The hail came and went two months ago. But the roofing work goes on.
And on. And on. And on.
Just in the last week, Emporia issued 63 permits for roof repairs. And code services chief Martin Peres won’t even begin to estimate how many have poured in since the Feb. 28 hailstorm.
“We have had a tremendous amount of activity,” Peres said.
“I’m about seven to eight weeks out right now and we’re not even started on this storm,” said Charlie LeClair, owner of the Emporia Roofing Company. “We’re probably looking at 500 to 700 homes. I’ve got 50 homes right now to do and they’re still coming in every day.”
That’s the case for many of the roofers right now, big and small. There’s a lot more work to do than there are hands to do it. Companies from Wichita and Topeka have gotten a piece of the work. Even some of the people laid off by Lenze or Modine are finding a little income up on the roof, LeClair said.
“Those guys need some work, so it’s helping a little,” he said.
And while a two-month waiting list may sound a little long, Troy Pearson’s not even ready to offer that. As the sole employee of Pearson 21st Century Roofing Co., he’s already got his hands full with the 20 to 25 jobs he’s taken on.
“I don’t need no more,” Pearson said. “I think everybody’s busy around here.”
In Emporia, most of that activity is on the north and west sides of town, the areas hardest hit by the golf-ball-sized hail. It’s also been stop-and-go work lately thanks to the recent rains and out-of-season snow.
“I wish it’d quit so I could get caught up,” Pearson said. “If it quits raining, I can get most of them done this year.”
Kevin Orr, the sales contractor for Border to Border Roofing can sympathize with that. Right now, he said, Border to Border has 52 jobs to do and it has the people to get through them in four to five weeks — if it would just stop raining.
“We’d hate to open up a roof when there’s a 40 percent chance of rain and if there’s a 60 percent chance, we just don’t do it,” he said. “If it rains, we eat the damage.”
The last big hailstorm Border to Border dealt with was in Chanute about two years ago, so Orr’s used to the pace. Normally, he said, a single crew can do four or five roofs a week — but that’s also about how fast the new requests are coming in.
“We’re really not gaining a lot of ground right now,” he said.
Peres said that homeowners can repair their own roofs without a license, so long as they are the ones doing most of the work.
Chuck Grimwood, the co-owner of Mark II Lumber, said there are some do-it-yourselfers buying roof supplies, but most of it’s being sold to the professionals. Since the storm, he said, roofing materials are selling twice as fast as usual.
“It’ll go through the middle of summer,” Grimwood said. “It seems like we have something like this every five to seven years.”
When a outside roofer is involved, the work has to be certified, licensed and bonded with the city. A list of licensed roofers is available through the code services office at 521 Market St. The office can be reached at 343-4270.
When having roof work done, Peres suggested, only hire a licensed contractor and make sure to get more than one bid. A permit has to be issued before work can start and two city inspections are required — one before the work begins and one after it’s completed.
The $5,000 bond may be the most important part of the roofer’s credentials, Peres said. If the roofing work is unsatisfactory, the building’s owner can sue against that bond.
“We have been extremely fortunate,” Peres said. “Within my experience, we’ve only had one bond sued upon and that was a roofing contractor about three years ago. It does work. It really works.”