Weisman Roof Management
By the Numbers
Making Sense of Life Cycle Costs
Life cycle costing for commercial roofing systems has been approached so many different ways by so many (self-serving) "experts." Everyone wants to extend the life of each commercial roofing system to its optimal length, keeping it in service for as long as it makes financial sense to do so.
The productive way to proceed for many facility managers is to compare recent repair costs for older roofing systems and future estimated repair costs with potential total or partial replacement cost estimates. When approaching roofing system replacement estimates one asks, "What is the best system for the future?" With the exception of metal roofing systems, flat roof/low slope roofing systems have been shown to have the similar service lives.
According to Plant Services Magazine, in a study of more than 25,000 roofing systems in use between 1975 and 1996, Schneider and Keenan calculated the average service life for a variety of roofing styles (see graph). If we consider asphalt probably ranked lower because two-ply (instead of four-ply) systems were common in the 70s, and PVC ranked lower because reinforced PVC did not come into use until the 80's, then all these membrane roofing systems have a service life within a narrow range of one another.
Average service life includes commercial roofing systems under formal preventive roof maintenance programs on one end of the spectrum and roofing systems kept in service with emergency repairs on the other end of the spectrum.
Therefore, each individual membrane roofing system's service life would depend on the level of maintenance it receives.
There are two conclusions:
- Minimizing life cycle costs for roofing systems requires ongoing maintenance
programs.
- On going preventive roof maintenance costs should be factored into the cost of a new commercial roofing system. WRAM
©2003, M. Weisman Roofing Co., Inc., Warwick, Rhode Island All rights reserved. tel:
401-737-1940
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