Tag: roof

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This Piece of Equipment is taking the Coatings Industry by Storm

Every once in a while something comes along to an industry that looks so simple, seems so simple, is so simple, yet has never been introduced to the public. Typically these topics, equipment or processes are slow to gain traction and meet resistance from those who have always done it their way. But just like the car changed transportation & then the plane changed it even more, change is inevitable in our world.

When it comes to roof coatings, you look at them and the process and think “what exactly can someone do that can make such a change in an industry like roofing?”

Except for types of materials being used, it’s been pretty much the same for decades. Even less monumental things have came into the smaller niche market of Fluid Applied Systems using Roof coatings. Until now that has been true, but is now rapidly changing.

The Patent Pending Roof Rabbit has caught the Fluid Applied industry by Storm and continues to gain traction daily.

The ability to hand a laborer this piece of equipment and know that with simple “mil plate” checks they can consistently and accurately apply coatings and do it in a quicker time period than with a wand. Andy L from PA says “Thank you for making a wonderful product in the Roof Rabbit. We love ours now that we got it tuned in. We did 19,000 sq ft today in under 6 hrs over foam.”

“Thank you for making a wonderful product in the Roof Rabbit. We love ours now that we got it tuned in. We did 19,000 sq ft today in under 6 hrs over foam.”

-Andy L from PA

With the spray heads always positioned at 12-14” from the target surface you know you’re getting full coverage and not having light spots from back fatigue, not maintaining consistent passes. First time user laying down some primer, Ben V from Iowa says “Why in the heck wouldn’t every coating guy have one of these in their trailer?!!!”

“Why in the heck wouldn’t every coating guy have one of these in their trailer?!!!”

-Ben V from Iowa
Visit The Roof Rabbit Website

Secondly, the ability to stay in an upright position substantially minimizes back cramps and keeps production up even later into the day. With that added production (lower labor) you also gain cure times. If you know after 3 pm in your area is when pop up storms are common, you can have more roof done by noon and keep on schedule, versus using a wand and possibly having cure out issues. Billy P from CO says “My back hurt worse after 20-30 minutes of detailing with a wand than 4+ hours of using The Roof Rabbit.”

“My back hurt worse after 20-30 minutes of detailing with a wand than 4+ hours of using The Roof Rabbit.”

-Billy P from CO

Safety is another key topic these days & should be. With The Roof Rabbit & it’s forward cambered spray pattern, you have the ability to coat right up to the gutter edge of the roof and not have the wheels fall off the roof. This also allows the user to never cross the 6’ warning line from OSHA.

Change is inevitable…

…and more often than not it’s a change for the better of an industry. Stay open minded and attempt to be on the front end of things and it can be a game changer for you & your business. When you see something take off that you were using from the early days you can say that you were part of that movement and use that to your advantage. Spray on!!!!

Chad Hedrick, Roof Coating Life
“We Bleed White”

Interesting in owning a Roof Rabbit?
Chad Hedrick, owner of Roof Coating Life commits to helping 10 new Contractors succeed in the Fluid Applied Industry each year. He’s selective in this process because realistically, his time is limited. He offers his valuable time and best mentor ship to the guys who are serious about making 30%-50% profits with Roof Coatings. Check out the Requirements for working with Chad to see if you might qualify.
Get the FREE eBook “7 Unique Ways To Market Your Fluid Applied Roofing Business.” It’s packed with outside the box Marketing Strategies (Strategy #6 landed us 5 commercial projects last Summer!) that will help you best serve your clients and live the Roof Coating Life like a boss.
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Grow your Market Share and Not Become a Commodity Roofer

Fluid Applied Growth

Let’s all face it… we would love to have a higher percentage of our market, but doing so by lowering your pricing is not the way to do it. If you can’t find ways to keep your pricing the same and make the same or more profit, it’s not worth the effort required. Let’s discuss a few ways that you can accomplish this:

1: Talk to your past clientele.

Ask them why they chose you, what would they have like changed about you and your experience with them and what areas they were okay with but maybe thought you could still use some improvments on.

2: DON’T try to imitate Nike, Walmart, Lowes etc.

These large companies have millions upon millions at their disposal to literally test marketing each year and see which Branding ads work and which don’t. They also have the money to accrue the data and analyze it down to the penny. Most roofing companies do not fit this mold and are not trying to reach the same audience, hence will never have the capital to spend to accomplish anything like that. Your thoughts should be focused on a consumer who needs a roof and how to make that person want you to do that roof, without knowing you or meeting you.

