Building roofs and relationships

By Dani Sheehan. 

The relationship between roofing contractors and manufacturers is invaluable. Listen to this podcast to hear one project success that has led to a loyal partnership. 

In a recent episode of Stories from the Roof sponsored by Duro-Last®, Megan Ellsworth joins David Seager of Red Leaf Solutions and Dave Flaherty of Flaherty Brothers Construction to discuss a 360-unit, multifamily building that broke ground in California in 2021. They discuss the material shortages hitting the industry at the time and the jobsite-specific challenges that had to be overcome. 

According to Dave, this project came at the worst time in roofing in terms of material shortages. Partnering with Duro-Last proved to be invaluable, as they were the only manufacturer at the time who could deliver what they needed in a timely manner. Dave shares, “[Duro-Last] enabled us to execute the job on time, on budget and really kind of thrust themselves into the top tier of manufacturers in the business. Getting material was nearly impossible at the time, I think materials were out about 12 months, but David got ahold of me, stepped up with all the Duro-Last team, and got everything up to the roof.” The developer continues to use Duro-Last Roofing Systems on all his buildings. 

The overall project was about 120,000 square feet with a fully tapered insulation system, which was new for Flaherty Brothers Construction at the time, and a fully adhered membrane due to the high wind gusts near the San Francisco Bay. Duro-Last tailored everything to the job, providing custom corners, pipe boots and other details.  

Of the Duro-Last system, David shares the value of Dave’s commitment to using their products: “PVC is not like other roofing systems. You’re not going to have the type of salt implications from the salt air. You don’t have a wicking scrim where you have more exposed areas of the roofing system. You’re going to have the longevity of the system. You’re not going to have the issues where you have scrim degradation, or the issues of sealing the cuts in the membrane.” The roofing system will last more than 20 years regardless of the warranty, and Duro-Last provides consistent support to the contractor every step of the way. 

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast to hear more about this project that was featured in Western Roof Magazine and why these gentlemen love working in the roofing industry.