When Hamilton Anderson Associates of Detroit designed the Detroit School of Arts, the firm believed that sustainability of the project would lead to LEED certification.
In 2004, Ford Motor Company integrated 21st century environmental design into its manufacturing facility with the construction of the Ford Dearborn Truck Assembly Building.
It seemed that green products took center stage and solar applications provided the spotlight as more than 9,000 industry professionals converged on the Las Vegas Convention Center Feb. 21-23 for the International Roofing Expo. There were 442 exhibiting companies and 1,060 booths in 106,000 net square feet of space in the exhibit hall. At press time, final verified attendance numbers were not available, but preliminary numbers indicate that attendance was flat from last year’s record-breaking number of 9,020.
A critical yet sometimes overlooked factor in determining a contractor’s insurance premium is his or her own loss experience. Particularly in the world of workers’ compensation insurance, premiums are greatly affected by the frequency and severity of losses. For the insurer to properly assign premiums versus potential risk, they look to compare the individual contractor’s loss experience to those performing similar types of work. Simply put, the Experience-Rating Modifier (ERM) is computed as a factor of the insured’s own loss experience that is used to modify the standard premium. Therefore, those with higher-than-average losses will pay more for their insurance than those with average or lower-than-average losses.
So you think you have a best-in-class safety program at your roofing company? No, you know your safety program is top-notch. You may have a good safety program, and you may even have a great safety program, but the bar has just been raised by the Evans Roofing Company of Elmira, N.Y.
Polymer modified bitumen membranes have been utilized with great success all over the world for decades, and there’s no reason to think things will change anytime soon, according to David Allen of BITEC Inc. “They have a good track record,” said Allen, vice president of operations and technical services for BITEC, which is headquartered in Morrilton, Ark. He asserted that modified bitumen manufacturers and their membranes would survive the ups and downs of the roofing market this year and beyond.
We surveyed commercial property decision makers in both 2001 and 2004 about their thoughts related to our industry. Those market research initiatives demonstrated what we all thought we knew - manufacturers, contractors and consultants are being asked for products and services that are better, quicker and cheaper.
In the past, buildings with both low-slope and steep-slope roof areas presented a real design challenge, mainly due to the limitations in low-slope roofing color choices. Most often, building and design professionals were forced to match bright, attractive shingles with modified bitumen membranes, traditionally available in black only. It was either this or choose a black shingle to achieve the monochromatic look on a mixed low- and steep-slope roof. Fortunately, things change. Color science has advanced.
In a tight construction market, the ability to sell quality-roofing solutions is more important than ever. It is the hard times that separate the order takers from the record breakers. If past economic lulls are any indicator, in the current slowdown experience and marketing savvy will prevail over racing competitors to the lowest price.
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