Todd Pflaumer, Vice President and Sales Manager at Colonial Roofing, called it "extremely important." Colonial has worked on Florida's Gulf Coast since 1978, and Todd said many of the large condominium replacements the company handles involve a consultant or engineering firm.
"It's extremely important. About 80% of the large condominium roof replacements that we do have some type of an engineering firm or a roof consultant in place."
That figure is Todd's description of much of our work. For boards in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties weighing whether to hire one, it shows how often consultant-led bidding is part of a major condo roof replacement project.
Todd described two jobs that happen before a contractor ever prices the project. The first is qualifying who gets to bid:
"They're going to qualify the bidders for the association to make sure that the bidders that do come to the table are capable of handling a project of that scale."
The second is writing the condominium roof specification:
"They're going to write a specification. So you get true apples-to-apples bids at the end of the day."
If the roof system requires engineering, the engineer performs that task, including wind loads and fastening patterns.
A specification sets the roof system, materials, details and requirements every bidder must meet. Without one, each contractor may propose a different system, and the board ends up comparing prices for different roofs. With one, the comparison is between contractors bidding the same work.
The engagement with a roof consultant is a two part process. Bidding is the first part. Oversight is the second:
"There's a two-part process. Not only taking it out to bid, but the project oversight so that our crews go out every single day and are used to having another set of eyes on the project, making sure that it's done on a timely basis. The right materials are being used and you're following the specification."
For the board, that oversight means someone with technical training is checking progress, materials and specification compliance on the association's behalf. Volunteer board members and busy property managers spend their days elsewhere. The roofing consultant fills that gap.
Todd pointed to a part of the consultant's role boards may not expect:
"They handle a lot of the billing and the accounting side of the project so that at the end of the day, when you do have some of those unforeseen plywood charges, carpentry charges, that's not only the contractor showing their documentation on it to the board, but you have another skilled set of eyes that's approving it."
Unforeseen plywood and carpentry charges come up when damaged decking or framing is found during tear-off. With a consultant in place, the contractor documents those items and the consultant reviews and approves them before they reach the board. That second review gives the board an independent check on charges it has no easy way to verify itself.
Based on Todd's answer, a board hiring a roofing consultant for a condo roof replacement can expect help with:
Roof consultant specifications for condos give the board a structure for the whole project, from the first bid to the final invoice.