Commercial Roof Maintenance Programs
A scheduled maintenance agreement for flat roofs across Toronto, the GTA and southwestern Ontario, with a documented file for every visit.
A commercial roof maintenance program is a written agreement covering scheduled spring and fall visits to your flat roof: drains and strainers cleared, seams and flashings checked, minor repairs made on the spot, and a photographed report filed after each visit. NorthCan Roofing runs these across Ontario. Call 416-456-0777.
What does a maintenance agreement include?
The agreement is a defined product, not a promise to drop by. Each roof is set up with its own scope, and a standard program covers:
- Two scheduled visits a year, spring and fall, at agreed dates so your site contact knows when a crew is coming.
- Drainage service. Drains, strainers and sumps cleared, scuppers and overflows checked for blockage, gutters and downpipes cleared where present, and debris removed from the roof surface.
- Seam and lap inspection. Field seams probed, laps checked for opening, membrane surface assessed for granule loss, blistering, splits and shrinkage.
- Flashing and detail inspection. Base flashings at parapets and walls, cant strips, cap and counter flashing, curbs at rooftop units, pitch pockets, gas line and conduit supports, expansion joints, hatches and vents.
- Minor repairs on the visit. Small splits, loose fasteners, resealing terminations and refastening loose metal, done then and there within an agreed allowance so a small item never waits for a second mobilisation.
- Housekeeping items. Removing abandoned equipment and debris left by other trades, and noting damage caused by third parties on the roof.
- A written report per visit, with photographs, work done, and anything found that needs a separate quote.
Anything outside the allowance is quoted before it is done. There are no surprises on an invoice.
Between the scheduled visits, the agreement also gives you a known route back to us. Your site contact has a named foreman and a documented roof, so a call about a stain on a ceiling starts from a file rather than from scratch, and a service visit can be scheduled against a known assembly and a known access route.
What happens on the spring visit?
The spring visit is a damage assessment. Southern Ontario roofs go through repeated freeze-thaw cycling from late autumn to early spring, and that mechanism opens defects that were closed in October.
We check the perimeter and parapet details first, because that is where ice damming does its work: meltwater runs to the cold parapet, refreezes and backs up behind the ice until it gets behind the cap flashing or the membrane turn-up. We look for cracked and slumped base flashings, cap flashing loosened or lifted by ice and wind, splits at cant strips and separation at drains and scuppers where ice has expanded in the sump.
We also clear the winter debris, confirm the drains flow, check for any damage caused by snow removal, and note where standing water sat through the thaw. Ponding locations recorded in spring are the strongest predictor of where the roof will fail next, and they are the argument for tapered insulation at the next replacement.
What happens on the fall visit?
The fall visit is preventive. Its single most valuable task is clearing every drain, strainer, scupper and overflow before the autumn rain and the first freeze. A blocked drain in a November downpour puts water above base flashing height, and that is the most common cause of an emergency call we take. See emergency roof repairs for what happens when it is not prevented.
Beyond drainage, the fall visit closes out the season: loose metal refastened before winter wind, open terminations resealed, splits and lifted laps repaired, walkway pads reset on service routes, and rooftop equipment curbs checked, particularly where a mechanical contractor has been on the roof since our last visit. Anything that would deteriorate quickly under snow load and ice gets attention now rather than in April.
We also note anything to plan for the following season, so your budget cycle sees the item before it becomes urgent.
Why does a documented file matter?
Three reasons, and none of them are about the roof itself.
- Capital planning. A dated series of reports with photographs shows a trend rather than a snapshot. It tells an owner or a board when a roof is moving from maintain to plan, which is how a replacement gets budgeted instead of borrowed for. Combine it with a formal roof condition report for the reserve fund submission.
- Insurance and liability. After a water damage event, insurers look at whether the failure was sudden or the result of long-term neglect. A maintenance file with dated visits and photographs is the difference between those two findings.
- Manufacturer warranty conditions. Most manufacturer system warranties require the roof to be maintained and require documentation of that maintenance. A file of completed visit reports is what preserves the coverage you already paid for.
