Sunday, February 27, 2011

Metal Roofs and Economic Crises

Perspective is everything when it comes to judging circumstances, and to illustrate I offer the summary of two recent conversations.


In the first, I spoke with the owner of a roofing contracting company about the state of business. To say he was pessimistic would be grossly inadequate. “Despondent” or “shell-shocked” are probably more apt. In any event, he was unable to grasp how his recently successful business was now on the verge of failing and he was wondering from where he might find his next job. He was down from six or seven installation crews to one, and even they were not working full time.


You see, he had built his business installing roofs for “tract” builders. As a result, he had enjoyed a robust enterprise for nearly 10 consecutive years. Now, there is no tract work at all, and what was left was so competitive as to be worthless. What puzzled me, even at the time of our talk and even though discretion prevented me from commenting at that moment, was that he would be surprised at all by the turn of events. Did he not see that he was supplying labor to an industry that was rolling in an orgy of speculation and leverage? How could anyone think that the constant parade of new developments would continue unabated into the indefinite future? Was he surprised that I was not?


My second conversation was with an established contractor specializing in remodeling and custom building. His perspective on the current state of business mirrored my own: Things were definitely slowing down, but there was still plenty of projects needing attention and although one had to be more competitive, there was no shortage of good business about.

Stepping back, it makes perfect sense that the owners of buildings that have moved little, plan on staying put, and remain proud of their home or business have changed little. Their priorities remain the same: efficiency, low maintenance, good looks and long service life. No wonder metal roofing is the fastest-growing segment of the roofing products industry. I'm reminded of a trip to a South American country where I was struck by two things: How slowly things were built, and what attention was given to the details. The explanation by my host was rather simple, “That it takes a few months more or a few months less to build hardly matters when the owner is planning to live in that house for the rest of his life, and then pass it on to his children.” How could I argue with such sound logic?


At the end of the day, an owner is still going to spend more money on a nice metal roof that one of the disposable alternatives (like asphalt), but when this recession has faded into history with all of the others, the permanence of metal will remain. I'm glad metal is my business.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Need a New Metal Roof in Northern Nevada?

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Looking for a New Roof in Reno, NV?

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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

How to Price a New Metal Roof...?

Someone asked me recently to “ball park the price of a metal roof." I'm afraid I insulted him when I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

The useful answer is so long and conditional as to be almost useless. Our company alone offers metal roofs that start at under $1.00 per square foot and go up to over $15. Adding labor on top of these numbers and you can easily have a range of prices that might be equal a spread of nearly 20 to 1. So I could have answered, “Somewhere between $5,000 and $100,000. How’s that for a ball park?"

The fact is there is just such a range of options that any attempt to ball park is apt to establish a ridiculous standard against which any given job will have no bearing. We have “economy” roofs that are intended to be utilitarian and fast to install. They’re not particularly pretty, and a lot of people wouldn’t want them on their home, but they work for what you pay and some people are just tickled pink with the result. On the other hand, I have clients who want the best and want their investment to showcase their home. For that class of client, few things announce “Estate Quality” like a solid copper or zinc roof.

Metal roofing materials also have the distinction of having possibly the widest variable in labor rates for their installation. Since there is such a colossal difference in detail levels between the cheapest styles of material and the finest, the labor is correspondingly miles apart in cost. The time it takes to slap down and “through fasten” long, seamless panels on a walkable pitch roof is possibly one tenth of the time it might take to custom-fit the details around architectural details on a steep, complex English Tudor mansion. As one considers the range of variables, it becomes easier and easier to understand why “ball parking” is fraught with peril when it comes to metal roof prices.

One thing is certain, whether you’re after the most functional or the most impressive, few materials offer the breadth of value and appearance afforded by metal roofing materials. If you visit our metal roof sales website, www.metalroofnet.com, to investigate metal roofing options, you’ll quickly see from the wide variety of looks why it’s tough to approximate metal roof prices. However, what would be useful is to pick a profile or two from a few of the photos you like, and see if there’s a style of building or home that’s close to yours. With a profile and an approximate roof line to consider, a quick phone call to us and a few more questions answered and you could come away with something approximating a useful number. Of course, if you really want to do your homework, visit www.ReRoof101.com and order a computerized aerial photo map and price formula for you home and get VERY useful numbers indeed. Then you’ll be a long way ahead of even experienced roofers in having good numbers from which you can make decisions about your next roof – metal or otherwise.