”
In 20 years of being commercial roof system
consultants, performing on-site project management,
reviewing RFP’s and writing bid specifications,
the likely answer is no. Most RFP responses contain
so much ambiguity in the language that it places
the client at extraordinary levels risk.
Obscurity seems to be the very vehicle by which
contractors are given carte blanche to alter
materials and make change orders. Without a definitive
specification or professional roofing advisor,
buyers can not expect post bid installation modifications
will be in their best interest. More often, change
orders (see below) have a net affect of increasing
profits for the contractor while unexpectedly
inflating previously established project budgets.
PART III
This is Part III of a four part series on why
roofing specifications are so important. Parts
I & II discussed pre-bid considerations
owners and property managers need to address
before inviting contractors to the party. In
the next steps, we identify who should be invited,
set operating parameters and prepare buyers
with the skills to know when to show bidders
the door.
Qualified Roofing Contractors
Property owners are successful investors and
operators build great management teams that
handle day-to-day operations but how do they
go about identifying qualified contractors?
Local managers tend to maintain relationships
with roofing company’s if for nothing else
than to handle routine maintenance. However,
there’s a wide gap between doing routine
maintenance and the installation of a commercial
roof system. To qualify for a material warranty,
most manufacturers require a roofing company
and its personnel to be certified and skilled
with specific types of installations.
Successful qualification of any roofing contractor
is best accomplished in the field. A practical
review of the contractors’ skills includes
hands on evaluations of prior work - preferably
by experienced experts who have themselves been
roofing professionals.
The quality of a roof system directly affects
the return on investment, annual out-of-pocket
cost and the property’s values at future
exchange events. Buyers, sellers and triple net
tenants all investigate the condition of a roof
so choosing the right contractor for installation
is a critical step.
Pre-Bid Review
Before any proposals can be submitted, the roofing
contractors need to know exactly what the scope
of work involves and what will be acceptable
tolerances in the Bill of Materials (BOM).
Short of having a well defined plan of action,
buyers and bidders are driving forward in the
dark without headlights.
The pre-bid review offers bidders an opportunity
to review the project site, see first hand how
busy the roof may be, its condition and what
preparations will be necessary. A roof with many
HVAC units, ventilation systems and other horizontal
protrusions are considered as a “busy roof”.
This very important and necessary step helps
prevents contractors from later making changes
because they underestimated the man-power requirements
or didn’t fully understand the scope of
work and how much preparation would be involved.
It also provides an open forum for questions
and answers assuring all bidders are on the same
page. When winning bidders miscalculate key elements,
they are forced to cut corners which compromises
standards of excellence and best practices.
Change Orders
In all but new construction, a large portion
of every roof is hidden. So, there is cause
and room for some changes while the roofing
project is in progress. Acceptable Change Orders
include things like replacing portions of the
deck that have deficiencies and structural
issues revealed as roofers peel back the original
surface. These are things that simply can not
be seen until the project is started.
Beware of contractor attempts to initiate change
orders. In most cases, with and without a project
manager, proposed modifications solely benefit
the contractor. There’s a correlation between
the bill of materials, serviceable life and warranty
where substitutions can affect the warranty -
even if it lowers the price tag.
It’s important for property managers to
assure Specification Changes are not introduced
during the bid process. It’s not uncommon
for contractors who have been invited to bid
on System A, to provide two bids – one
for System A and another of his choice “System
B”. This technique is used to establish
a foothold in the bid process.
The contractor may be bidding on a system they
are not qualified to install. As a result, they
present a low price bid on System A and then
attempt to change the specification to System
B. Contractors who become sole bidder is problematic
and generally not in the clients best interest.
PART IV
This is the final Part of a four part
series on why roofing specifications are so important.
Earlier we explained the necessary preparations
before inviting contractors to submit proposals,
the importance of identifying qualified contractors
and what precautions should be taken to assure
all bidders are presenting apples-to-apples proposals.
Since the process and low bids are synonymous
with efficiency, buyers need to make sure proficiency
is not compromised by the necessity to cut corners.
Its acceptable for businesses to earn a profit
but not at the expense of quality that inflates
long term cost.
Best Practice Techniques
The roofing industry continues to follow Generally
Accepted Roofing Practices (GARP) established
through a hybrid of building codes and manufacturer’s
guidelines. Since the mid 1970’s, the
industry has undergone many changes with the
most concerning being a lack of journeyman
in the field.
In California for instance, roofing laborers
outnumber journeymen by a factor that may be
greater than ten-to-one. In fact, most journeymen
come from back east where the profession is passed
on between generations. The seasonal nature of
roofing and employee turnover inhibits a contractors’ ability
to maintain a staff that can establish or develop
journeymen proficiencies.
Enter “Generally Accepted Roofing Practices”.
GARP is nothing close to Best Practices which
tend to be defined by real journeymen. The adage
goes, “everyone else is doing it this way,
so it must be right”. Just because most
roofers do it, doesn’t make it acceptable,
nor does it establish best practices.
Generally Accepted Roofing Practices is illustrated
in Figure I and Figure 2 is a Best Practice solution.
The most likely reason roofing contractors choose
one over the other is short term concerns about
price without consideration for long term maintenance
cost. A well written specification takes both
under advisement and will demand contractors
use best practices.
There is a cost difference between these flashings
that can range from $20 to $30 each. We might
realize an initial savings of $30 (per flashing)
but the cost to maintain each flashing will be
over $250 every three years. Or, nearly $2000
each over the serviceable life of the roof.
Professional bid specifications and on-site
skilled project managers should not specify or
allow these slope roof flashings (figure I) to
be installed on a low slope roof. Price differences
are truly discerning in the greater scheme of
budgeting for a roof system with post installation
maintenance requirements validating the proper
selection of components.
There are more than two dozen methodologies
contractors use in the name of GARP. Components
comprise a small sampling, and the most critical
issues are hidden from view once installation
is complete. To avoid failures, Safeway has a
core sample taken once every 5000 square feet
during membrane application – long before
it’s covered up with gravel.
Property owners and managers need assurances
a roof system installation will follow best practices
so it outlasts the warranty and results in a
higher overall return on investment. This requires
a specification to outline the scope of work
(et al) in order to get the best price. An on-site
project manager helps to reduce the possibility
a roof system will prematurely fail.
Combined, the components of a bid specification
guarantee property owners are getting the best
value, a great installation and the best value
that can be translated into the ROI of the overall
property investment.
CRS Roof Consultants has been advising their
clients on achieving the best possible ROI and
how to reduce their annual cost for over twenty
years.
CRS Roof Consultants, LLC
1361
S Winchester Blvd, Ste 207
San Jose,
CA 95128
(408) 871-9296
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