3: Be definitive in your company’s elevator speech.

If you can’t tell your potential client why they should use you instead of company X, you’re losing sales.  Get it down pat in a way that differentiates you so well that they would feel wrong to choose your competitor over you know matter the price. Don’t say “we have been in business this long” or “our crews are trained and experienced.” Those are generic, simple statements that don’t set you apart.

4: Make sure your marketing game is on point and that it’s doing the pre-selling for you.

If your marketing is hitting the Why of the client, it’s building a relationship with them and they will see your price as a Value because of the impression they already have of you, all from your marketing efforts. Your sales will be easier to close, as the price won’t be the deciding factor.

5: Don’t give discounts, PERIOD.

All a discount says is “I don’t think the customer sees my Value and I am overpriced.” Once you make that statement, it is with you for eternity, every roof you do for that client they will expect the discount or a lower price that equates the same thing. If you are not sold that the value you bring them is worth the price your asking, then you are not sold on your product or service.

If you will drive these points home with everyone on your team, it will help every sales process close and flow much smoother and easier, without price haggling.

Chad Hedrick, Roof Coating Life
“We Bleed White”

Chad Hedrick, owner of Roof Coating Life commits to helping 10 new Contractors succeed in the Fluid Applied Industry each year. He’s selective in this process because realistically, his time is limited. He offers his valuable time and best mentor ship to the guys who are serious about making 30%-50% profits with Roof Coatings. Check out the Requirements for working with Chad to see if you might qualify.
Get the FREE eBook “7 Unique Ways To Market Your Fluid Applied Roofing Business.” It’s packed with outside the box Marketing Strategies (Strategy #6 landed us 5 commercial projects last Summer!) that will help you best serve your clients and live the Roof Coating Life like a boss.
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Why is the Fluid Applied Industry Continuing to Grow????

That’s a great question. Let’s dig deeper…

Eco-Friendliness and Sustainability

First, the thought of not taking a roof off and putting it into a landfill for it to be there for the rest of our life, plus our kids’ lives is reason enough on it’s own. Fluid Applied Restoration allows a roofing system to be salvaged or restored prior to that condition. That does mean that property managers & building owners need to pay attention and do progressive roof maintenance. Better yet, they could get their buildings involved in a roof maintenance program which allows them to stay ahead of the ball, savings them lots of money in the lifecycle of that roof. We need to educate building owners to pursue that level of thinking.

If a building owner or facilities manager stays on the progressive front, and they use a quality fluid applied roofing system, they can easily extend an additional 10, 15, 20, 30+ years to that building’s roof without having to do a costly tear off and expose themselves to a high liability.

Energy Efficiency

Additionally, when highly populated areas start turning more of their dark heat absorbing roofs into white reflective cool roofs, there is a heat reduction in what is known as the “urban heat island effect”. This will actually benefit an entire community when there is buy in from everyone.

Economics

Another reason the Fluid Applied Industry is growing, is economics. Fluid applied coating systems not only add to that cool roof concept but they are less cost because the building owner is not paying the labor that’s involved with all of the other traditional roofing systems, not to mention not paying for the tear off, labor and disposal.

So they are economically and environmentally good choices for maintaining a building and have traditionally always been a tax advantage because of the opportunity for a complete year one write off in most instances.

Spray Polyurethane Foam = Added R-Value

If you are to toss spray polyurethane foam into the restoration or fluid applied industry as an option you also get the additional R-value and return on investment from cooling and heating savings that come along with that.

We have to face the fact that energy cost are no longer going to be cheap and they are going to continue to increase in the future, unless grave measures are taken to find alternative methods to reduce energy costs. If building owners as a whole can reduce the amount of energy used for the cooling load of their buildings by using highly reflective cool white roofs it’s a benefit to everyone.

Technology

Another reason why the Fluid applied industry is growing is because of technology. The technology advancements that have happened in the traditional roofing systems have also advanced in the coatings industry & have substantially reduced some of the issues that plagued the industry & led to those early coating failures we have all heard of.

Custom, Tailored Roofing Solutions

Next reason is because of the options available to suit a building’s existing substrate. The big three acrylic’s, silicone and urethane’s give roofing contractors an opportunity to make a selection that can be custom tailored to their clients needs. 

