Latest / RoofersCoffeeShop / What Restoration Takes: Part 4 – Wrap up and Maintenance
Transcript
- Adam Cabrera: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips, the podcast that takes you on a thrilling journey across the world of roofing. From fascinating interviews with roofing experts to on-the-road adventures, we'll uncover the stories, innovations, and challenges that shape the rooftops over our heads. So fasten your seatbelts and join us as we embark on this exciting roofing road trip. Hello and welcome to another episode of Roofing Road Trips from Roofers Coffee Shop. My name is Karen Edwards, and today's conversation is part four of What Restoration Takes. with Joe Sorentino from Sorentino Consulting and Andrew Fickinger from Sherwin Williams Roofing Solutions. We have done three previous episodes all about roof restoration. And today's part four is gonna be about wrap-up and maintenance. Joe, Andrew, it's great to see you guys again. Thanks, Karen. Good to see you. Happy to be here. Yeah. Okay. So if someone's listening to this and they didn't hear part one, two, or three, you're gonna have to go back and listen. but introduce yourselves to our listeners in case people don't know who you are. Joe, why don't you start? Well Hi there, my name's Joe Sorentino. I've been in the roofing industry for a little less than 50 years and been involved with fluid applied and restoration systems since nineteen eighty-five. it's a pleasure to do these and and move things forward from what we're discussing. And I'm glad you said that because the podcasts are available and Sherwin Williams has done a great job in making this available to the entire industry from owners, other manufacturers, and contractors. So thanks for that opportunity. Sure. And Andrew. Sure. Andrew Fickinger. I am the Southeast Regional Manager for the Sherwin Williams Roofing Solutions team, Buniflex. I reside in beautiful downtown Baltimore City, Maryland. And as I mentioned, I cover the Southeast for our roofing team to support our contractors and building owners. Restore Right. Yeah. For sure. Okay. As we wrap up our our conversation about restoration and how contractors can maximize their restoration jobs, can you just remind us of the first few steps and and then mention the final step that we'll be talking about today? Sure. You know, I I think it goes back to that adage, you're only as strong as your foundation. And and step one was really how to do it right. You know, the analysis is critical. the power of no is important and the excitement of yes is ables to bring us to the to the next phase. And that next phase that we talked about is design. Understanding the functionality of the the facility that we're looking to restore, what the what the climate is, what the accessibility is, what is the right technology and system to specify. Those are all important. The the next part is critical. That's the installation. The installation is important, tying the right crew to the right design and the right product to be able to come out with the right result. Another key adage, you only have, you get your start, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. And I think this last part is the most important part because when we look at restoration, we're really looking at sustainability. And you really can't sustain anything if you ignore it. You you have to invest in it. And we'll talk about that as we move forward. Excellent. Thanks for the recap, Joe. so let's talk about, you know, when wrapping up the job. You said it's the most important. what should a contractor's final walkthrough look like? What are they s going to want to verify before they actually call the project complete? I think as far as Uniflex, you know, from a manufacturer's perspective. if those first three steps that Joe mentioned have been accomplished, the final walkthrough should be one of the easiest portions of the restoration. It should be a no surprises visit because we've been in communication, we've had our proper design, we've had our roof evaluation, we have had our proper installation. So the final walkthrough should be a very predictable outcome. typically the Uniflex technical representative is on site along with contractor and building ownership. And we verify the aspects of the coding installation, your penetration details and mill thickness and things of that nature. occasionally we'll develop a small punch list that gets knocked out right there on the roof. Contractor pays the warranty fees and receives their documents to zen present to ownership. Excellent. Joe, anything to add there? Yeah, I I think Andrew did an excellent job because it it is, it should be simply handshakes, smiles, as he mentioned, maybe some things that have occurred, in between. but I really think the key is as we as we hand the project over, so to speak, to the building owner, we all have a responsibility. As a manufacturer we do, as a contractor we do. As a building owner, we do. But I think the other part that's really critical is taking your question literally. I'm going to answer it literally. It really doesn't start until that final payment is made and clears the bank. The contractors have invested a lot. I had an experience in the past where the contractor was very open with me. We had the inspection set up. It was approximately a $600,000. Project with 10% typically held for retainage for the warranty to be handed over. The project went as Andrew described. There was probably no more than four square inches of asphalt on the side of a brick wall. And the contractor explained to me that his final payment had been given to him. So rather than a motion, we just simply handled