If you are a property manager, business manager, facilities manager or Superintendent of Schools, then it is your responsibility to oversee the roofs on your buildings. It would make sense, then, for you to know important details regarding their square footage, installation date, current warranties, installing contractor, past leaks, and overall costs. Yet, oftentimes, this information isn’t easily available.

If you are not aware of this information regarding your roofs, then you are not effectively managing your roofing portfolio. When roofs are not managed, they have the potential to manage you—because you’ll have surprises, which puts you in crisis mode and costs you more money in the end.

A Word About Warranties

Just because a roof may be under a warranty doesn’t mean you will get the maximum service life out of your roofing systems. Keep in mind that if you don’t comply with the terms of your warranties, the manufacturer can void them. Chances are, your warranty obligates you to conduct one (or more) annual inspections of your roof, complete preventive maintenance tasks, and then file a written report with photographic documentation, as well as owning the responsibility to make sure you complete the house-keeping required to maintain drainage.

By not performing regular routine maintenance, you are allowing your roofs to deteriorate more quickly. It is one thing to defer a roof replacement as long as you can; it is another to allow perfectly maintainable roofing systems to have premature failures due to a lack of attention. In essence, its like buying a new car and never changing the oil!

Improving Your Roof Management Activities

If this is a situation you find yourself in, here are some tips on how you can manage your roofs better.

  1. Hire a trusted roofing expert, preferably an independent consultant, who has the experience and expertise to get you the information you need.
  2. Do audits of your roofs annually.
  3. Store information about your roofs in a database designed specifically for roof management.
  4. Keep the database up to date with any maintenance or re-roofing services you have, complete with photos, warranty information, and contractor/cost information.
  5. Propose or obtain maintenance and capital budgets that are reflective of your needs.
  6. Consult a trusted expert when preparing roof maintenance and re-roofing specifications to ensure that your needs are being addressed. Similarly, have the roof inspected afterward for quality assurance purposes.

If you take advantage of these tips, you will be empowered to more effectively perform your job of managing your roofing portfolio. Moisture Management can assist you in setting up an online roof management database, provide proactive roof maintenance programs, and assist with budget planning. Give us a call at 317-577-0910 for a free consultation.