POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – It took five years, but with patience and
an old-fashioned approach to doing business – one based on a personal touch,
building strong relationships and delivering quality work – Pompano Beach,
Fla.-based Florida Quality Roofing (FQR) won the contract to replace the roof
of ABCO Products Inc.’s headquarters.
By
being willing to venture beyond “the way we’ve always done it” and try
something different, they saved their client approximately $12,000 in materials
costs and gained knowledge, experience and a new tool that will be a benefit on
future jobs.
Establishing a
Relationship
Miami-based
ABCO Products offers a complete portfolio of cleaning tools used in the
janitorial sanitation, commercial, retail, grocery and food service markets.
When the company first contacted FQR, the 16-year-old built-up roofing system
on its headquarters facility – home to warehouse, distribution and office
spaces – was leaking around scuppers toward the back of the building. FQR Owner
and President German Duarte walked the 77,600-square-foot roof with ABCO’S
owner and warehouse manager to review problem areas and discuss the company’s
needs and priorities. During a follow-up meeting, he shared his findings and
offered options for both repairing and replacing the roof.
That
process and emphasis on in-person interaction is standard procedure for FQR.
“We
operate as a small, boutique-style company and provide very personal,
one-on-one service,” Duarte said. “I work directly with every client – owner to
owner.
“Buying
a roof is one of the largest investments a building owner makes,” he added.
“So, we go to great lengths to understand the client’s needs, tailor our
recommendations accordingly, and give the client an opportunity to decide what
works best them.”
This
time, the client opted to make repairs in-house.
Often
the story would end there. But fast-forward five years, and Duarte was back at
ABCO Products.
Personal Approach Pays
Off
The
roof was now 21 years old and there were leaks on the west side, where it
sloped and drained.
“Different
types of repairs had been made over the years, and none of them had been made
by a professional roofer,” Duarte said. “It was a patchwork of silicone coating
and torch-down modified bitumen. It was time to get serious and install a
system that would be backed and warranted.”
ABCO
Products’ insurer agreed. For coverage to continue, the roof needed to be
replaced.
Fleece Back TPO
Hurricane
resistance, compatibility with the existing roof deck, and the ability to
attach the membrane directly to the roof deck led Duarte to recommend a Fleece
Back TPO roofing system from Mule-Hide
Products Co., fully adhered using Helix® Max Low-Rise Adhesive from
Mule-Hide Products.
Like
many buildings of its era in the Miami area, ABCO Products’ facility has a
gypsum roof deck. Fleece Back TPO is one of the few single-ply membranes that
would be compatible with it.
“The
low price point of gypsum roof decks made them popular,” said Luis Ramos,
territory manager – South Florida for Mule-Hide Products. “But when it’s time
to attach a new roof to them, there aren’t many options.”
Miami
is a High-Velocity Hurricane Zone (HVHZ) and all roofing products used there
must meet stricter building code requirements to help ensure that, when storms
hit, components remain in place and the roof can better withstand impact from
flying debris. TPO-c Fleece Back from Mule-Hide Products is approved by the
state of Florida and Miami-Dade County for use in HVHZs, holding both Florida
Product Approval and Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance.
Fleece
Back TPO also could be attached directly to the gypsum roof deck without
installing a layer of insulation, reducing labor and materials costs. Local
building codes require the use of low-rise
adhesive when
attaching directly, as it provides higher wind uplift pressures than can be
achieved when mechanically fastening the membrane to an existing gypsum deck.
A New Approach
Most
contractors would not have given a second thought to the adhesive’s packaging,
but would have stayed with the tried-and-true and used pressurized tanks. But
FQR is always willing to consider products and techniques that have the
potential to deliver superior performance, be faster and easier to install, or
give their clients options not offered by other contractors.
So
when Ramos suggested crunching the numbers for using 5-gallon jugs of adhesive,
rather than pressurized tanks, Duarte was open to the idea. They found that the
jugs would reduce the materials costs for the project by approximately $12,000.
To
use the jugs, FQR invested several thousand dollars in an OMG Roofing
Products PaceCart3™
dispensing cart. On a small job, or a large job spread out over several
buildings, this would not have made sense; using pressurized tanks would have
been more cost-effective than purchasing multiple dispensing carts and
certainly easier than hauling a cart to and from multiple roofs. But on this
job, the math worked in the jugs’ favor.
The
roof’s large size and the jugs’ greater coverage rate – 35 squares per kit
versus pressurized tanks’ 15 squares per kit when applying the adhesive every 6
inches on center – combined to reduce materials costs enough to cover the cost
of the cart and significantly reduce the project’s cost for the customer. FQR
also can now use the cart on future jobs – something they have already done.
Finishing Touches
Portions
of the gypsum roof deck had deteriorated and were repaired with lightweight
gypsum patch solution.
Based
on an engineer’s drainage calculations, the nine existing scuppers were not
sufficient to comply with building codes. Nine emergency overflow scuppers were
added to help ensure that, should the primary scuppers become clogged, water
could still drain away.
AeroWeb
Low-VOC Contact Adhesive/Primer from Mule-Hide Products was used to attach
Standard TPO membrane to a vertical wall where lower and upper roof sections
met.
Smooth Job
Once materials had
been staged and an adhesion test confirmed compatibility between the low-rise
adhesive and roof deck, it took approximately nine weeks to complete the job,
with crews of 18 to 20 professionals on the roof each day. Duarte counts it among
the smoothest-running jobs in FQR’s 20-year history.
Mother Nature
cooperated, with inclement weather keeping the crew off the roof for only three
days.
There were no rooftop
units to contend with – a rarity, Durate noted. The only flashing required was
around 10 mechanical fans used to remove heat from the building.
“We were pleasantly
surprised by how convenient it was to work on the building,” Duarte said. “I
think TPO with the wider 12-foot roll size was perfect for this job.”
Ramos inspected the
roof days after its completion and found no problems that needed to be
addressed. A 20-year No Dollar Limit Warranty was issued.
Ongoing Maintenance
ABCO Products has
protected its roofing investment with a maintenance agreement that includes
annual inspections, cleaning, documentation of any damage, and any
warranty-required maintenance. FQR encourages all of its clients to purchase
such agreements.
“Performing yearly
maintenance on any new roofing system helps ensure that the building owner’s
initial investment is looked after and protected over the next 20 years,”
Duarte said.
A maintenance plan
also helps FQR strengthen its relationship with the customer. It shows the
pride that FQR takes in its work, and that communication is two-way and ongoing
– not just if the customer calls with a concern.
For Duarte, the most
rewarding part of the job was working with ABCO Products’ management.
“It was a pleasure
doing business with them,” he said. “They were courteous and grateful that we
were helping them solve their roofing issue and insurance requirements.”
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