Page 75 - BusinessWest October 31, 2022
P. 75

Shingles are generally the more affordable option depending on the company, but just like everything else in the world, the roofing indus- try is driven by petroleum costs. Each of the businesses BusinessWest spoke with said that, when the price of oil is high, all their building products are going to cost more, but roofing
and diesel costs are through the roof (no pun intended). “When things are heavy, you need heavy trucks that are capable of moving really heavy materials, and they use a lot of diesel.”
Dore described the rise in prices as a “kick in the head.” In these circumstances, he explained, it’s difficult for businesses to maintain con- sistent profit margins. While prices seemingly never slow and continue to rise, that cost is relayed to the customer, but the company doesn’t benefit.
“The profit margin is what it is,” he went on. “You try to remain competitive — and there’s a lot of competition in this area. You just have to try to keep your head down, stay the course, and weather the storm; that’s really what it is.”
As the harsh cold of New England starts to settle in, both Beaulieu and Dore stress that homeowners should conduct due diligence and research the company it hires to do a job, but for different reasons.
Ice dams are a homeowner’s enemy in New England; those are ice buildups on the eaves of sloped roofs of heated buildings that result from melting snow under a snow pack reaching the eave and freezing there, especially in the middle of winter. The first inclination is to call a roofer, but Beaulieu advises against that.
“You need an insulator contractor. When you have ice dams on your house, homeowners tend to call roofers, and unfortunately, roofers in this industry aren’t always the most ethical guys,”
he said. “They will just sell them a new roof or charge them to shovel snow off the roof, which causes all kinds of problems.”
Winter also brings an influx of storms and storm chasers. For example, after the June 2011
tornado, Dore explained, roofers from out of state were patrolling neighborhoods in hopes of “repairing” roofs.
“A lot of potential future work for myself
and other companies in the area evaporated. I don’t want to say it hurt us by any means, but we noticed, ‘OK, there’s that house, that house,’ whole neighborhoods that got roofs that really weren’t ready for them,” he said. “They were done by guys who you can’t even get on the phone if you wanted to. They came in, and a lot of them did the wrong thing; we ran into it mul- tiple times.”
Getting Better
As the roofing season heads into winter and unemployment is still high, Beaulieu, who is also president of the Western Massachusetts Home Builders & Remodelers Assoc., stressed the importance of trades as a career path, saying the writing is on the wall for continued disrup- tion in the industry due to workforce challenges.
“There has never in my adult life been a better time to get into the trades, period,” he told BusinessWest. “Whether you want to be a mason, a carpenter, a vinyl-siding installer, a roofer, you want to do windows and doors, you want to build decks, there’s never been a bet- ter time because it’s really hard to find younger people that want to do it.”
And roofing is a place they can start at the top, in a sense — and only move up from there. u
Kailey Houle can be reached at [email protected]
      FRAN BEAULIEU
“There has never in my adult life been a better time to get into the trades, period.”
shingles, which are made with oil, and other commercial roofing products are especially vulnerable.
Morin launched Valley Roofing and Restora- tion about a decade ago. He specializes in new roof installations and repairs, and among his products is metal roofing, which he says is a growing trend due to its price.
“We’re just trying to stay busy at this point, but things have been good,” Morin said. “In roofing, it’s hard to expect anything. You have to go with the flow, and if something isn’t working, you change it.”
It doesn’t help, Beaulieu said, that roofing is one of the heaviest materials to transport,
   Raymond R. Houle Construction Employee Spotlight
Project Superintendent
Rick Houle
33 years of prideful, dedicated service aimed toward our ultimate goal of client satisfaction.
      Trustworthy. Sincere. Straightforward. Your satisfaction is our guarantee.
American Society 413.547.2500 www.RayHoule.com 5 Miller St, Ludlow MA For Healthcare Engineering
 BusinessWest
CONSTRUCTION
OCTOBER 31, 2022 75
 


































































   73   74   75   76   77