everything, and then the conversation factually to the building owner was. that his warranty wasn't going to be available until final payment was made. So to me, it really ends when that final payment has been cleared. Yeah, for sure. Okay. So cleanup, let's talk about that. that's something that people don't really think about, but how a contractor leaves the site can really leave a lasting impression. So what are some of the best practices for wrapping up the project in a professional manner? So I think, most importantly, the contractor should understand that cleanup does not begin at project conclusion. Right? Cleanup is a continuum that begins and is is continued throughout that that restoration project. and before the contractor even begins, there should be a plan in place for disposal of empty pails, for proper disposal of hazmat items. Such as dirty mineral spirits that has been used to clean spray equipment. making sure that those items are not just planned for, but not allowed to pile up until the very end of the job creates a much smoother, lower stress restoration. And then when everybody's finished, ready to get out of there, we don't have a massive cleanup that we have to undertake because we've been keeping up with it throughout the job. Very good point. It's like if you let the dishes pile up in the sink, you're left with a big mess to tackle down the road. So yeah, do it do it as you go. Joe, anything to add? There there's only one thing for me to add and how thorough Andrew was with that. It it's a philosophy and culture that goes way back and goes through a lot of different things. It's very simple. Always leave a project site cleaner than when you got there. Yep. Definitely easy, easy, easy to follow, right? But not everybody does it. Okay. So let's talk about documentation. we've mentioned warranty. what else should a contractor provide to the building owner at the end of the project? So this area i gets really lost and is probably the most critical. we're we're so involved in technology today, and and earlier on I discussed in that analysis and in the installation pictorial scope of work andor identifying those atypical conditions that need to be done. So there's been that analysis, there's been a proposal, actual contract, there's there's been these pictures. Now there's a portion of this. Hard copy living document because for the most part you're looking at sustainable renewable warranty programs. And we'll talk about predictive and preventative maintenance later on and how they really lock all this in. But the the hard copy three ring binder of the old day paper is so critical. And I date back to when we first started using cameras and moving pictures to our laptops. A consultant stood up and said, I learned the hard way that I've got to continue to keep hard copies because when my hard drive crashes, so does my business. And really, the owners, the the contractors, they all want PDF and and and everything to collect on. But in that facility office of whatever entity it is, that three-ring binder sitting there has manufacturer contractor warranties. Has all the living life of this roof. If there's been inspections done and it's year eight and we're looking at the potential of recoding and extending, this is where all of this sits. Most importantly, a last section would be on the proposed maintenance program that the owner gets to accept or reject. Yes. Now, accept or reject is interesting because. Do warranties require regular maintenance, maintenance? yeah. Absolutely. you know, we with that three-ring binder that Joe mentioned, which I think is a fantastic idea, you know, among those items in that binder would be the warranty maintenance requirements provided by the manufacturer. an additional item that we encourage our building owners to implement is a logbook. So in addition to that three ring binder that maybe is in the facility manager's office, right next to the roof access ladder is a logbook that will be a record of who's accessing that roof. Just helps keep us in check on, you know, sometimes roof issues develop when we have various trades doing other types of work on that roof. And if we don't have good records of who's going up and coming down We might not be able to catch some of those situations quickly before they turn into a a larger concern. Yeah, definitely. so let's talk a little more deeper about the importance of preventative maintenance maintenance. I'm having a hard time saying that word today and and why it matters for that restored roof. I think Joe, you hinted at it with renewable. Right, a renewable warranty. That is an integral part in in leading long-term win-win-win, meaning a win for the manufacturer, a win for the contractor, and a win for the owner. Manufacturers in their renewable transferable warranties. And once again, we talked about this in a previous step where we had negotiation in a commercial property where it was a high rise, and of course, the new buyer wanted a new roof. The facility manager said, We don't you don't need one, we've got something better. And it became a tremendous bargaining chip, if you will, in the art of negotiation and commercial real estate. And and and one of the biggest misconceptions in this industry is there are two types of maintenance. There's preventive and there's predictable. And it really takes a combination of both. And no disrespect to the manufacturers. When you read their warranties, they simply use the word you tried to describe preventive. When you look up the literal sense, there's two types. And and the reason why there's two types is because annual biannual inspections or after any atypical weather is a