Let’s say you have a industrial client that has a low sloped 1/2:12 pitch to 3:12+ pitch metal roof: acrylic systems have proven themselves for decades to do great on these existing substrates. Silicones and urethanes will also serve these roofing substrate but can come with some unwanted additional baggage as in they are typically higher cost then a quality acrylic and they are harder to apply & have more chances of overspray concerns. When it comes to silicone it can be extremely slick when any moisture is present so rooftop foot traffic can become more of a liability.

Turn the tables and low slope or flat roofs under 1/2:12 or less (that have a chance of ponding water or slow dry times) lean more towards the silicone and urethane chemistries. Acrylics will take on water so they are more likely to loose adhesion in ponding water areas. Their counterparts silicone & Urethane are hydrophobic and actually repel water so they hold up better long-term in standing water.

Smaller Install Crews/Lower Labor Costs

A reason that is often overlooked in the industry is something that is plaguing all of the trades and that is a shortage of qualified labor. Your traditional single ply roofing companies, employee 8-10 to upwards of 15 employees to do jobs of any size whereas a fluid applied roofing system can easily be installed with half the labor or less, where a common crew size is 3 to 5 man crews.

Fluid applied roofing is going to continue to grow for the foreseeable future. 2017-2018 growth was great, but 2019 & on it will be exponential. The companies that react first will be the dominant ones in the industry as it begins to explode.

Chad Hedrick, Roof Coating Life
“We Bleed White”

Chad Hedrick, owner of Roof Coating Life commits to helping 10 new Contractors succeed in the Fluid Applied Industry each year. He’s selective in this process because realistically, his time is limited. He offers his valuable time and best mentor ship to the guys who are serious about making 30%-50% profits with Roof Coatings. Check out the Requirements for working with Chad to see if you might qualify.
Get the FREE eBook “7 Unique Ways To Market Your Fluid Applied Roofing Business.” It’s packed with outside the box Marketing Strategies (Strategy #6 landed us 5 commercial projects last Summer!) that will help you best serve your clients and live the Roof Coating Life like a boss.
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Is Your Marketing Doing It’s Job?

marketing-quote

Warm up Your Potential Clients:

Have you ever walked into a restaurant and sat down with total strangers and started to try to sell them something? Probably not. If you did, can you imagine how weird that would be to both parties? But think about it this way, when you walk in to talk to a prospective client about their commercial roof, how well has your marketing done it’s job and how well does the building owner know you?

Is the protective client thinking “Will this guy rip me off? Is he trust worthy? Is he insured? Is he going to give me a fair price? Is he experienced?”

We get comfortable in these situations but when you really think about it from the client’s side of things, it’s like speed blind dating and hoping to click with THE ONE. For the vast majority of us that is uncomfortable and rightfully so.

Build Trust:

Your marketing is more than a FB page, direct mail piece or truck sign. The power of a marketing plan is having customers talk about seeing your trucks all over town when you only have 1 or 2 trucks. Using simple things like job signs and vehicle wraps can help build a brand. It builds trust.

Address Concerns:

Using a FAQ section either on your website, Social Media page or even in print on your Direct mail piece helps address some concerns before they arise. This shows your clients that you respect their concerns and have already done your due diligence to recognize them and try to eliminate those concerns. Combining these with written, and video testimonials is powerful.

Testimonials, especially if done by highly regarded community members can be a huge benefit for your business. The testimonial melts customers concerns even more than a FAQ section because they literally have someone pointing out the exact potential issues they were thinking of. A video testimonial also says this person trusts you enough to sing your praises and put their stamp of approval and their name on the line for you. That is the ultimate tension breaker.

Don’t forget to play your strengths, if you are a small owner operator business you should market the fact that your customer can contact you, the owner and that you will most likely be on site or involved in their project. Likewise, if you are a larger operation make sure that your sales people are trained in installations and not just on how to sell and market.

Market, Market, Market:

If you commit to using your marketing as the number one tool in the toolbox and allow it to do the hard work for you, it can make a huge difference when the opportunity to make a sale shows up.

