November 2018

Contractor’s Q’s
buildings have been retro-fitted with complex air
handling systems since they were first built in the
50s and 60s, and the plant and equipment was
routinely placed on the flat roof area with little
consideration for roof refurbishment. On one
particular roof, the roof mounted units were so
large and low to the roof surface that it was
impossible to weather underneath them. The
problem was that the remainder of the roof
drained underneath the units to a gutter on the
far side and we had to maintain a free draining
roof. The solution was to box in the steel support
framework while retaining sealed drainage routes
through the boxing and out the other side. After
numerous sketches and the taking of endless
dimensions, a complicated series of Sarnafil
scuppers and an extended network of drainage
pipework completely sealed on the inlet side and
the outlet side did the trick.
TC: What about difficult customers? Any
situations that stand out that you can tell
us about?
PM: I do recall one particular customer who was
unhappy with the finish of the Sarnafil roof we
had installed. The site was a new build project on
a flood plain of the River Thames between Henley
and Marlow. Persistent wet weather hampered
our progress on site to such a degree that at one
stage the only way we could reach site was by
rowing boat, but we battled on and in between the
showers we insulated the soggy timber framed
building and encapsulated it in Sarnafil. Several
months later the customer complained that some
minor stress lines had appeared in the Sarnafil in
the extreme corners of the roof. When I suggested
that the lines could be due to building movement
as the structure dried out below the watertight
roof coverings, I was told in no uncertain terms
that my excuses were “ridiculous”. Our
relationship deteriorated over the following
months, we were threatened with legal action and
a suggestion was even made that a website
would be started to highlight Owlsworth Roofing’s
incompetence, but I am pleased to say that the
roof remains watertight, is still under guarantee
and we have had no further complaints.
“One of the greatest
challenges is trying to
persuade the cladders,
scaffolders and M&E
contractors to carry out
their works and store
their materials with
due care and attention”
TC: What’s the most frustrating thing
about your job?
PM: Two words – late payment. Late payment of
invoices, late payment of partial release of
retentions and late payment of final retentions –
if they get paid at all. We spend hours negotiating
the terms of the orders we receive, which when it
boils down to it are: we install your roof and then
you pay us – how difficult can that be? It seems
to me that there are people employed just to
make sure it is difficult. The excuses are
repetitive and tiresome – ‘the payment is on the
system, but there is no-one in the office to
authorise it…’ or ‘the accounts office is only
open between 12.00 and 2.00pm on a Friday so
please call back later…’ and there are a lot more
like that! I know that the industry and government
are working on it but if someone wants to keep
your hard-earned money just a few weeks longer
there is very little you can do about it.
TC: And the most satisfying?
PM: I still remember standing on one of my first
Sarnafil roofs in the mid 80s as it started to rain,
watching globules of water collecting on the shiny
new membrane, then slowly merging, forming tiny
little streams that snake their way down the slope
of the roof and finally join other little streams and
disappear into the rainwater outlet. I don’t do the
installing any more but I still get satisfaction from
the combination of a well installed Sarnafil roof, a
satisfied customer and the knowledge that the
roof has got another 40 years’ service ahead of it
TC: What’s your most important tool as a
roofing contractor – in the office or on site?
PM: I’m old school. We have a brilliant pdf
measuring system that we use for estimating but
you will very rarely find me on a roof without my
tape measure. I probably have seven or eight of
various ages, shapes and sizes in the boot of my
car right now.
TC: What’s the best social media platform
for you as a roofing contractor?
PM: Being old school, it would be easy to dismiss
social media as a time-consuming distraction
that will be of little benefit to the average roofing
contractor – but I come from an era when you
used to dictate letters for a secretary to type up.
Back then, some said the same about emails and
where would we be now without them? Owlsworth
Roofing has a website, Twitter and Instagram
accounts which I am guessing will become more
and more important in the years to come but at
present, the hard yards are done by our employees
producing consistently high quality, problem-free
roofing systems and encouraging the clients to
come back to us time and time again.
TC: How do you feel your sector’s shaping
up in 2018? Are there reasons to be
positive?
PM: My gut feeling is that there is a pre-Brexit
pause by some of the decision makers in big
business and this is having a trickle-down effect
and a consequential slow-down on commercial
building development country-wide. If I’m right, I
also think that this will result in a post-Brexit
upturn in the same area. Not everything in the
construction sector is based around international
trade however, so having said that life goes on in
the real world and there will always be
opportunities for competent roofing contractors.
I’m confident that the quality partnership that has
been built between Owlsworth Roofing and Sika
Sarnafil over the last 10 years is set to go from
strength to strength.
Contact Owlsworth Roofing
0118 946 9160
www.owlsworthroofing.co.uk
@OwlsworthRoof
44 TC NOVEMBER 2018