(upbeat music) - What's up, guys? Welcome to Q&A Mondays. I'm Thad Barnette. Today we're talking about
weathertight warranties and the Sheffield Metals
processes and procedures that you'll need to go through as a contractor for weathertight warranty. And today I've got Jeff Hock, the Technical Director
of Sheffield Metals. Thanks for being here, Jeff. - Absolutely. Thanks for having me. - So let's start with what
is a weathertight warranty? Throughout the industry, it's known as a few different names depending on the manufacturer. Tell me a little bit about it. - Just in general, weathertight warranty is a guarantee from a manufacturer saying that the roof system is not gonna leak if it's
installed per the requirements set forth by the manufacturer. There are all different
types of warranties, different levels. Some people have type
one, type two, type three, which all have different
levels of coverage. Most common ones you're gonna
see are gonna be standard or limited weathertight warranties. And then no dollar limit
weathertight warranties. It can range anywhere from
five years to 35 years depending on what manufacturer
you're dealing with. And again, coverage might
change for manufacturer, requirements will definitely change depending on what
manufacturer you're using. But the gist of it is that it's a guarantee
to the project owner that the roof isn't gonna leak during a certain time up to
a certain amount of money. - Okay. So the manufacturer
sets aside the standards for the installation and then they hold the
liability for that warranty. - Correct. The manufacturers are basically, can't speak for all of 'em, but for Sheffield we are going to dictate basically how the roof panels
are gonna be installed, what clip spacing they
should be installed at. You know, we're gonna dictate
all the flashing installation methods that have to be done and then throughout the process
we're gonna do inspections and make sure that things are
being installed correctly. - So with Sheffield Metals, what types of buildings can be warranted with a weathertight warranty? - So we only warrant commercial projects. You know, they're gonna have a spec, they're gonna have
installation requirements are gonna be dictated from Sheffield. We're basically gonna tell you exactly how the roof should be put on. We don't warrant residential projects. It's not in our scope, nor is it usually a
requirement for the project. Residential projects are usually gonna want
an installer warranty, something from the contractor
to put on the roof on saying it's not gonna leak
anywhere from two to 10 years. And that's usually more than
sufficient in those scenarios. When it comes to commercial projects where people are spending
sometimes hundred thousands, millions of dollars, they want something
backing up the installation on those types of projects and they want that from the manufacturer. - So for Sheffield, what's covered in the different types of
weathertight warranties? - Things that are covered
are defects in materials, improper installations, things like that. You're not gonna get coverage
when it comes to act of God, you're not gonna get
coverage due to corrosion. There are different warranties
that we offer for that, whether it be a substrate
warranty or a paint warranty. It's basically gonna cover the installation of the metal roof itself and making sure that
it's not going to leak, it's gonna be in a leak-free condition. That's the purpose of
a weathertight warranty is to keep your roof weathertight. - So what should I do if I'm interested in installing weathertight warranties you know, as a Sheffield Metals installer? - So there's a couple
different things you can do. If it's your first weathertight warranty, strongly suggest you call up somebody in the technical department, they can kind of walk you through
the different requirements and how the process
works, things like that. If you are more versed in
weathertight warranties, we have procedures for
two different things. So we have a quote request form. If you need to get a price
for a potential project, maybe you're bidding on it or you know, you're looking
to just see what it would cost if you wanted to add it, you could fill out the quote request form. Everything's in a PDF format, but it's fileable so you don't have to
print it out and scan it. You can type right in
the form and send it off. If you have the job already and you wanna apply for
weathertight warranty, that's when you go to the
weathertight warranty application. Same idea as the quote request form. It's just that's the one you use when you're actually applying and it's gonna ask for some
more specific information that we'll need at the end of the job when it comes to closeouts, as far as architect information, general contractor
information, things like that. With both applications we request that you include roof
plan specs, elevations. If you have wall sections that show, you know, the roof section,
that'd be great as well. This way we can review the spec, we can review the roof plan. If we see any potential problems, we can bring it up to the contractor. Or if we see, "Hey, especially
in the bidding phase, you know this area is a little funky, we wanna make sure that this
is what we're gonna require so you can bid it accordingly." You aren't getting any surprises from us after you've already put your bid in and you locked in a number basically. - So on the Sheffield website, there's a lot of profiles
that Sheffield supports, but which ones are eligible
for weathertight warranties? - For the Sheffield's
weathertight warranty program, you have to have a panel that's
at least rated for UL 90, even if the project isn't calling out any uplift requirements, you know, we believe in long term
roofing and best practices. You know, we're gonna
dictate for Sheffield that the roof's installed
to at least a UL 90 minimum. The main profiles that we see when it comes to weathertight warranties are the inch and a half mechanical, the inch and three quarter snap lock, the inch and a half, 550 snap lock, and the two inch mechanical. Those are kind of our sweet spot. Our bread and butter when it comes to weathertight warranties. One, because they're
gonna perform very well just in general. And two, we have a wide variety
of different engineering and testing on those panel products to meet most specifications
that you're gonna run across. Those are gonna be the big ones. You're not gonna see panels in there like the one-inch nail
strip, things like that. Those aren't panels that we're gonna put up
weathertight warranty on. - What's the process like as an installer throughout the inspections and all that? - Yeah, so after you supply the
submittal or the application and give the information,
basically we come back and we'll provide to you
if everything's good, we'll provide you an intent to warrant, a piece of paper saying that yes, Sheffield Metals intends
to warrant this project. We go back and forth with
you for a detailed approval to make sure that we're
all on the same page as far as what's gonna be
inspected installation wise, we do a pre-installation
Zoom conference with you, the installation contractor, and somebody who's gonna
be on site all the time. If you have multiple
people that are gonna share that responsibility, we ask
that they all be on there. That way the flow of
