Install a Roof Coating to Get More Return on Your Commercial Building
In the current economic climate, it’s likely that we’re going to see a lot of shifts in the commercial real estate market in the upcoming year. As portfolios consolidate and others expand, a lot of properties will be changing hands. If you’re looking at selling a commercial building, you want to know you’re going to get the best return for your investment.
In the current economic climate, it’s likely that we’re going to see a lot of shifts in the commercial real estate market in the upcoming year. As portfolios consolidate and others expand, a lot of properties will be changing hands.
If you’re looking at selling a commercial building, you want to know you’re going to get the best return for your investment. As a responsible property owner, you’ve spent a lot of time maintaining your building’s condition and making sure your tenants are safe and comfortable.
But if your roof is reaching the natural end of its lifespan, you may feel hard-pressed right now to go to the expense of replacing it. A brand new roof can be costly, but trying to sell your building with an aging and deteriorating roof is a sure-fire way to have a potential buyer knock dollars of their offer price.
Plan to Sell
Although conditions are tough right now, it’s better to go into a sale with a plan, rather than rushing in, only to find deficiencies when an offer is on the table. If you haven’t done so already, have a detailed roof condition assessment — and even a full building condition assessment — done so you can identify problem areas and prioritize repairs.
A qualified roofing professional can help you understand where updates and repairs to your commercial roofing system will give you the best return on your investment as you prepare to sell. They can also make recommendations on cost-effective solutions that will offer the longevity a buyer expects, without making you pay for something you won’t get a maximum return on.
This plan-ahead approach is especially important if you’re preparing to sell more than one building, and especially if you’re looking at a portfolio transaction. Prioritizing which buildings are most in need of repair, and where those repairs will give you the best ROI is a crucial first step in navigating the process from listing to closure.
Evaluate Your Options
Medina Avenue Warehouse Metal Roof
If your commercial roof has significant damage — particularly if there are signs of damage within the building envelope, in the insulation or even in the building’s interior — there may be no easy fix. Water damage is easy to spot by a buyer’s building inspector and can quickly reduce your sale price. In this case, you may need a more robust system. Roof coatings can be utilized in many different scenarios: You can build a more robust membrane system or simply freshen up your existing roof and ensure a longer life span for the buyer.
Roof coatings have long had a reputation for being a quick fix or band-aid solution for aging roofs, but modern roof coatings can come with warranties for ten, fifteen or even twenty years. And they are easily renewable. They are designed to be compatible over many existing roof coatings, including BUR, Modified Bitumen, Single Ply, Metal Roofing, Sprayed Polyurethane Foam, TPO and Gravel roofs.
How Roof Coatings Enhance the Return on Your Commercial Building
Roof coating systems like Western Colloid’s Fluid Applied Reinforced Roofing (FARR) and Cool Roofs help increase the return on your commercial building in a few different ways. Specifically, they can:
- Reduce future repair costs
- Extend the need for a full roof replacement
- Improve the energy efficiency of your building
A FARR system is a liquid or emulsified roof coating that goes on between layers of reinforced polyester fabric. Whether you choose an asphalt emulsion-based coating or an acrylic- or aluminum-based coating it creates a durable waterproof coating that protects your roof and your building from the elements.
Compared to more traditional roofing systems, roof coatings go on as a continuous reinforced layered membrane without seams and requiring no fasteners. Since traditional systems often age and fail at their weakest points, like seams and joints, where water can infiltrate and sometimes run under the system, this fully adhered continuous solution can provide building owners and operators with greater peace of mind.
By applying a roof coating system, you’ll be creating a waterproof barrier with several layers of redundancy so that, even as the roof coatings age, they will keep water from getting in, further preventing issues related to water damage, mold growth and poor indoor air quality. Roof coating systems also have the benefit of being easily maintained and renewable.
Applying a warrantied roof coating system also means that the building’s new owner won’t have to do a full roof replacement for a decade or more and the warranty is transferable. By extending the need for this significant capital cost, you’ll see an immediate return on a potential sale price for your building.
In addition to these repair, maintenance and replacement benefits, installing a cool roof coating system can also improve the overall energy efficiency of your building. White acrylic- and aluminum-based roof coatings reflect solar energy rather than absorbing it, reducing the load on HVAC equipment to help keep the building cool.
The demand for energy-efficient buildings is at an all-time high and will continue to grow as building owners and property managers feel the pinch from struggling tenants and look for ways to reduce operating costs. Buildings that attract high-value tenants who expect features like energy efficiency will be in high demand in any portfolio.
To find out how roof coatings can improve the return on your commercial building, and to request a commercial roof assessment, click here.