Every report is written so it can be forwarded without editing. Property managers running several buildings can have the whole portfolio reported on one schedule, which is covered on the property managers page.
What does a visit report look like?
Each visit produces the same document, which is what makes the file useful over time. It contains the date, the crew and the weather conditions on the day, then a section for each roof area covering what was checked and what was found.
- Work completed on the visit, item by item: drains cleared, debris removed, fasteners replaced, terminations resealed, splits repaired, with photographs before and after.
- Conditions observed but not corrected, either because they fall outside the repair allowance or because they need a separate scope. Each one is photographed, located and given a priority.
- Changes since the previous visit, which is the part that turns a set of reports into a trend. New equipment on the roof, damage caused by another trade, a ponding area that has grown, a flashing that has moved.
- Recommendations, written for the person approving the budget rather than for a roofer, with anything that should enter the next capital cycle called out plainly.
The reports are numbered and dated so a portfolio manager can produce the full history of any roof in the portfolio without asking us for it, and so an insurer or an auditor can see a continuous record.
Who should be on a maintenance program?
Any building where a roof leak costs more than the visits. In practice that is nearly every commercial and industrial property, but the case is strongest for:
- Multi-tenant buildings, where a leak is a tenant relations problem within the hour and possibly a rent abatement discussion afterwards.
- Buildings with heavy rooftop equipment, where other trades are on the membrane regularly and every service call is a chance for new damage.
- Warehouses and plants, where the interior contains stock, machinery or a production line that water reaches long before anyone notices the roof. See industrial roofing.
- Roofs with known ponding or a history of repeat repairs, where the failure mode is already understood.
- New roofs. The least expensive time to start is the day the roof is finished. Maintenance from year one protects both the assembly and the manufacturer warranty.
How do you set up a program?
Start with an assessment visit so the agreement is based on the roof you actually have. We walk the roof, record the assembly and the current deficiencies, agree which items are repaired before the program starts, then set the scope, the visit schedule and the on-visit repair allowance in writing.
Existing deficiencies are dealt with first. A maintenance program is designed to keep a sound roof sound, not to hold a failing one together, so anything found at the assessment is quoted separately as flat roof repairs or, if the assembly is finished, discussed as a planned replacement.
Call 416-456-0777 or use the contact page to book the assessment. WSIB coverage and certificates of insurance are provided on request. Our full range of low-slope services is on commercial roofing.
Frequently asked questions
Does a maintenance program cover emergency call-outs?
Emergency attendance is a separate service and is quoted as its own work, but roofs under an agreement are already documented, which means we know the assembly, the access and the history before we arrive. That usually shortens the diagnosis considerably. Emergency water entry is handled through 416-456-0777.
What if the roof is already in poor condition?
Then the program starts after the remedial work, not instead of it. We assess the roof, quote what needs correcting, and set up the schedule once the roof is in a maintainable state. Putting a failing assembly on a maintenance agreement would just be paying us to watch it deteriorate.
Can our own maintenance staff do the drain clearing?
They can clear a strainer if they are trained and equipped for work at heights under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and if they know not to walk on the membrane in the cold or drag equipment across it. What in-house staff cannot usually do is assess seams, flashings and details, which is where the failures start.
How many visits a year do we need?
Two is the standard for a southern Ontario flat roof: spring for damage assessment and fall for drainage before the rain and snow. Roofs surrounded by mature trees, sites with heavy rooftop traffic and buildings with process exhaust on the roof often benefit from a third or fourth visit.
Will you tell us if the roof needs replacing rather than maintaining?
Yes, and in writing. Every visit report states what was found and what it means. When the trend across visits shows the assembly is reaching the end of its service life, we say so early enough for it to enter a budget cycle rather than an emergency.
Do you maintain roofs installed by other contractors?
Yes. We record the assembly at the assessment visit, take a test cut where the build-up is unknown, and note any existing manufacturer warranty so our work is carried out in a way that respects its conditions.
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