Chad Hedrick, owner of Roof Coating Life commits to helping 10 new Contractors succeed in the Fluid Applied Industry each year. He’s selective in this process because realistically, his time is limited. He offers his valuable time and best mentor ship to the guys who are serious about making 30%-50% profits with Roof Coatings. Check out the Requirements for working with Chad to see if you might qualify.
Get the FREE eBook “7 Unique Ways To Market Your Fluid Applied Roofing Business.” It’s packed with outside the box Marketing Strategies (Strategy #6 landed us 5 commercial projects last Summer!) that will help you best serve your clients and live the Roof Coating Life like a boss.
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Direct Mail and it’s Multitude of Benefits

pile-of-direct-mail

A Proven Marketing Strategy

If you have followed me for any amount of time you know that I am a firm believer in direct mail marketing. The reasons behind it are simple yet very intentional. Direct mail carries an intrinsic value that is easily perceived and appreciated especially when you look at the cost of a First Class stamp nowadays. Direct mail has driven and will continue to drive Billions of Dollars of business annually and it’s not by mistake, even in this digital world.

Recent studies have shown that Millennials actually consider Direct mail as a more trustworthy source of marketing over digital marketing. They know that anything is possible on the internet and that it may or may not be truthful.

Also, consider the age group that you are most likely targeting when you reach out to commercial building owners. Many of them will be 40-70 yrs old and they were born and raised as Direct Mail being a huge part of their lifestyle. They have more than likely purchased something or multiple things from a Direct response mailing.

Benefits of Direct Mail Marketing:

1: You can easily tailor your message to the client you are searching for with DM. If your clientele is upper middle class men, you can have images on your piece that resonate with them as being successful business owners or property owners and the problem that you are proposing to fix for them with your solution.

2: If you search hard enough there is a database somewhere that has your exact niche of people narrowed down for you to use as a mailing list. That, incorporated with a focused message piece is very powerful and gives a better ROI than mass marketing. Also, by doing this in a micro niche size you can do it multiple times and see a higher response from your efforts.

3: With DM you also have the option to send actual samples/products of value or intrigue that you really can’t do with any other method. Think dimensional and send a DM piece that is not an envelope, something unconventional to get your desired clientele to take the time to open and actually digest the message that you are sending. This not only will stand out and brand your name with that person, but when you do a follow up and bring the topic back up you are sure to have a great conversation concerning it.

4: Combining Direct Mail with Digital is a power packed option. If you use your DM campaigns and drive your clientele to a specific vanity landing page, you can you see through analytics of who has visited. You can also see how long they stayed and what they clicked on and then you can deliver an even more hyper focused ad geared towards their perceived interests.

Chad Hedrick, Roof Coating Life

Chad Hedrick, owner of Roof Coating Life commits to helping 10 new Contractors succeed in the Fluid Applied Industry each year. He’s selective in this process because realistically, his time is limited. He offers his valuable time and best mentor ship to the guys who are serious about making 30%-50% profits with Roof Coatings. Check out the Requirements for working with Chad to see if you might qualify.
Get the FREE eBook “7 Unique Ways To Market Your Fluid Applied Roofing Business.” It’s packed with outside the box Marketing Strategies (Strategy #6 landed us 5 commercial projects last Summer!) that will help you best serve your clients and live the Roof Coating Life like a boss.

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How’s Your Hair?

man-doing-hair-maintainence

How’s your hair? Are you blessed to be bald like me or do you have that perfect Bon Jovi hair? More than likely you don’t have either and about every 3-6 weeks you have to do something with your hair to maintain it to the desired outcome you’re after.

Maintaining for the Desired Effect:

Building maintenance is no different. If your building owners allow gutters, kick outs, roof drains, tree limbs, HVAC covers, gas pipe stands, and other issues to be left un-checked they can end up causing & costing them thousands of dollars.

But on the other hand if they have a maintenance program in place to catch any of these concerns before they cause any long term issues, then they are actually decreasing the life cycle costing of their roofing system. Not only that, but at the time of a sale if a building is changing hands in a real estate transaction, a roof that has a proven maintenance schedule will be worth much more compared to one of the same age that’s been left unkept.

Keep it Under Control:

Building maintenance is a lot like long, shaggy, unkept hair: you have to do something to keep it in control or it will become a hairy situation that’s hard to manage. At the end of the day, sell the value of what you are doing by providing building owners with a maintenance agreement and show them how doing it is a long-term smart financial decision.

