The Latest Disaster Transfomed

urethaneroofer

Ok guys I thought I would share these pictures of the latest mess. This house was probably built in the 50s or 60s it's an old drug house bought buy a halfway house and should have probably just been tore down. This first picture shows the roof before any work was done it has a total of 4 roofs on it. Past roofers just kept overlaying it. It has never been totally tore off. The job took 6 guys two days to complete it's only 15 square. There was a cockroach infestation inside the roofing Not any more!



This next pictures shows the work in progress









And finally the finished roof

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Arizonaroofer

Ed the Roofer

It looks nice. Is that tape over the butt joints in the decking?

Do you put an elastomeric coating over the surface when you are done?

How much does the application only portion of a job like that cost per square and what is the average pay in your area for your roofing technicians to compare that to?

Ed

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urethaneroofer

Thanks for your comment. Yes that is tape it's an approved method. Anything with a 1/4 inch gap but no more(over wood). It ensures that the foam seals properly, and there are no voids. If left foot traffic can crack the joints this is 1x12 sheathing. The best method would be to mechanically fasten a base, and is an alternate in the bid. foam sticks to almost anything except for most plastics because it is a plastic. For a lack of a better term its like spraying super glue it sticks to everything the damage in one overspray incident can potetially bankrupt a company depending on what gets hit!


It is an elastomeric coating, this particular roof has two coats applied at a rate of 1.5 gallons per square for a 5 year warranty. The base coat is usually tan or grey never white. The coating should have a UV protectant in it. I think all newer and reputable coatings have UV protectant. A good elastomeric coating should have at least a 70% solids content.

The Most important aspect of a foam roof is it's coating and is all to often overlooked. And is the number 1 killer of a foam roof You need to re-coat every 5 to seven years depending on your climate.

All urethane roof foams are exactly the same(3lb from company a is the same as 3lb from company b). The only diffrence is the way they come out of the gun, for the most part. I could go into a whole list of things but when the foam is sprayed on the deck the manufacture cannot tell theirs from anyone elses. As a side note there are only 3 companys gloabaly that manufacture the "A" chemical or Isocyanate.

As far as labor rates in this state for hourly labor is 8-12 hr
Most of the work is piece rate and they average 16-18 hr

Applicators are a whole different story they make any where from 20-30hr plus performance bonuses and yearly bonuses for no overspray this can amount from $5000 to alot more( I've seen a company pay out $75,000 for one overspray incident). A good qualified applicator can make you alot of money and what you pay him/her is a fraction of what they can make you. Typicaly your applicators are your bread winners. A good example of this would be a wide open commercial job. A top applicator can foam up to 180 squares in one day with two men (1000 lbs an hour) 1000 lbs covers 30 squares 1 inch thick. A modified crew cannot do this.
An applicator will spend 5 years tagging a hose and watching and his first year spraying small roofs, T.I work and repairs. Applicators are carefully selected and you will spend around $20,000 trainning them their first year. With overspray, leaks, and being over on materials foam runs almost $2.00 a lb. you can be hundreds of pounds over on a job. And ontop of all that your applicator may never be a qualified applicator not everybody that learns can actually do it. So when a company finds a good applicator they do everything they can to keep them happy.

The responsibilty of an applicator is the largest and can never be explained in words you have to be behind the wheel of a $100,000 foam truck to understand.

The bid rate for foam(depending on the economy and material cost) is around $2.25-$5.00sqft The cost for materials is around $1 sqft or 40% depending on the scope of work sometimes it can be as much as 60%

Well I've rambled on enough thanks for your intrest.

Russell

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Arizonaroofer

Ed the Roofer

How about the equipment to get started?

Do you rent it per day/week/month or just finance it and take the splurge.

I am just guessing on $30,000.00 to $50,000.00 for a full commercial application set-up.

A friend of our owns a company called Spray-Max and Soythane.com and has talked widely about the technical aspects, but not as much about the actual in field work, so yes, it is interesting.

Do you find more business in rural areas with metal corrugated panel roofs or on existing flat built-up roofs, or in heavily commercialized larger cities?

Ed

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http://www.rightwayroofingcompany.com/ www.rightwayroofingcompany.com
Roof Estimates, Roof Repairs, Roofers, Roof Leak Help, Elgin, Carpentersville, East Dundee, West Dundee, Sleepy Hollow, Algonquin, South Elgin, Huntley, Lake In The Hills, Illinois

urethaneroofer

I've heard and read about soythane . As far as the equipment you pay cash or finance it. Everything about foam is expensive and thats why you need a good qualified applicator to run it. I have sprayed foam on everything as a matter of fact I just sprayed a corrugated panel roof On friday, the guy asked me does it really make a difference and I sprayed 2 inches on half of the roof and told him to go inside he could imidiately feel the difference. We spray foam on everything, metal, built-up, shingles residential, commercial in the city every where. From million dollar homes to trailers,water tanks inside of metal buildings every where. It's very light weight and very durable. To be honest I think it's the best money can buy. You have to see it to believe it.

My truck holds 6000 lbs of foam that will cover approxamately 180 square my equiptment is a graco/gusmer H-20/35 pro which they only made for a few years the profit margin was small so they quit making them.Now they make an H-50 pro new design. I have 300 ft heated hose 35kvw generator and a air compressor. The foam is in heated tanks in the truck. The coating pump is driven off the H-20/35 its a graco 733 head and lower puts out 10gpm of coating. I can spray foam any where with it. I will post some pictures of the inside of it later in the week.

As far as the technical aspect of foam goes it's very simple. The real test comes when you spray it. I have had manufactures on the job and have left them clueless. Spraying foam is more of an art form than anything else. The reason foam is not widely used on roofs more on the east coast and the northeast more is because the application window due to weather is so small that contractors can't justify the price. In those areas you'll see more and more wall insulation and attics done with foam.

As far as profit goes ponder this 350 square commercial building finished in 3 days with a total of three guys for a $40,000 profit I have to be honest the bigger the roof the easier the spray

On the other hand ponder this I've seen a roofing contractor have to pay $20,000 to do a roof of the same size due to overspray

Russell

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OUTLAW

Very Nice!

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03demax

Your pictures are very nice. I am going to get a foam rig next year. Your application is awsome!!

English Roofer

I will leave this type of roofing to you experts!! Very nice work though and thanks for the information.
Cheers
Dave

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