The roofing industry has an incentive problem: the contractor diagnosing your roof is usually the one who profits most if the diagnosis is "replace it." Our rule is to show the evidence (core cuts, moisture readings, photos of the actual failures) and price the honest options side by side. A ten-year-old TPO roof with two bad seams needs two welds, not a proposal with a crane in it.
The flip side is also true, and we say it plainly: when insulation is saturated across large areas, when seams are failing systemically, when you're paying for the same leak every season: repairs have become the expensive option. We'll show you the repair history that proves it.
Insulation, drainage and what code adds
Replacement triggers current energy code, which in Michigan generally means substantially more insulation than a 1990s roof carries: a real cost, but also a real utility saving every month after. Ponding gets fixed with tapered insulation at the same time, because water that leaves the roof can't get through it. We design both into the replacement bid, not into change orders.
Occupied buildings and tenants below
Tear-offs are loud, and odors and debris need managing when there are tenants under the deck. We sequence by section, coordinate noisy phases with your property manager, protect rooftop units and interiors, and run magnet sweeps on the ground every day. Roofing counts as occupied-building work; we treat it that way.
The deck under the membrane
A membrane is only as good as the deck carrying it. Tear-offs routinely expose what the old roof was hiding: rusted steel deck sections, rotted wood decking at old leak paths, saturated insulation that weighs five times what the design assumed. We price deck repair as a stated unit rate in every replacement bid, so when the tear-off finds damage, the cost is a known number times a measured quantity (photographed and approved before it's covered) instead of a negotiation with your roof open to the sky.
Storm damage and insurance claims
After hail or wind events, the documentation is half the repair. We inspect, photograph and write up damage in the format adjusters actually work from: dated photos, measurements, and a scope that separates storm damage from pre-existing wear, because blurring that line helps nobody and stalls claims. We'll meet your adjuster on the roof, answer the technical questions, and then do the work that gets approved. What we won't do is manufacture a claim; owners keep us around precisely because our reports hold up.