predictable thing. A roof leak that comes up out of nowhere, meaning at the very beginning, we have an option of ignoring, being reactive, or proactive, meaning, okay, we have the leak, we're going to take care of it immediately. That's preventative. There's a big difference between the two. And if you look up how what is the difference between predictive and preventive roof maintenance You'll see several large descriptive areas that have been done very well by contractors to explain that. When I said accept or reject, when you finish up a project, the owner has a right to ignore you or embrace you. If you embrace the owner and the project, then the owner will embrace you. If you ignore the project, the owner will ignore you. And and that's one of the things that I used to present in training is okay, Mr. Contractor, you finish this job. Is it a cost or an investment for you to go to that project after the fact? Now, that doesn't mean you always do it for free. If you have a proposal that says I will do the first two or three years biannual inspections at no cost, there's your investment to be able to keep very close to that building owner. And then from a more important point of view, you get up on that roof, you're looking down, you're doing your inspection. Before you leave, look up and look around you. There could be opportunities all around you, and people talk. So if you have a building owner that has no leaks and you're a contractor that shows up, calls in advance, lets them know you're showing up, like it's your first call to sell the job, even though it's done. And somebody two buildings down the road has a roof leak. As a roofing contractor, you separate yourself from every other competitor because that building owner that had you looking at it, even though there weren't loops, you now become the expert when you show up. You're not one of 15 bids. You're not one of three bids. You may be the only bid. And I think that's the biggest part that's the misconception because there is an owner's responsibility. That's to monitor and act. When somebody comes and tells you you have a problem and you have to do it, if you ignore it, you're creating a problem for the people and the purpose of your building inside. Definitely. People talk. So yeah, the the building two doors down, maybe talk into the building that you're taking care of. And that building owner that you just worked with may own multiple buildings. It happens all the time. The key is. Do you look at those inspections at the beginning as a cost or an investment? But more importantly, you have something in that proposal that says when we finish the job, we offered the building owner this type, and then we will do this at cost plus ten percent, cost plus fifteen percent, because you don't know the magnitude or where it's going to be. We want you to sign. Yes, that you're accepting this. And then after the third year, we'll start charging you for these exp at and or you know what? You don't really want any of this. Thank you for the offer. Okay. I need you to sign that you did not accept it. Because when a motion comes up five years down the road, that rejection is going to be the reason why they're sitting in there with the motion. Yeah, definitely. I'm curious from a manufacturer's perspective, Andrew, when you're, 10 years down the road, 15 down years down the road, when it's time to restore and renew, refresh and renew, what kind of information and records are you looking for in order to approve if the roof is eligible for that? Sure. you know, it's very common that, you know, maintenance and Restoration, they they feed one another, right? So when we complete a restoration and that maintenance takes over, the goal is for that maintenance to lead to future restoration. So one aspect, right, is helping the other out. If we have good maintenance records and we especially if it's the same contractor throughout post restoration, all through maintenance. And then maybe 10 years later, when we go to renew that restoration, oftentimes the pre-work is a much simpler, faster, more straightforward process. We can have a really good idea based on the leak history, whether we have a significant amount of saturated materials within that roof before we would even start to do our moisture survey. So the better records we maintain, usually that will help to lessen the Burdens associated with re-roofing and renewing in the future. so it not only just helps you with your current roof, but that maintenance helps you with all future roofing endeavors that you might need to undertake. And especially when we're talking about renewability and sustainability, that's the whole name of the game. We want to be able to continue to recode and refresh these roofs decades and decades into the future. So those maintenance records are very important for streamlining that process. Yeah. Andrew, thank you for sharing that. Because one thing that is critical in that maintenance contract is if the first warranty is 10 years and it's renewable, in year eight, the owner should be budgeting for their specification to renew it for an additional 10 years. You now have dates. You finish the job on July one of twenty twenty, July one of twenty twenty eight, we're looking at what we're going to be doing either then or now or later. And that's going to be critical based on what you did in those in between ten years. Because you may need to do it sooner, but then again, if you did everything Andrew just described and we get that best best practice on anything, then you should be able to get the maximum and get to the ten years. Yeah. Yeah, good point. Okay, wow. So we've covered a lot in this four-part