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Roofing Solutions
Why Roof Maintenance Pays
Is Maintenance a good investment?
(reprinted with permission)

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Try the math

Roofing systems are assets, and have a finite life expectancy. Life spans have ranged widely from as little as five years to documented cases of 50 years or more. However, most membrane roofing systems will be replace or can expect to receive significant renovation in less than 20 years.

Few people would purchase a new car and not change the oil to protect their major investment. Unfortunately, once an investment is made in a roof system, the roof is out of sight and is unlikely to get much thought until there is a problem. By then, damage may be extensive.

It takes good financial controls and a corporate commitment to ensure that the roof is maintained. The good news is that the payback can be spectacular over the long-term. (Please see Figure 2).

Crunching the numbers

The goal of this study is to express, in financial terms, the value of Roof Maintenance Management. Still another goal is to enable to roof to perform its primary mission: to protect the interior of the building.

Another goal is to conserve energy by keeping the insulation dry. Since wet insulation loses effectiveness, a dollar value can be assigned to this wasted fuel cost.

The long-term presence of wet roofing materials can have other consequences. In its most dramatic manifestation of neglect, roof decks have failed, endangering roofing workers and/or occupants beneath. Disintegrated components such as rotted nailers and corroded insulation fasteners, have contributed to catastrophic wind blow-off.

Before we begin our financial analysis, let’s address some of the frequently asked questions pertaining to Roof Maintenance Management.

Figure 1

Assumptions

Roof Size: 100.000 square feet

Study Period: 20 years

Cost of Initial Roof System: $300,000

Hurdle Rate: $10%

Roof Replacement Cost: $500,000

Leak Repairs: $750 each occurrence

Interior Damage from Leaks: $500 each occurrence

Wasted Energy: $1.08/ft./year

Inspection Program: $1,000/year

Visual Surveys: $1,000/Year

Moisture Surveys: $5,000 each

 

Figure 2

Roof Maintenance Alternatives

Capital

Leak Repairs

Total Consequential Costs

Total Asset Management Program Costs

Preventative Repair Costs

Total Repair Consequential & Management Costs

Total Investment Value (Net present value)

Uniform Capital Recovery

 

Reactive (1)

$800,000

$21,000

$4,984

$25,984

$503,921

$40,436

 

Moderate (2)

$625,000

$9,000

$2,566

$41,000

$2,250

$54,816

$394,756

$31,676

 

Aggressive (3)

$300,000

$5,000

$58,000

$4,500

$67,500

$284,928

$22,863

How much should we be spending on our Roof Maintenance Program

Before we answer this question, let’s see what we’ll need:

• Visual surveys-roofs should be visually examined twice a year. Damage surveys should be conducted after periods of violent weather or after a roof has been subjected to construction traffic.
• Moisture surveys-insulated roofs should also be surveyed by nondestructive means on a periodic basis. This might be on a 2-5 year interval, as well as just prior to making major decisions on the fate of the roof system.

Step #1

Roof Maintenance program costs:

$0.10-$0.15 per square foot, per year.

Including the overhead to manage a moisture survey program 10 to 15 cents per square foot, per year, is not unreasonable.

An owner who plans to perform sizeable repairs on older roofs might expend 45-50 cents per square foot for labor and materials.