Before the metal roof job even starts, profits can slide out the window if the estimation is off. Some consider estimating a delicate balance of science and art, and usually it’s one of the last tasks a company owner will delegate. It’s just too important.
But if the company is growing, the owners need to let go of this function and ensure the processes in place produce precise estimates of material and labor costs that will allow a job to be profitable.
Ray Smith is managing director of AppliCad, a Blackburn, Australia-based software company that provides software packages for metal roofing and cladding. “So much of what we do is the result of trying to improve how metal roofing is quantified,” says Smith. “To overcome all of the problems associated with estimating metal roofing, labor and materials.”
Smith estimates that in Australia and New Zealand, metal roofing accounts for as much as 75 percent of all roofing in both the commercial and residential markets. It is the dominant roofing type. “Metal roofing guys here have refined metal roofing to an extraordinary degree,” he says. “To the extent that waste reduction is key to being profitable as a roofing business.”
But waste reduction is just one element of the danger that lurks in poor estimating. Making errors is even more common. “A lot of the mistakes that I have seen or heard about are just genuine errors,” says Smith. “But many are due to incompetence, ignorance of how to work metal roofing or just plain stubbornness. With the proper checks built into the estimating process, the errors can be almost totally eliminated.”
Here are the eight most common estimating errors for metal roofing.
1. Measuring: The old adage of “measure twice, cut once” has its precursor in the estimating phase. Certainly, an installer can make a mistake in the field that requires quick and clever thinking to overcome, but an estimator working from an incorrectly measured roof or architect’s plans that are confusing can take a small mistake and make it huge.
Bryan Duke is an estimator for Eastern Corp., a Youngstown, N.C.-based metal roofing contracting company. “Sometimes I get plans where the scale is wrong,” he says. “Or there are multiple scales for one drawing. I spend a lot of time with drawings and am calling architects every day.”
The important lesson is verification. Whether field measurements or architect’s drawings, all measurements have to be verified. But part of the verification process is being thorough. Smith points to the common error of just leaving out a section of the roof in the estimate. Duke has also encountered roof systems that actually have hidden areas. Not long ago, he had a project with a second-floor roof plan that only showed up on the second-floor drawings, not the roof take-offs. “Be thorough,” says Duke. “Check every single drawing regardless.”
2. Accessories: The forgotten accessory can be a troubling bugaboo whose financial damage far exceeds its cost. “A lot of time can be wasted driving around town to find 10 clips because they were short in the delivery,” says Smith. The clips aren’t pricey, but the lost labor time and decreased productivity can be hugely detrimental.
Many contractors hire gofers, whose job is to make sure job sites are properly stocked, transport company tools from one site to another and run errands so that the higher priced, skilled labor can remain on-site doing the work. That position is becoming an anomaly, though, as tighter estimating and better communication mean that job sites run more efficiently and the gofer can become a thing of the past. How much does a forgotten clip really cost if you have to maintain an additional employee to run and buy it?
3. Trim: When we think of roofing, trim is not the first item that pops to mind. But Smith warns, “The trim can cost more than the sheets, especially when labor to install them is accounted for.” He recommends that “trim should be made in a rollforming machine at cents per foot instead of 10-foot lengths at dollars per foot from a press brake. Plus, cut-to-length trim from a rollformer is easier to install, reduces labor and looks a whole lot better than a whole bunch of 10-foot lengths riveted together.”
Eastern Corp., says Duke, fabricates all its own trim from flat stock. “We make most flashings inhouse and ship to the site,” he says.
4. Over ordering: Estimators estimate. It’s right in the name. “Because they estimate,” says Smith, “they typically over order to ensure that they are not short material, covering their back in case they make a mistake. This will make metal roofing less competitive when compared to other materials and result in massive waste.”
The best estimators can get the material order right and tight, then can communicate with the crew about the proper installation scheme. (More on this later.) The best estimators will reduce waste and increase the efficiency of the project.
“We try to estimate down to the 0.1 of an inch,” says Duke. “We don’t want any excess material and want to avoid not having it too long so we don’t have to cut every panel.”
5. Offcut: There is a use for offcut material in certain scenarios, and this is another area for efficient use of materials. “Most panel profiles allow for re-use of offcuts, except perhaps standing seam,” says Smith. Depending on the length of the panels and the ability to ship them to the site, planning for the use of offcuts may be the most efficient way to work.
6. Penetrations: At first blush, you would think a roof with a number of penetrations, such as skylights, would be less costly because it would require less material. But the opposite is true. “Installing, then trimming or flashing penetrations can soak up a lot of the margin in a job,” says Smith.
Duke estimated a project with 75 skylights, which caused the job cost and price to increase significantly. “It hits the labor number the most,” he says. “Material is not as important as labor.”
7. Pitch: Labor costs are the tripping point in estimating pitched roofs, as well. There are two possible errors rolled into this area. Estimating a lower pitched roof than actually exists means that the length of the panels will be incorrect. “If a panel is too short,” says Smith, “you cannot stretch it. Too long, and you spend a lot of time cutting it back.”
The other element of roof pitch is the increased labor cost of working on steep pitches. Workers move more slowly and have to spend more time working around safety lines. A steep-pitched roof can drive up labor costs significantly so that your margin can quickly disappear.
8. Instructions: Ever since the first construction job was sold, there has been difficulty communicating the requirements of the job to the crew that will complete it. But with estimating for metal roofs, there is another element. Estimators spend hours figuring out the most efficient way to get the material to fit on the roof. The best of them have a ton of installation experience so they know what works best in the field and what works best with their crews. That’s how they estimate and price the job: to match their vision of how it should go together.
But if the instructions to the crew don’t reflect the estimator’s plan accurately, the crew may proceed with a different method. “Not providing correct or clear directions to installers will add to errors on the site,” says Smith.
Conclusion
Automated estimating systems can help avoid these errors. Duke says Eastern Corp. still estimates by hand and its thoroughness can wipe out the common errors we’ve described. Having skilled, well-trained estimators will provide a process that can be thorough and precise.
Smith’s AppliCad software automates much of the estimating process. “We have spent 22-plus years developing software for metal roofing and cladding, and so much of what we do is the result of trying to improve how metal roofing is quantified,” he says. “Cut the wrong panel and it can be very expensive to get another one made at short notice. We also see so many guys or gals focused entirely on the sheet list and then they lose their shirts on the rest-trim, fixtures, accessories and labor- where the real margin is.”
And it is all about margin. Maintaining a professional profit margin and reducing errors that erode it are the most important things estimators bring to the table. Avoiding the common mistakes goes a long way to fulfilling that need.
