Editor's Note

RSS

Owing to a convergence of a changing world economy and an oil market gone mad, the price and availability of one of our industry’s most treasured commodities is spiraling out of control. The price and availability of asphalt is taking the industry into some uncharted waters.

As if the economy and the price of a barrel of oil were not enough to upset the roofing markets this year, we are witnessing a record year for hailstorms

A little off topic this month since the main purpose of this column is to offer up the announcement that our Best of Success conference scheduled for October 2008 has

I sold kettle parts to Brice’s dad when he was a kid in school. That was a long time ago, and he has long since carved out a niche of

To some of you, welcome to the Web version of Roofing Contractor. To many of you, welcome back. To all of you, thanks for reading Roofing Contractor and for putting up with this unvarnished bit of self-promotion for our Web site. But that is the point of this note: self-promotion.

The term “value engineering” is one I have heard spoken by commercial roofing contractors as long as I can remember. In this context it is a fairly straightforward process whereby a given design or specification for a roofing system is pulled apart, analyzed, and reconstructed in order to achieve more bang for the owner’s buck. In an economy with more than a few challenges, it would seem a good idea for all of us in the roofing industry to consider turning our value engineering skills inward. In other words, should your enterprise be constructed differently to meet the challenges of 2008 and beyond?