What’s the Real Cost of Commercial Roof Installation?
While you might know that replacing a roof on a home is a great way to increase its value, it turns out it’s the same deal when you replace a roof on a commercial site. If you’re looking into commercial roof installation, you might worry that you’re in for a massive and crushing bill. However, if you think about the factors that impact costs for you, you’ll ensure you don’t overpay.
Here are four major factors to consider.
1. Consider Your Roof Size
When you’re working on coming up with a number for how much your commercial roof replacement is going to cost, you need to think practically. There are several questions you will want to consider.
First, how big is your roof? The size of the roof that you have to replace is going to impact both material costs and the length of time it takes to perform the labor.
If you’re going to replace your roof, a contractor should be able to give you a reasonable estimate based on the size of your roof. If you know the total square footage or at least a rough estimate of how big it is, you should be able to get an idea.
Think about the actual logistics of getting equipment up to your roof. If they need to install a crane to move equipment several stories, you’re going to have to pay for that.
You also need to consider how much roof is going to have to come off. That means there’s going to be debris removal for all the roofing that is taken off to be replaced. The old and the new material are going to need to be transported, which you’re going to have to pay for as well.
2. What’s the Condition?
The price of replacing your roof is going to depend on other, harder to quantify factors of your current room. The condition that it sits in now is going to be a vital factor in the cost of replacing a commercial roof. When dealing with your current roof, there are a few ways to replace it depending on where you are now.
If you don’t need any major alterations to your roof, you can simply clean and prepare it with no plans to replace anything. This could cost you as little as $0.10 per square foot, meaning that you won’t have to spend a whole lot of money for the work while being able to have a solid roof.
If your roof is in only slight disrepair, you’re going to have to pay for recovery boards to be fastened to your roof. This ensures that you don’t suffer a lot more damage and that your roof can last a few more years. A roof that’s fairly well taken care of can be kept in usable condition for years with the help of recovery board.
For a roof that’s in poor shape, expect to pay 10 to 20 times more than you would for cleaning and preparation. The cost of a full replacement is a significant cost that you shouldn’t take lightly, but should also consider as essential. The potential structural damage you could incur isn’t worth saving a few dollars now.
3. Think About Roof Access
Not all commercial roofs are created equally. There are roofs that are flat and can be walked on and there are some that are slanted. There are many roofs that are a mix of the two and make it treacherous to work on.
When your contractor doesn’t have good roof access, they’re going to charge you a higher premium. The cost of dealing with limited roof access can be far more than the cost of a normal flat roof. Facilities with hurdles that stand in the way of getting access to do the work that needs to be done are going to ensure that it takes longer for the work to get done.
The height and the distances around your roof end up multiplying the cost of installation. Roofs that are sloped are going to require contractors to use specialized tools. A man-lift or rappelling gear used to aid in roof installation aren’t free to set up and operate.
Contractors may even need to rent some equipment like cranes and hosts to move people and tools around. This cost will be added to the total price you pay for commercial roof installation
4. Think About Maintenance
When installing a new roof system, you need to think critically about maintenance. The cost of maintaining a new system isn’t always considered by people who replace their commercial roof. When you sign a maintenance contract with someone recommended by your roof installation company, you could be signing on for more revenue for them.
You need to be getting serious value out of this or else you’ve wasted your money. It’s important that you look at the warranty you’ll have access to if you want to ensure that you get what you’re paying for.
You could save a lot of money but keeping up with maintenance but it’s the combination of warranty and maintenance that keeps your roof in good condition.
Inspect your roof twice a year. In the fall, you should remove leaves and debris from drains and prepare your roof for winter. In the spring, you can look for problems caused by winter weather and ensure the integrity of your roof into and throughout the summer.
Commercial Roof Installation Should Be Easy
While it’s not exactly a weekend DIY project, commercial roof installation should be able to be calculated and handled by most contractors. Shop around and seek out pricing that makes sense for your business and you’ll be sure to find something that fits your budget. Quote lower prices with people you’d prefer to work with and see if they can match that number.
Want to know why commercial roofs fail? Then you need to follow this guide.