information can make sure it gets down to the people that are actually putting the roof on. If you're on the installation meeting, but you're not gonna be
out on the project site, we appreciate you knowing what goes on. But it's very important that the people actually
putting the roof on, have the proper direction. So we go over all the
required approved details that you're gonna be asked to install. If there's any funky areas, we will talk about those and about how we need to handle
'em or different scenarios and we ask, you know, has anything changed from the application? So that's kind of the beginning. Then about 25, 30% of the way through, we come out, we do a
physical onsite inspection. We see what's being installed, how it's being installed. If there's any corrections
that have to get made, we go ahead and we get that taken care of. So that way if we see anything happening that might not be quite right, we can catch it early and not have it continue
out throughout the project and then have to come
back and ask you to repair or redo a bunch of different things. We try to work with the contractors to make this process is
easy as possible for 'em. During the whole project we
ask that photos are submitted. So this way, again, if
something's being done we can catch it early and say, "Hey, we need you to
do this, this, and this before you go and do the next 50 of 'em." All goes well, we do a
final inspection at the end. If there's any repairs
or corrections noted, we note everything in inspection reports. So anytime we come out
and do an inspection, we do an inspection
report that will dictate not just the things that need corrected but the good things that
are going on as well. And then after the final
corrections are noted and the project's done, we issue the paperwork out, invoice for the warranty payment. Once we get all that back
with everybody's signatures, then we issue out the final
executed weathertight warranty to the installation contractor
who we're dealing with. In the scheme of things, it's
really not a hard process. The biggest thing to remember when doing a weathertight
warranty with us or anybody, any manufacturer is communication is key. The more both parties
know what's going on, the sooner things can get addressed early if there's something that needs to happen and just the easier the whole process and flow of information is. - Do you ever get asked
from a building owner or an architect if it's possible to get
a weathertight warranty after installation? - All the time. It is not something we do. Most of the time, if it's
after the installation, it's very hard to say that
things have been installed per our requirements, right? Anything from, you know,
well, what's the clip spacing? There's only one way to
really check clip spacing and that's to end up tearing things up. It's not really in anybody's best interest to try to get a warranty after the fact. You know, we have specific
products that we require. So I mean if you used
the wrong underlayment, I mean you're basically shot
right from the beginning. So that's why it's very important that if you're gonna be going
for a weathertight warranty with us or with any manufacturer, you wanna make sure that
you have that figured out before you put any metal on the roof. - And I know Sheffield's
got a couple main types of weathertight warranties,
standard and no dollar limit. Can you explain the differences there? - Those are the two main types. We offer a standard or
limited weathertight warranty. You basically have as much coverage for the cost and installation
of the roof itself. So you have the cost of materials and the cost of the install. So if the project was $50,000, the owner will basically have
$50,000 worth of coverage to use during that term of the warranty. If there is a problem and it needs to be corrected
and you use $25,000 of it, basically you have
$25,000 left of liability if there was to be a
potential future problem during the warranty term. A no dollar limit warranty
is just how it says. There is no dollar limit
to the amount of coverage when it comes to repair or replacements of the
roofing system due to leaks. All the other requirements
are exactly the same. We don't make people install
limited warranties different than we installed no
dollar limit warranties. The standards are the standards. Again, believe in long-term
roofing best practices. It's just basically the cost
of the weathertight warranty and the amount of coverage that the project owner's gonna be getting at the end of the day. - What other questions do you get about weathertight warranties? - We get a lot of ones as far
as using different products. Talked a little bit earlier about we have set standard of products that we require to be
used on our installations. There's a reason for that. You know, we use specific products for the reason that we
know they're gonna perform. We have people come and talk to us about using different underlayments
and things like that. And you know, an example is one of the
underlayments they want to use, carries a five-year manufacturer warranty from the underlayment company. If they want a 20-year
weathertight warranty, I don't know why I would use a product that carries a five-year
manufacturer warranty when I have to warrant the
whole system for 20 years. Things to think about when you're talking about
weathertight warranties is that you want to use the products that are going to last as long, at least as long as the
weathertight warranty is gonna be required of. But more importantly, you really should be
out there using products that are gonna last as long
as the roof system itself, which is 60 plus years, you
can have a great product, but then the accessories
and parts and pieces that you use in the assembly or to attach it with aren't up to par, you're not really getting the full benefit of the initial investment of
those metal panels, right? - So in addition to the
types of warranties, what about the length of warranties and then how much they cost? - We offer weathertight
warranties anywhere from five years to 35 years
in five-year increments. Limited warranty start at five
years and go up to 35 years. No dollar limit warranty start at 10 years and go up to 35 years. As far as pricing goes,
each level of warranty, each type and length of warranty is going to have a different price. We do have minimum pricing when it comes to weathertight warranties, but if you have larger projects it will go into a square foot pricing. And to be quite honest with you, a lot of times the the price
of the weathertight warranty is basically covering the
costs of the inspections and things like that. They're not a lot of money
for a lot of coverage is what it comes down to. And I think that's one of the
reasons they're so popular is because you get a lot of added value for a little bit of cost when it comes to especially
large commercial projects. - Awesome. Well thanks, Jeff. I really appreciate the time today. - Absolutely. - If you have any questions, you can comment down below or I encourage you to
visit sheffieldmetals.com where you can read
through the warranty terms and exclusions, the
processes and procedures, right there on the website. You can also contact the technical and weathertight warranty department with any additional questions. Subscribe here to the
Metal Roofing channel. As always, I'm Thad Barnette, we'll catch you next time. (upbeat music)
