We are letting you know ahead of time, this is a trick question. Ready? Who typically performs preventive maintenance of your commercial property’s roof? It is a trick question because we have a good chance of already knowing the answer: your facilities crew. Sadly, that is also the wrong answer, for five reasons.
1: Define the Problem
If you gave yourself a vague answer — along the lines of, “I suppose my facilities crew does roof work” — then you may not even be aware of what preventive maintenance is. Here is a simple definition:
- Preventive maintenance is a program of annual or semiannual roof inspection and minor roof repair work performed on your company’s roof field, seams, coping caps, metal edge, parapet and pipe flashing, roof drains and scuppers, gutters, and pitch pockets
If most of that meant next to nothing to you, you really need to shift responsibility for your company’s roof away from your in-house maintenance or facilities crew and partner with a local, reliable commercial roofer.
2: Your Roof, Better
Preventive roof maintenance is unlike reactive roof repair. Instead of waiting for a problem, your local, helpful commercial roofing contractor keeps your roof in excellent shape, stopping small problems from growing into expensive headaches.
Your roof is improved and then kept at peak performance. This regular, conscientious cycle of inspection and repair allows your modest investment to reap huge rewards. Your roof lasts longer, performs better, and gives a greater return on investment (ROI) than any other type of roofing work.
3: This and That
A complete system of preventive commercial roof maintenance is more than an on-site inspection, though the inspection is detailed and thorough. Expect a superior commercial roofer to take care of all the little details:
- Collect a complete roof history — this includes as much information as possible about the roof’s original installation date, its repair record, materials used in the existing installation and for subsequent repairs, and photographs of its current state
- Plan for roof succession — You have too much to handle as things are; you are unlikely to have begun a comprehensive plan for your business’s next roof, so leave it to trained professionals, who can develop a plan to combine economical preventive maintenance with a realistic timeline for full roof replacement
- Roof deck and up — Any reputable commercial roofer offering a preventive maintenance program must include the roof deck and supporting structure, areas often overlooked by in-house, patch-and-plug crews
4: Priced Right
If the greatest preventive maintenance plan in the world is beyond your budget, it does your company no good. This is why a quality contractor will offer you choices, and tailor your plan to fit your roof’s square footage, building age, and more:
- A good beginning, a roofer’s smallest plan for preventive maintenance should include one roof inspection and maintenance visit every year, to include drain and gutter cleaning, trash removal, photographs, a roof drawing, a roof report, an inspection report, and a multi-point roofing checklist.
- Stepping up a level of care should include twice as many annual visits for inspection and maintenance along with all the elements of the first plan.
- With the premium plan, your commercial roofer can offer what is above, plus seam repairs, coping and counterflashing inspection and repairs, hole repairs, attention to pitch pockets, and an annual budget for roofing work.
5: On the Cheap?
Desperate times and desperate measures … you may even now be thinking you could have your own facilities crew perform everything listed here. Budgets are tight, and when has any business complained of having excess capital or crew time to expend on in-house work?
Beyond the strain preventive commercial roof maintenance would put on your in-house maintenance department, one simple fact rises in importance:
- Your facilities crew members are not trained roofers
You are not performing due diligence with your valuable roofing asset if you turn it over, frankly, to amateurs (nice as those facilities crew members are!). You cannot afford to do roofing work “on the cheap,” because the bill for that “shortcut” will be enormously expensive.
Always and only trust your company’s commercial roof to experienced, factory-trained roofers with years of experience handling roofs just like yours.
Always and only rely on your nearby commercial roofing contractor for complete preventive roof maintenance. The very small outlay, every year, for this service will be a wise investment when you extend the life of your roof, cut energy costs, and relieve your in-house crew of the weighty responsibility.
Vanguard Roofing stands ready to provide your northeast United States business a complete line of roofing services. Contact us today to tap our strength in preventive maintenance, prompt roof repair, full roof replacement, and much more. Your roof. Our reputation.