Chad Hedrick, Roof Coating Life

Chad Hedrick, owner of Roof Coating Life commits to helping 10 new Contractors succeed in the Fluid Applied Industry each year. He’s selective in this process because realistically, his time is limited. He offers his valuable time and best mentor ship to the guys who are serious about making 30%-50% profits with Roof Coatings. Check out the Requirements for working with Chad to see if you might qualify.
Get the FREE eBook “7 Unique Ways To Market Your Fluid Applied Roofing Business.” It’s packed with outside the box Marketing Strategies (Strategy #6 landed us 5 commercial projects last Summer!) that will help you best serve your clients and live the Roof Coating Life like a boss.
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How do you Stretch your Leadership Growth?

Caulking-Being-Stretched

I was recently at a manufacture’s National Convention and was able to be trained by some of the world’s best Leadership trainers: Dr. John C Maxwell, Dr Doug Firebaugh & Pastor Craig Groeschel. Leaders of this magnitude are few and far between and when you have a power packed line up like them, you shut down all distractions, open up all your available brain power and absorb it all in.

Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses:

That weekend has been a game changer for me in the way of opening my eyes to the areas of leadership that I am seriously lacking in. Craig Groeschel helped me realize my strengths and how I can build on them. It also opened my eyes to know that there are things I am equally struggling in or have a weakness in. By identifying my weaknesses, I can do my best to create a system that helps me strengthen them. Internally I have to create a support system that works, that makes me aware of the issue, and allows me to seek help to develop it or even just accept that weakness and learn to deal with it.

Discovering a Defining Trait of Leadership: Discipline

Learning from both Maxwell & Groeschel that a true defining trait of leadership, is discipline. It is not what we do occasionally but what we do consistently that builds the confidence and drive that is needed to build our leadership to all new levels. Maxwell and Groeschel both stated that the secret to success is doing something every day and not shooting for doing something in an “All Day” effort. Consistency compounds efforts and results.

Failing Forward:

One of Maxwells key points was to fail forward and fail faster. If we strive for this cycle of success, we are always in a growth/learning mode. By testing, failing, learning, improving and then repeating you are always moving forward. Maxwell stated to quit counting your losses and start counting your lessons.

Being Intentional:

Doing all of these things with specific intentionality will help you reach your goals sooner and more often. To move forward in your coating business, work on things to intentionally stretch yourself farther as a leader. Do them daily and stay focused.

The Winning Success Formula:

If you can find your purpose in life, incorporate it into what you do and continually add value to the people that you are around daily, you are in route to a truly fulfilled life. If we can be of any help on your journey, reach out and let’s grow together.

Chad Hedrick, Roof Coating Life
“We Bleed White”

Chad Hedrick, owner of Roof Coating Life commits to helping 10 new Contractors succeed in the Fluid Applied Industry each year. He’s selective in this process because realistically, his time is limited. He offers his valuable time and best mentor ship to the guys who are serious about making 30%-50% profits with Roof Coatings. Check out the Requirements for working with Chad to see if you might qualify.
Get the FREE eBook “7 Unique Ways To Market Your Fluid Applied Roofing Business.” It’s packed with outside the box Marketing Strategies (Strategy #6 landed us 5 commercial projects last Summer!) that will help you best serve your clients and live the Roof Coating Life like a boss.
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Coatings Need to Put You in a Sticky Situation

pull-test

You are a professional coating contractor but you are only as good as two things: 1) The product you’re installing and 2) The surface you’re trying to be stuck to, & if you don’t have one of those it could be a bad deal.

I can take the best product made and put it on an unclean or unsuitable surface and it isn’t worth anything, but I can also take a drastically inferior coating and put it on a properly prepped and suitable substrate and more than likely make it last for quite some time as a repair.

In the coatings industry prep is everything.

Whether it is power washing and acid etching a metal roof or using a specified cleaner for an aged EPDM, TPO, mod-bit or aged coating, whatever you do to prep the surface is key.

Metal & flat roofs are commonly plagued with oxidation, rooftop oil’s, and other contaminants that can cause a quality Fluid Applied system from adhering properly. On the single ply restoration front, key components to good adhesion are using enough pressure washer force (psi) & gala of blasting media (aka water) to clear the dirt, grime & oxidization from the surface, whether it be the carbon buildup on an EPDM or the oxidized factory applied surface coating used on TPO or PVC membranes.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not expecting you to power wash entire roof just to do a couple pull test, but care does need to be taken for the areas that you are doing a pull test to be treated as if you were doing a full on restoration project.

Once the specified cleaner has been used at least in a 1 x 1‘ area and allowed to dry, then you would use your specified primer for whatever system you are entertaining. We will use a factory finish metal roof for an example. Once we have cleaned our specified area and installed our primer we will allow the primer to cure out the allotted time needed prior to doing the actual pull test.

