It's safe to say things are disrupted. Roofing is no different.
It’s anyone’s guess as to when things settle back to homeostasis, but we know that the next few years will be pricey and difficult for capital project investments in roofing. Finding good labor is a major challenge throughout almost all industries, and supply pricing and availability is unlike anything the materials industry has seen in forty years.
In order to win in this environment, you need to
have a clear plan with flexibility built in. “Know your line” and drive it. Surprises during a project have an outsized impact these days and can cost you major money, time, and risk exposure.
Your Game Plan:
1. Inventory your roofs, know your plan, assign your budgets. We can deliver a roof management program suggestion that establishes condition and inventory, and designs an approach to maximize existing roof life at the best value to the buyer. With this done across your portfolio, you can then prioritize and triage. Helpful hint: don’t just think of the roofs that are clearly at the end of roof life or having problems already. Engage a survey of all mid-to-aged roofs too, as this will allow you to put some on a set-it-and-forget it life extension plan. Get out front of problems. Have the angle.
2. Extend Life. The best project is one that doesn't have to happen. Define an apples-to-apples life extension scope and engage quality contractors to bid on the specification and perform the work. Helpful hint: don't put all your eggs in one basket - diversify based on a performance specification among possible manufacturers to reduce risk of material unavailability from one manufacturer. This will allow flexibility for the bidding contractors, and for you to get the best project schedule available.
3. Tighten Up, Avoid Surprises. If re-roofing is expected in 2022 or 2023, specify and scope as soon as possible with a turnkey bid package that is customized, specific, includes the contract and owner’s stipulations, and addresses key variables which will allow you to contract (and book!) work earlier - all while mitigating risks. Helpful Hint: know what items could materially change between now and the project, such as roof condition, material pricing, labor pricing, immediate pre-project technical due diligence and variances for addressing findings, etc. Include these variables as clauses in your contract so that you and the presumptive awardee are partners in dealing with whatever comes.
Budgeting Season for Property Managers:
Get ahead of the ball and build a roof condition and management report into next year's budgets. Feel free to engage us in a conversation with your asset management. We look at the roof from your eyes, have no incentive to drive a sale, and have a deep bench of tools and relationships to help you execute. Our reports will provide you with options, budgets, and clarity.
"IRE reports are our budget bibles." - Alan Sher, Executive Director of Adler Realty Investments
...or send us a list of addresses, in email or spreadsheet form and we can get you budgets.
We are dedicated to the roof, experts in the field, and we operate transparently which gives you - our property managers - clarity, trust, and control. Get us into the budget for next year - we regularly save our clients 10x of the cost of our services. And while your heads are down putting these budgets together for next year, our heads will be up on the roof, helping you simplify this process, save time and money, reduce risk, and build asset value.