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Commercial roofs in U.S. markets start in the midrange of six figures and may fetch more than $1.5 million per building.
The complexity of roofing systems, loosely defined requests for quote (RFQ) and contractor defined specifications reduce the serviceable life of many waterproofing systems.
Industry reports indicate the serviceable life of a 20 year roof system last just under seventeen years for an average reduction of 17% to 23%.
Inconsistent price quotes confuse consumers said Anthony de Kerf, BidForms CEO and author of Structured Pricing. An old marketing adage states, “when technologies are too difficult to compare objectively, buyers fall back on price as the deciding factor”.
BidForms placed that in the perspective of construction, “Are you buying one contractors approach out of a group of approaches with the lowest price quote, or selecting the best bid from a group prices for a scope of work?” In complex technologies like roofing, the lowest ‘quoted’ price often equates to minimum quality.
Professional consultants charge $7,500 to guide managers through the process of roof configurations, system options, navigating contractor questions and preparing specs for consistent price bids.
Cost conscious property owners go direct to contractors for pricing. A simple RFQ requires contractors to define the material, SOW work and their own performance requirements.
RFQGuides is an inexpensive alternative to consultants that cost only $800. It simplifies RFQ processes and complexity of roof systems using information from the property operation and maintenance manual reducing user input to the type of material.
eScope users only need to address a few well guided questions. It separates option items and potential change orders from the main scope so stakeholders can easily compare prices and decide on a contractor.
Standard Procedures
To obtain accurate pricing, roofers need to know the material, manufacturer and warranty term. Consumer expectations, the type of substrate and attachment methods are also critical to prepare quotes for roofing.
Professional contractors always request an on-site review to determine accessibility, manpower and equipment requirements. If the detail isn’t provided, they’ll need a core sample to determine whether the project requires a tear-off or installation is an overlay.
Some contractors and building owners will try to work around removal of existing roof systems or request quotes for a minimum required configuration to reduce cost. Both of these items tend to kick the can down the road when cost will be double current rates.
Complicating matters further are regulations and system configuration requirements that vary from one from manufacture to the next. Roof insulation alone increases the cost of roofing by 50% to 65% said Bod Laubach CEO of Environmental Roofing and Waterproofing in Los Gatos, California.
A recent California regulation lobbied by insulation producers recommends two inches of insulation. Fortunately, not all municipals are enforcing this requirement. Complicating waterproofing further some manufacturer brands may require insulation to meet 20 year warranty terms.
Many California roofing contractors leverage regulatory confusion to market less resilient brands as a cost savings option that complies with regulations. But the end result adds $200,000 to the bottom line expense of a $400,000 roof system.
Pricing Roof Installations
The combined complexities and shear number of roof system configurations, dissimilarities between material brands and contractor defined configurations often result in variations among price quotes that can be several hundred thousand dollars.
“Consumers end up selecting the lowest priced configuration in contrast to comparing contractor rates for a similar system design, said Kevin Cardoza, a technical consultant with CRS Roof Consultants in San Jose California. Property managers and building owners never really know if they’re getting the best price”
It can take consultants three to four weeks to collect this data and discuss options with owners before they can prepare a written project and installation specification. Depending on the season, it can take another week or more to schedule contractors for jobsite review to review project requirements, prepare estimates and submit price rates.
RFQGuides simplifies the process, reducing the time it takes to prepare a scope of work (SOW) or quote specification to a single day. Where property owners maintain data in building information models (BIM) objects, the entire setup process can be reduced to less than one hour.
In addition, it’s not unusual for contractors to reject an RFQ when they’re not in control of the bid specification (SOW), defining their own accountability or when they are required to adhere to the consumers’ expectation of deliverables.
Two in twelve contractors invited to bid on residential roofing refused to use Construction PropTech said, Vince Vaiciulis, a residential consultant in Chicago, Illinois. A quarter of roofing indicated they’ll only use their internal written terms and conditions.
Roofing Specifications
Owners and managers can now navigate the complexity of roof system configurations and prepare professional pricing models with basic information from the O&M Manual reducing unknown options to selection of the roofing material.
As a digital roof consultant eScope leverages AI, BIM and roofing industry data libraries in evaluating more than fifty variables to produce installation specifications. It combines industry standards with best practices to provide all the information contractors need to estimate cost and submit bids.
Over 80% of property owners and managers avoid the high cost of consultants who produce legally binding one hundred page documents and identify vendors that meet scheduling objectives before inviting them to bid.
RFQGuides offers a lite weight solution that prepares only the bid specification required to obtain pricing that can be easily understood, compared and analyzed by inexperienced users.
Property management firms can leverage roofing contacts to invite vendors to bid. If management negotiates the configuration to reduce or increase the serviceable life of a waterproofing system, they’re confident in working with contractors that offered similar price structures.
Julianna Herrle
RFQGuides
+1 800-808-4672
email us here
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