Illinois Roofing Company - Quality As Strong As Its Roofs

How does a limited budget and tight timeline affect your bidding process? Should it affect it? For Illinois Roofing Corporation, the answer to that question is no. IRC believes in forming a partnership with each of its clients, no matter what the budget, and their recent work with XPAC was no exception.

XPAC is a full-service logistics provider, and has been providing a comprehensive line of packing solutions since 1974. In its thirty years of operation, XPAC has grown to 10 plants and facilities throughout the Midwest.

With over 2 million square feet of production and storage space, XPAC prides itself on keeping its facilities running smoothly. However, when the company purchased its newest facility in Yorkville, IL in 2001, that commitment was called into question. The previous owner of the building had entirely neglected the roof, leaving it in dangerous condition, with two disintegrating layers. It was also leaking badly and in need of immediate repair. Concerned about this roof and cognizant of its budget, XPAC began contacting contractors who could help. One of the first contractors looked to for answers was IRC.

"We were just starting up this facility and cost was one of our first considerations," said Mike Schiltz, the regional Manager of Assembly Operations at the XPAC Yorkville facility. Schiltz is a long-time resident of the area and very familiar with IRC. "The company has an excellent reputation," he says. "So of course we asked them to bid the project."

Illinois Roofing Corporation is a commercial and industrial roofing contractor located in the western suburbs of Chicago that's well known for working closely with every customer to provide the best possible solutions to their roofing problems. "We asked Ron what needed to be done, for both the temporary repairs and for a long-term solution, and got an honest, no-frills answer."

"Solving our customer's commercial roofing problems is our reason for being in business," said IRC owner Ron Somers. "The XPAC Project was unique. Timing was critical, but so was budget. We were a competitive bidder -this job was very numbers-focused - without sacrificing or compromising on our standards or what was best for XPAC."

A Two Phase Solution

IRC refused to throw a bid together for the cheapest roof just to win XPAC's business. Instead, the company took the time to investigate the roof, even creating roof drawings, photographs and an energy study to assist in making the best possible long term decision for the customer. Everything IRC did - all the work that went into preparing its comprehensive bid - was to present XPAC with the best possible investment it could make - one that met the needs of their roof and their budget.

IRC's first phase focused on replacing the worst area: the middle section of the roof, a 35,000 sq. ft area. IRC won the bid for this project, in 2002. Work began immediately, and involved completely tearing off the two roofs below. "The area was so deteriorated, we could not cut off large chunks of roof. We had to hand shovel it off the roof. And the steel roof below was rusted through, which was dangerous because it was over the XPAC production area. Our roofers had to be tied off," said Ron Somers.

"This was a project where our people really made the difference," continued Somers. "Because every one of our workers is drug tested and has completed -and passed- yearly safety training, this dangerous job was one we felt very confident completing safely and effectively. Our field superintendent, Mike Phelps, did an excellent job." With IRC, more than one set of eyes always checks out the work: first, the roofer signs the detail with their initials, then a supervisor scrutinizes and signs off a second time. Finally, the manufacturer comes out to inspect and, on the XPAC roof, IRC received a perfect inspection.

When XPAC had the budget to continue their roofing repairs, this time for a 57,000-sq. ft. area, the company automatically went with IRC. "IRC received the second, larger job with XPAC because of the job the company did the first time for us," said Schiltz.

Because the second phase was initiated two years after the first phase, there was even more deterioration, and the problems were much worse.

Throughout both projects and in between, "IRC kept us well informed of their progress and any problems that occurred along the way. The company, everyone we had contact with, was easy to work with and readily available."

Quality: More Than Just Lip Service

"With us, it is more than just lip service, quality is seen through our long term clients, and through our people," said Somers. "There are many good manufacturers of good products, but a good manufacturer and a good product doesn't necessarily guarantee a good roof. The difference is in who you choose to install your new roof system."

Recently, the roofing industry acknowledged IRC's practice of quality. In 2004, IRC was the only roofing contractor in the Chicagoland area to be awarded the annual GenFlex All-Star Status.

GenFlex Roofing Systems is a leading, full-line supplier of single-ply roofing products for the commercial market. GenFlex manufactures, markets and sells its product only through a network of qualified distributors, sales agents and authorized roofing contractors, an elite group of which IRC is honored to belong.

Going Beyond the Expected

"While IRC was working on our building, we had a terrible storm that blew off one of our lighting panels and ripped the new roof. While we watched this happen and worried about getting our insurance to cover the damage, some of the guys from IRC arrived during the storm to make a temporary fix. And they returned right after the storm for the permanent repairs. Needless to say, we were really impressed."

Doing more than is expected when handling a customer problem is just a way of doing business at IRC, not an exception. "Customer satisfaction speaks volumes more about who we are and what we stand for, more than we ever could," said Somers.

It seems that XPAC, too, will be speaking volumes on behalf of IRC: "I can easily say that we are very satisfied with the work IRC did," said Shiltz.