Once the primer has cured, typically primers at the low milk thickness will cure out in a matter of an hour or 2, we will apply our coatings at the specified gal/sq rates from the manufacturer. Once you have installed the initial layer of coatings you would take a piece of fabric 1 inch wide and embed that into the coatings leaving a 3-4 inch tag end not installed into the coatings.

We would then apply additional coatings over the fabric, fully encapsulating it into coatings. Giving this test or multiple tests on a given roof an ample dry time, typically 3 to 4 days in the summer season, we will then come back and perform the actual pull test.

To perform the pull test you will take a razor blade and make an incision down the side of your fabric on both sides, leaving you with two incisions 1 inch apart the length of the fabric.

Now cut a small incision into your fabric’s loose tag end, and approximately 1 to 1 1/2 inches from the end. This will be the hole that you will hook your digital scale to test the amount of pounds per square inch it takes to remove the fabric. Care must be taken when pulling the fabric off of the substrate. You want to pull in a perpendicular manner to the substrate, so in this case we would apply vertical pressure, keeping the tag end at a 90° angle to the roofing substrate.

While pulling with a constant tension against the fabric, we will record the pounds of pull that it takes for failure. Typically any number above 3 pounds per square inch is considered adequate adhesion for a substrate. The reasoning by using a 1 inch wide piece of fabric is for easy calculating of pounds per square inch. If the fabric you are using is say 2 1/2 inches wide then you would have to multiply the pounds per square inch of pull times 2.5 to make sure it’s adequate (2.5×3).

Doing this allows you to know that you are applying your fluid applied system to a substrate that you will be adhered to long term as well as it buys you protection from possible warranty claims. If a manufacture tries to push off a potential warranty claim issue onto you claiming of you not doing your due diligence, you can potentially save yourself by showing that you did pull test prior to install & they passed.

Another key thing to do when performing your adhesion test is to take them from random areas and do at least two areas on the existing substrate that would be considered the poorest quality adhesion areas, typically in low lying or ponded water areas.

This is one of those times in life that to get out of a potential sticky situation later, you want to make sure you’re stuck first.

Chad Hedrick, Roof Coating Life
“We Bleed White”

Chad Hedrick, owner of Roof Coating Life commits to helping 10 new Contractors succeed in the Fluid Applied Industry each year. He’s selective in this process because realistically, his time is limited. He offers his valuable time and best mentor ship to the guys who are serious about making 30%-50% profits with Roof Coatings. Check out the Requirements for working with Chad to see if you might qualify.
Get the FREE eBook “7 Unique Ways To Market Your Fluid Applied Roofing Business.” It’s packed with outside the box Marketing Strategies (Strategy #6 landed us 5 commercial projects last Summer!) that will help you best serve your clients and live the Roof Coating Life like a boss.
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Restoration: What Is It?

Metal-Roof-Restoration

The costs of operating and maintaining a building are rising almost daily and owners are looking for alternatives. With the soaring cost of energy and the minimal insulation standards of the years before, it’s becoming a financial epidemic. Getting a roof restored and upgraded could be one of the best ROI’s for an owner’s budget.

There are obviously numerous products and systems that are able to extend your existing roof’s Life span. Most are fluid applied using different chemistries of coatings that are well suited for the type of restoration needed. With the advancements in application methods, it is rather quick and very efficient use of manpower.

The restoration of the roof for leak prevention and cooling related reductions is a great use, but it reaches far beyond that. Restoration minimizes our land fills being over burdened, as well as lowering water contamination chances.

The key thing is realizing not all roofs are in restorable status and should be treated accordingly. Restoring a failing roof means you are costing a building owner even more money long term and should be avoided at all costs. Sadly, it happens often and then the finger pointing starts, with the contractor, manufacturer and building owner all blaming each other.

Let’s cover a few things that need to be looked at during the pre-bid of a restoration option…

1. Remaining Life of the Existing Roofing System and it’s Substrate:

If a roof has had years of leaks and repairs and has wet areas that may have caused damage to the decking, those issues need dealt with prior to any other thing. If the damage is 25%+ then by code the roof has to be deemed a re-roof and must be removed. Also, if there is already 2 roofs in play although a coating could be applied, it isn’t always the best long term option. Through core samples, pull tests and infrared inspections you can determine if the roof is a good candidate for a restoration.

