Composite Roofing: Answer to Your Business Prayers

By DaVinci Roofscapes.

If you find yourself praying for big projects, step outside the church and look up. You may find your next job right there.

There’s nothing like a good commercial project to build your business. These days many roofers are discovering an abundance of work involving churches, sanctuaries and fellowship halls. All across the country church structures are wearing out or succumbing to the same perils of Mother Nature that other buildings and homes do — hail, severe weather and high wind. 

While you gain more business, your company can also be the answer to the church’s prayers, simply by recommending composite roofing. Designed to withstand everything from bad weather to fire to insects and mold, composite roofing brings a host of much appreciated aspects to a church. Low maintenance elements, combined with strong warranties are especially appealing.

Massive church projects

In Denver, Horn Brothers Roofing tackled re-roofing the massive Saint John’s Cathedral with DaVinci Roofscapes single-width slate tiles. Before the replacement work got started, the roofer and representatives of the church were challenged to get approval from the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission. Once approved, the company gained a big piece of business and installed 245 squares on the historic structure.

Nearly the same situation happened with Eaton Roofing and Exteriors when they secured the re-roofing project with Magdalen Catholic Church. The 30,000 square-foot church, located in Wichita, Kansas, can seat 1,500 people in their round sanctuary. Once they were awarded the Kansas project, with a full team working nonstop, the new DaVinci slate composite roof on the church and the gathering space was finished in just nine days. A massive project with great results. 

In Mansfield, Ohio, Cleveland Commercial Roofing topped Grace Episcopal Church with DaVinci single-width slate roofing. It replaced real slate that had been in place for almost 100 years. 

“Our church dealt with the high mounting costs of maintaining our real slate roof for many years,” says Rev. Joe Ashby with Grace Episcopal Church. “The slate needed constant attention and wasn’t energy efficient. After we saw the authentic appearance of the DaVinci product, we knew we’d found the solution to our problem.”

Steeple people

If you wish to make even more of a name for your business in the church community, focus on steeples. The intricate work needed to resurface a steeple is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. But the work pays off — in many ways.

At the historic 1899 church in Kronborg, Nebraska, both congregation members and the roofing team quickly discovered how valuable composite roofing can be to a steeple project. 

“The composite shake roofing answers so many challenges for this project,” says Nick Paschke, president of Paschke Brothers Construction. “We were removing old wood shingles, metal and other roofing products. As we tackled the steepness of the steeple, the lightweight nature of the polymer roofing really helped us.”

In Sauk Centre, Minnesota, Jeff Popp with Sentra-Sota recently added composite slate to the steeple on St. Paul’s Parishes on the Prairie. “We decided to use DaVinci products for many reasons,” relates Adam Saltmarsh, director of operations for Parishes on the Prairie. “The aesthetic appeal of DaVinci slate mimics the natural look of slate tiles. The durability, lightweight nature, low maintenance, environmental considerations, cost effectiveness, customization, fire resistance and warranty all played major roles in our decision.”

Learn from a steeplejack

There are roofers, and then there’s Tony Stratton. He’s a third-generation steeplejack who loves a challenging church roof project. So, when this specialized tradesman was contacted to install DaVinci multi-width slate roofing tiles on the 110-foot tall steeple on St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Independence, Missouri, he jumped at the chance.

“We’re an old school trade with one foot in the past and one foot in the future,” says Stratton, owner of Inspired Heights out of Rockford, Illinois. “We combine the techniques of long ago with the technologies of today. This allows us to offer a less invasive, more affordable restoration for church roofs and steeples.”

If your company doesn’t have an expert steeplejack, don’t worry. While Tony and his team installed the composite roofing tiles on the steep, another roofing company installed the DaVinci single-width slate on the main roof of the church. Showing once again that there’s plenty of church roofing business out there for everyone.