Commercial Roof Warranties, are they important or not?

The answer is yes, no, and it depends.

So it depends on the type of warranty we're talking about. There are all kinds of warranties.

A material warranty is not a good option. Unless you happen to get some faulty fluke run of materials that were used on your project, you will never exercise that warranty.

Contractor warranties, this is another type of warranty that you have to be very cautious of. Keep in mind, a warranty is only as strong as the company that stands behind it. Contractors, unfortunately, go out of business or change names, therefore your roof is no longer under warranty.

NDL manufacturer warranty backed by one of the major manufacturers like Firestone, Carlisle, GAF. NDL stands for no dollar limit, it includes labor, material, it is a non-prorated warranty.

This warranty does offer some value. However, again, it's not necessarily what you might think. A lot of companies have a misperception that if they have a roof under warranty, leaks will be covered.

This is only true if the leak that is occurring was caused by a poor installation or a material failure. If it was caused by anything other than those two items, it is a non-warrantable issue, and you're going to have to cover your own leaks. Those are typically what happens, especially after a few years down the road after a roof has been installed now.

What’s the value of a roof manufacture warranty?

The value is in oversight. A manufacturer will not issue an NDL warranty unless they themselves come out and review the install that took place. Everything that was done by the contractor who performed the work must have been done per industry standards and manufacturer requirements.

If it was not, a punch list is given to them and they have to make the corrections to make sure that everything was done exactly the way that it should have been. This is an oversight that provides a value so that you know the roof that was installed on your building was done properly.