2. Wet Insulation:

Insulation that is wet must be removed, no questions asked. Wet insulation is often an ideal home for Mold to start, as well as it will continue to degrade the decking where it is in close proximity.

3. The Existing Roof’s Current Classification:

This seems obvious but a good analysis of what the existing roofs is and identify its current classification will guide you towards a proper fluid applied restoration product and system.

4. Flashings, Drains, Mechanical Curbs, Vents and all Penetrations:

Along with this is to check interior operations so you are made aware if there are any High Humidity producing operations that could cause additional issues.

5. Drainage:

Drainage is one of the other key concerns. If there is ponding water that exceeds 1/4” deep after 48 hours, those areas need to be either diverted, either with saddle/crickets or interior drains. Or they will need to be treated with a product that can withstand ponding water such as a Silicone or Urethane, just not an acrylic.

At the end of the day it is up to you, the professional, to make your evaluations. Search out other professionals if you are unable to determine if a roof would qualify for a restoration system. Once you’re confident, then you specify a coating system suitable for that roof: one that has the proper Fire rating, and durability that it will require, based on the foot traffic it typically gets.

Do your homework and help all of us grow this industry with higher standards.

Chad Hedrick, Roof Coating Life
“We Bleed White”

Chad Hedrick, owner of Roof Coating Life commits to helping 10 new Contractors succeed in the Fluid Applied Industry each year. He’s selective in this process because realistically, his time is limited. He offers his valuable time and best mentor ship to the guys who are serious about making 30%-50% profits with Roof Coatings. Check out the Requirements for working with Chad to see if you might qualify.
Get the FREE eBook “7 Unique Ways To Market Your Fluid Applied Roofing Business.” It’s packed with outside the box Marketing Strategies (Strategy #6 landed us 5 commercial projects last Summer!) that will help you best serve your clients and live the Roof Coating Life like a boss.
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Roof Coatings are Band-Aids

Rooftop-with-a-band-aid-on-it

(Before you send me a scathing email, be sure to read this article in it’s entirety.)

Have you ever heard someone say that roof coatings aren’t a real roof and that they are just a temporary fix, disposable roof or a Band-Aid?

Sadly in some cases that’s true. Our industry has a plague and that is typically surrounded by a Big Box. Yes I said it, the Big Box store mentality of our society is a plague to our sector of the roofing industry worse than almost any other. If you can carry a bucket from the store you can be a repair man, or even worse a commercial roofing contractor.

It’s all about the sale, volume, commodity pricing & the almighty $$$$. Consumer outlets are a huge reason you see buckets of certain manufacturers sitting on the roof with rollers still stuck in them dried hard.On the flip side, if you really look at the life cycle of traditional single ply roofing it is the epitome of temporary roofing. Without fluid applied systems single ply roofing would have no option of remaining on a building without a complete tear-off every 10-20 yrs.

Why Fluid Applied Roofing Systems ARE the answer:

With the advancements of fluid applied systems, existing roofs can now be restored and extended life of service can be indefinitely, if maintained well. Since a fluid applied system weighs literally ounces per sq ft, weight is not an issue ever again.

This sustainability aspect of fluid applied systems is one of the key components to its future growth. When you can go to an aged metal roof and extend the viable life cycle of it all while costing the owner 30-40% less than a reroof and still have the option of a reroof down the road if ever needed, that’s powerful.

The next time someone says fluid applieds are a bandaid option, ask them which one is more like a bandaid, pointing out that a single ply is a loose covering randomly attached until removed by force. And much like a bandaid, it can hurt to take it off and replace with anything else. Fluid applied’s are here to stay and will be a dominate sector in the years to come.

Chad Hedrick, Roof Coating Life
“We Bleed White”

Chad Hedrick, owner of Roof Coating Life commits to helping 10 new Contractors succeed in the Fluid Applied Industry each year. He’s selective in this process because realistically, his time is limited. He offers his valuable time and best mentor ship to the guys who are serious about making 30%-50% profits with Roof Coatings. Check out the Requirements for working with Chad to see if you might qualify.
Get the FREE eBook “7 Unique Ways To Market Your Fluid Applied Roofing Business.” It’s packed with outside the box Marketing Strategies (Strategy #6 landed us 5 commercial projects last Summer!) that will help you best serve your clients and live the Roof Coating Life like a boss.