Riku Ylipelkonen, Owner, Standard Building Advisors and FRSA Technical Advisor
To most Florida residents, the roofing industry does not come to mind when thinking of careers at the forefront of technological advances and innovation. When perspective home buyers are asked, they speak about kitchens and bathrooms or huge windows for natural light. The roof is not usually mentioned. With advances in energy conservation, better wind uplift performance and innovative use of materials applied in new ways, the roofing industry is changing at a faster pace than the typical homeowner may be aware. While the materials used to construct the roof are changing, one must also look at how changing technology and innovation affect the means and methods of construction. Let’s look at what else is happening and how contractors can use these advances to their benefit.
Permitting is one of the first steps every project must undergo. The design on the roof, supporting approvals, testing and specifications all need to be gathered and submitted for plan review to gain the permit to perform the work. This process is easier if you have a tried-and-true system that sells and performs well. New system components and changes in building code requirements usually add complexity and the need to verify the paperwork and applicability of systems that have been reliable in the past. Some jurisdictions are implementing electronic permitting to simplify and speed up the process on these roof assemblies. If your municipalities don’t offer this, it is worth asking about. The permitting process is streamlined because the trip to the municipality’s office begins and ends at your keyboard. On the other side, the plans examiner now has an electronic filter that reduces the time needed to verify the validity of the permit.
Company phones have been a valuable tool to maintain contact with all the stakeholders within the roofing company. New applications are always being developed and may make the process of staying connected easier. The use of live video conference calls on mobile phones is being used to carry out inspections by some municipalities. Waiting onsite for an inspection is no longer the norm. What you need to have to get the inspection completed and passed is also changing. If your coverage jurisdictions do not offer this yet, it is coming. For the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ), this increases efficiency for an inspector who can sit at one location and receive calls from the entire municipality without the time and expense of traveling to each location. On the contractor’s side, this alleviates the time and expense of waiting for inspectors on location if scheduling is favorable. Having personnel onsite with a working mobile phone is fast becoming the preferred way to perform inspections. This is a step up in the efficiency and effectiveness of our schedules. Make sure to gather photos, videos and any pertinent notes during the inspection and store them in a database with a file folder for the project. Documentation and recordkeeping make the difference in the long run.
The adaptation of business practices has accelerated in response to the COVID pandemic. Technology that was already in place is being utilized to streamline and improve the roofing project checklist. The next step is the application of artificial intelligence or AI for short. While the roof will continue to be designed, specified and constructed by real people, the supporting activities like permitting, inspections and other tasks will likely change further by the application of AI. How this develops is still evolving. An important part of AI implementation in the roofing industry will be saving time and expense in new ways. This is a much-needed change when resources and labor are in short supply.
Imagine a phone app where you input the building address. From there, software can perform a take-off, design the roofing system options and send an email message with the options in a contract to the customer. Any modifications can be done live with all changes tracked and agreed to within the app. Next, the app receives the signed contract and payment, fills out permitting online, orders the materials to ship to the location with timing that fits your crew schedule and reports progress to all interested parties automatically. From there, crews perform the work, inspections are scheduled automatically with the authority having jurisdiction and completion is documented and archived. While this example is missing a lot of content and context, it also shows the step to automated contracting that may be available in the near future.
Can the industry come together and agree that real people should answer and make phone calls though?
Riku Ylipelkonen, Owner, Standard Building Advisors has been in the roofing industry for 15 years working for Polyfoam Products. When Polyfoam Products was acquired by 3M and the name changed to ICP Building Solutions Group. Riku worked at ICP as Technical Services Manager until March of 2023, when he left to begin his own company. Riku is an engineer and is working as a consultant with FRSA. He is a member on FRSA’s Codes Committee, Codes Subcommittee, Tile Committee and on the FRSA-TRI Manual Rewrite Committee. Riku is also a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
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