series. So what do you think the biggest misconception is that you would like to change about roof restoration in general? I think it's surrounding the the topic that we are just talking about is that a restored roof is not a set and forget. All roofs require maintenance, and a restored roof is no exception to that. so I think sometimes building owners develop a misconception and contractors sometimes too, to a certain extent that, well, once I restore this roof, I don't have to think about it again for another 10, 15, and 20 years. And that's just not not the case. you know, similar to to purchasing a new vehicle, right? whether it's Ford or Ferrari, tires, oil change, right, all that basic maintenance needs to occur. And roofing is very similar. So I think the misconception that I try to dispel all the time is that all roofs need a preventative maintenance plan and restored roofs are are no exception to that. And predictive, right, Joe? Well you know, if there's one thing I'd like to personally and professionally take away from this and challenge Andrew and Sherwin Williams, is take the lead. Because the biggest misconception is what Andrew just talked about and what we've been talking about. And really, until the manufacturers start talking about predictive and preventive, we're not going to get to the building owners and we're going to have those handful of contractors that are going to do a great job in getting that across. Because I had one different. But my the first one really was. That's what we've talked about is totally different than re-roofing or new construction, right? Wait, we have to deal with not only existing stuff, but as we talked, if the building culturally changed, then we have to be looking at possibly different technology than we would have been using if it was a a different type of building before, access versus no access, slope versus no slope. So that to me. Andrew, I I think some way, shape, or form, Joe Sorentino, LLC would love to help in getting that message across and and and Karen, the same. I think that is the biggest misconception is that we're we're not really sharing all of that maintenance part. So thanks for this opportunity. Yeah, yeah. We've been definitely talking about it throughout this series and especially in this particular episode. it is so important. for long-term relationships, long-term performance of the building and success for that roof. Yeah. Okay. So where would you point contractors who are looking to offer restoration services? Maybe someone's not doing it. Maybe they're only doing new roof installation and they see this opportunity in this growing market. How should they get started? Well I I think we've we've talked about it before once again, you know, align with the right manufacturers. And not just one, even if they might have all of the technologies. That's not fair to your people and yourself, no disrespect to any manufacturer. I think the other thing is align with those third party entities that can help in the analysis stage. So as a restoration contract, you're going in as a team. you're the expert in installation. I have my team around me that are the experts in the field that we need besides that. I think the power of networking, get involved with the associations, network on the public side with K through twelve and and schools, public buildings, we're we're all looking to get the maximum out of everything, our personal lives and everything we have around us. Yeah. Andrew? I completely agree with everything that Joe said. I do think reaching out to a strong manufacturing partner. maybe Sherwin Williams and Uniflex, right? To get some training and to have a better understanding of of the restoration process if you're not already familiar. And then get out and talk to building owners, whether it's existing clients that you already have, or whether it's networking through organizations like like BOMA or IFA, for example, and start asking those new friends about their roofing needs and and maybe the roofing pain points. And I think you'll hear that as Joe said, a lot of these building owners are looking for value. And the cost of traditional roofing is going up. And the budgets are not going up right along with those. So ownership is looking for unique solutions. and they're looking for their contractors to provide those. So I think you're meeting them where they're at by educating your team and and doing some networking and and better understanding their roofing needs. Yeah. In the KISS method, in the KISS method really, is your leadership or your company committed to sustainability? If the answer is yes, you have a chance. If they say they could care less about tomorrow, it's a numbers game. Move on. In all fairness, don't try to put a square peg in a round hole. Yeah. Good point. I also want to give a a little plug for the Roof Coatings Manufacturers Association. They recently started a contractor membership level about a year or so ago. And so that would be a great place to get involved as a contractor and meet the manufacturers, right? Absolutely. Yeah. Right. Upcoming meeting, October seventh in Atlanta. Yeah, twice a year, I believe they get together. So anyway, Joe, Andrew, thank you so much. It was so fun doing this four part series all about restoration and helping contractors find success. Thanks for being here. Thanks for the time. Appreciate being a part of it. Thank you. Thank you everyone for listening. we're glad you're here. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform because we want to see you on a future episode of Roofing Road Trips. We'll see you next time. Bye. 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