Simplifying roof attachments with easy-to-use calculators

By Jenny Yu.  

With their innovative design tools, S-5! strives to ensure rooftop utilities are easy to install, safe and secure. 

In a recent episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Megan Ellsworth spoke with Jesse Winternitz, application engineer and product support manager at S-5!, about the company’s long-lasting legacy as a leader in roof attachments and customer-friendly resources like the S-5! calculators. 

Since its founding over 30 years ago, S-5! has set the standard for metal roof attachments, including solutions for snow retention, utility and solar across 80 different countries. “We pride ourselves on being the leader in roof attachments domestically and internationally, working with some great partners to provide great products, testing and services for anything you want to attach to a roof,” Jesse said.  

Some of the key tools S-5! provides are their calculators. These calculators, based on S-5!’s certified testing, help contractors design projects with information they need. “If you don't know where to start a project, with these calculators, you can jump right in,” Jesse explained. “There's information about your roof: what kind of roof you have, the dimensions of the roof, the slope of the roof, the application. It gives you a good visual, a good idea and a report on what you need.” The tools include a solar calculator, snow retention calculator, snow load calculator and more.  

Along with helping contractors in their project design, in creating a detailed visual and report, the calculator acts as a useful sales tool as well. “You might have a customer say, ‘Why do I need X amount of attachments?’ Well, now you have a report that shows you exactly why,” Jesse shared. “It shows you the testing, the factors of safety that go into it, the forces that each attachment has to account for. So, it can really be a nice way to simplify the sales process as well, by giving you that extra tool.” 

Finally, Jesse emphasized the support that S-5! offers their customers in utilizing tools like the calculator. “The most important thing I always like to tell people is: we're a customer facing company,” Jesse stated. “You don't need to know how to use the calculators. We're here to help you, to train you and to make them useful tools for anyone, whether you're a contractor, a homeowner, architect, an engineer.” 

Listen to the podcast to learn more about how S-5! calculators make roof attachments easy for contractors.