About NorthCan Roofing
A commercial and industrial flat roofing contractor on Alness Street in Toronto. Low-slope assemblies are the whole of what we do.
NorthCan Roofing Inc. is a commercial and industrial roofing contractor at 425 Alness Street in Toronto, working exclusively on flat and low-slope roof systems. We serve building owners, property managers, facility managers and plant managers across Toronto, the GTA and southwestern Ontario.
What kind of roofing company is NorthCan?
A specialised one. We work on flat and low-slope roofs on commercial and industrial buildings, and on nothing else. No houses, no sloped shingle work, no siding-only contracts, no general contracting. The buildings we spend our days on are offices, plazas, schools, healthcare and institutional properties, warehouses, distribution centres, manufacturing plants and mixed-use blocks.
That focus is a deliberate business decision rather than a marketing line. Low-slope roofing is its own discipline: membrane welding and torch technique, deck assessment, moisture surveying, attachment design against wind uplift, drainage correction, and the flashing detail work at every junction where a flat roof actually leaks. Those skills are built by repetition on the same family of assemblies, and they are diluted the moment a company splits its crews between markets.
It also changes what we sell you. We are not a dealer for one membrane manufacturer trying to fit every building to one product. The system that suits your roof comes out of the deck type, the interior humidity load, the density of rooftop equipment, the drainage design and how the roof will be maintained. Sometimes the honest answer is that your roof does not need replacing at all, and that maintenance and a handful of flashing repairs will carry it further. We would rather say that and keep the relationship.
How do you work?
The pattern is the same on a small repair and on a full capital replacement, only the scale changes.
- We look before we quote. Every project starts with an attendance on the roof. We walk it, open test cuts where the assembly is unknown, check the deck, examine drainage and the perimeter, and photograph what we find. Quoting a flat roof from a satellite image or a phone call produces a number that changes the moment the crew gets up there, which helps nobody.
- We write it down. The scope goes on paper: the assembly specified layer by layer, tear-off or recover, flashing and drainage work, disposal method, access and staging, hours of work and price. It is written so it can be handed to an owner, a board or a head office without translation.
- We agree the logistics before day one. Crane or hoist placement, lane occupancy, material staging, bin location, tenant notice, hot work and fire watch procedure, and the daily working window. These are the items that turn a good price into a bad project when nobody settles them in advance.
- We phase around the building. On an occupied building we open only what can be closed in and made watertight the same day. Drains stay clear through the work and temporary water cut-offs go in at every stop point.
- We close out properly. A final walk with your representative, a photo record of the completed details, and a maintenance schedule so the roof you just paid for gets looked after.
How do you handle safety and site conduct?
Roofing is high-risk work, and most of the risk is at the edge. Our crews work to the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the working-at-heights requirements administered by Ontario's Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development: guardrails or a travel-restraint or fall-arrest system at every open edge, controlled access zones, anchor points selected for the deck type rather than for convenience, and a documented rescue plan on site before anyone goes up.
Where torch-applied membrane or other hot work is used, a fire watch is maintained after the torches are shut down, and the surrounding area is checked before the crew leaves. Combustible materials are staged away from the work zone. On industrial and institutional sites we take your own site orientation, coordinate with your health and safety representative and work inside your permit-to-work system rather than around it.
WSIB coverage and certificates of insurance are provided on request, normally before mobilisation so your office can put them on file. The paperwork side of a roofing project is not an afterthought for a property management team; it is frequently the gate that decides whether the work can be scheduled at all, so we send it early.
Site conduct matters too. Debris is contained rather than dropped, ground-level protection goes in below the work zone, parking arrangements are agreed rather than assumed, and the crew uses the access route you specify. On a tenanted building, the people below have no say in the roof project and no benefit from it until it is finished. The least we can do is keep it quiet, clean and predictable.
What can a client expect from us?
A foreman on site who talks to your building contact rather than to nobody. Photographs of what was found and what was done, because on a roof you cannot see, the photo record is the only evidence there is. A written condition record you can put in front of an owner or a board. Straight answers about whether a roof needs work now or can wait, with the reasoning shown rather than asserted.
You should also expect us to tell you when something is outside our scope. Structural questions about deck capacity, snow drift loading or added weight go to a professional engineer, not to a roofer with an opinion. Masonry parapet rebuilds, heritage approvals and mechanical work are coordinated with the appropriate trades. We would rather bring in the right party than improvise past the edge of our competence.
What you will not get from us is a number invented over the phone, a system recommended because it happens to be what we have in the yard, or a replacement sold when a repair would do.
Where are you based and who do you serve?
Our yard is at 425 Alness Street in North York, close to Keele and Finch, with Highway 400 and Highway 401 both minutes away. From there we cover Toronto, the full GTA and southwestern Ontario. The complete list by region is on the service areas page.
Our clients are building owners, property and asset managers, facility managers and plant and operations managers. If you run a portfolio rather than a single building, see roofing for property managers. For the work itself, start with commercial roofing or the full list of services. To speak to us, call 416-456-0777, email info@northcanroofing.com, or use the contact page.
If you are considering joining the crew rather than hiring one, our careers page sets out what the work involves and how to apply.
Frequently asked questions
Why do you refuse residential work?
Because a low-slope roof holds water and a sloped shingle roof sheds it, so they fail in different ways and reward different skills. Splitting crews between the two markets means neither gets the repetition that builds real detailing ability. We would rather be genuinely good at one thing than adequate at two.
Are your crews employees or subcontractors?
The low-slope roofing work is performed by our own crews under our own foremen. Adjacent specialist work that a roof project sometimes needs, such as structural engineering, masonry rebuilds or crane operation, is engaged as required and coordinated by us so you hold one contract.
What safety documentation can you provide before we let you on site?
WSIB coverage and certificates of insurance on request, working-at-heights training records for the crew attending, the site-specific hazard assessment, the rescue plan, and hot work procedures where torch-applied membrane is involved. Where your site runs a permit-to-work system, we work inside it.
Do you take on work as a subcontractor to a general contractor?
Yes. We work directly for owners and property managers, and also as the roofing trade under a general contractor on larger construction and renovation projects. In either case the scope, the safety documentation and the close-out record are handled the same way.
How do you decide what to recommend when a roof is borderline?
By evidence rather than age. Test cuts show whether the insulation is wet, a moisture survey maps how far that has spread, and the repair history shows whether the same areas keep failing. If the field is dry and the failures are local, we recommend repair and say so in writing, even when that is the smaller job.
Ready for your free roof assessment?
Tell us the address, the roof size and what you are seeing. We will book a time to get up there and put it in writing.
Call 416-456-0777 for anything urgent. Our emergency line is answered around the clock.
Call 416-456-0777