Lee Ramsey, Vice President Sales Commercial Southeast Region, GAF
The importance of roof maintenance is no secret among contractors. However, it’s relatively unknown among most building owners. Given that building owners are the ones who decide when and how often their roofs are maintained, this often means that maintenance doesn’t get done.
It’s easy for contractors to focus on just installing a roof at the beginning and leaving future maintenance up to the building owner. But if a representative from your company doesn’t help the customer understand routine maintenance needs, your installation may fail before its time.
A roof warranty can often be misinterpreted by building owners. They assume that it will cover anything that may happen to the roof, regardless of whether or not maintenance is performed. This can lead to frustration down the road when they discover that many warranties require routine maintenance as a prerequisite for coverage.
“The first thing out of everyone’s mouth when a problem occurs is, ‘Well, I got a 20-year warranty. What’s going on?’” says Michael Black, Director of Service and Maintenance at Sutter Roofing. “So, my biggest thing with customers is that when I first go meet them, I explain exactly what their warranty covers and does not cover and I explain to them the importance of preventative maintenance.”
Building owners may assume that a roof is not truly damaged unless they notice an obvious issue, such as water damage, from the inside. This “out of sight, out of mind” attitude can leave owners with massive repair bills that could have been avoided with regular inspections.
Educating building owners isn’t technically the responsibility of a contractor but doing so can bring a major boost to your business. It can help foster customer loyalty by saving your customers’ money, which can, in turn, create long-term regular business for you.
So, how do you go about educating customers about maintenance? A good place to start is to go over the most common types of damage that can be found on a low-slope roof and how regular inspections can help prevent them.
There are a few key areas of maintenance that all contractors look for when maintaining a roof, which customers should also keep in mind when determining when to get their roof inspected.
Vegetation build-up on low-slope roofs can be easy for a customer to ignore until it’s too late. They often let leaves and other
debris build up until clogs form in drains and gutters, leading to water damage.
This is a problem almost anywhere, but it can be especially damaging here in Florida. Heavy rains from tropical storms are already risk factors for water damage and those risks become exponentially greater when drainage systems get blocked up with vegetation.
When possible, it’s helpful to perform yearly inspections before storm season. As Michael Black explains, “Before storm season, you want to make sure that your roof is clear and your drains are clear. Some of these storms can dump up to 20 inches of rain and if you have a bunch of vegetation, clogged gutters and clogged drains, that can cause major inside leak issues.”
The caulking and sealants at termination points can start to wear down after just a few years, especially under the Florida sun.
If caulking and sealants weaken too much, it can invite water damage and otherwise weaken the roof’s integrity. However, simple fixes like caulking or resealing joints with a liquid-applied membrane can improve roof performance long-term.
To make sure caulking and sealants get repaired the moment they start to wear down, contractors should be thorough when looking for these and other types of issues. Take time and inspect all aspects of the roof. With roofing, there are many things that may go unnoticed unless you thoroughly inspect it.
Most customers assume that any flat roof can be walked on without issue. It’s important to make building owners aware that foot traffic, dropped tools and rooftop utility work all leave behind wear and tear that can amount to real damage over time.
Of particular concern for Florida roofs is the damage done by A/C unit installation and maintenance. Few HVAC contractors understand roofing codes and they can be unintentionally brutal to a low-slope roof. Sometimes an A/C installation will impact the integrity of the roof to the point where it’s no longer up to code, not to mention the potential damage caused by dropped tools or heavy foot traffic during the work.
Owners should know who’s on their roofs and when so they can keep tabs on their roof’s integrity. Something as simple as a dropped screwdriver can weaken the membrane, so make sure they know to reach out for an inspection whenever a significant
amount of rooftop work has been done.
Helping building owners understand roof maintenance is so much more than just the considerate thing to do – though it certainly is that. Proactive communication about proper maintenance can actually help you grow your business in the long run.
Customers appreciate learning ways they can save money. Illustrating the long-term price of forgoing maintenance can be enough to make most building owners exceptionally grateful for your help. This in turn can bolster your reputation and get you more
word-of-mouth recommendations.
In addition, routine maintenance gives your company regular, long-term business that you can count on. Each happy customer will call you to perform their maintenance year after year, giving you a predictable flow of high-margin, low-liability work to grow your
bottom line.
When you educate the customer about roofing, they’re going to respect and trust you. Once you earn their trust, you have a customer for a long time.
Lee Ramsey is Vice President of Sales and Commercial Roofing, Southeast for GAF. He attended the University of Central Florida in Orlando and began his roofing career at Bradco Supply and has worked for GAF for the last 31 years. Lee is married to Andrea, and together, they have four children who are all involved in the roofing industry. They also have five grandchildren. In addition to spending time with family, Lee enjoys fishing and skiing.
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