Los Angeles County, California
Commercial Roofing in Los Angeles
A commercial roof is a work platform as much as a roof, with HVAC curbs, conduit and a service tech on it every quarter. That is where the leaks start, and where an inspection has to spend its time.
Free, and there is no obligation to go ahead.
- Free roof inspection
Someone comes out, gets on the roof, and tells you what they find.
- The price in writing
A written quote before anyone starts, with nothing to sign on the day.
- Licensed roofers
The roofer who turns up holds a current California license.
- Across Los Angeles County
From the Valley and the foothills to the Westside and the South Bay.
Flat and low-slope roofs on apartment buildings, retail and light industrial. TPO, modified bitumen and cap sheet almost always fail at a seam, at a penetration, or where water stands rather than runs.
Commercial roofs rarely fail all at once. A seam opens, water gets under the membrane, and it tracks sideways through the insulation for a year before anyone sees a stain in a ceiling tile. By the time a tenant calls, the problem is older and bigger than the wet patch suggests.
Tell us what the roof is doing and we'll get a roofer out to look at it. We work on low-slope commercial buildings across Los Angeles County, for owners, property managers and the businesses under the roof. The roofer comes out, inspects it, and puts a written scope and price in front of you at no cost.
Flat and low-slope$12,000 to $30,000
Larger decks are priced by the square foot after a survey, because access, the state of the insulation and how many units and curbs sit on the roof move the number more than area does.
What's on most LA commercial roofs
Almost everything low-slope in this county falls into a few categories, and the right repair depends on which one you have.
- TPO and other single-ply membranes.Common on newer buildings and re-roofs, mechanically fastened or fully adhered sheets with heat-welded seams. When they fail it's usually at a seam, a penetration, or where something was dragged across them.
- Modified bitumen.Torch-applied or self-adhered, often two plies with a granulated cap. Tough, forgiving of foot traffic, still the default on a lot of small commercial and mixed-use buildings here.
- Cap sheet over built-up roofing.Layers of felt and asphalt with a granulated sheet on top. Older LA stock, plenty of it still in service. It ages by drying out. The surface goes brittle and stops shedding water at the details.
- Coatings.Silicone and acrylic systems can extend a sound roof's life and cut heat gain. They restore a roof. They don't repair one. Coating over wet insulation hides the problem for a season.
Ponding water
The rule of thumb is 48 hours. Water still standing two days after rain is ponding, and it's the defining problem of flat roofs. It accelerates aging, grows algae, and finds every weakness in a seam. It's also heavy, about five pounds per square foot per inch of depth, which adds up fast on a wide bay. Most manufacturer warranties exclude ponding damage, so it can quietly void the coverage you're counting on.
Ponding usually means the drainage is at fault and the membrane is fine: blocked or undersized drains, scuppers set too high, a deck that has deflected, or an HVAC unit added years ago that dams the flow. Fixing it means tapered insulation, crickets or new drains. That's real work, but it's what makes the next roof last.
Why commercial roofs fail differently
A house roof is mostly uninterrupted surface. A commercial roof is a work platform. There are HVAC curbs, condensate lines, exhaust fans, conduit, grease from a kitchen hood, and a service tech walking on it every quarter. Nearly every leak starts at one of those details, not in the open field of the membrane.
Failure also stays invisible for longer. Under the membrane there's insulation, and insulation holds water and moves it, so a stain in one office can come from a penetration thirty feet away. A real inspection means walking the whole roof and pulling a test cut if the decking is suspect, not just looking at the ceiling below.
Planned maintenance versus waiting for the leak
Reactive repair is the expensive way to own a roof. The repair is the small part; the cost is in the wet insulation, the ceiling grid, the tenant's inventory, the after-hours call-out and the argument about who pays.
A maintenance schedule is unglamorous and it works. Two inspections a year, one in early fall before the rains and one in spring. Drains and scuppers cleared before October. Photos and a written condition report each time. A modest annual allowance for small repairs, caught while they're small.
That record earns its keep at budget time. When the roof does reach the end and you need capital from an owner or a board, a three-year file of dated photos and repair invoices makes the case better than an urgent memo written in January.
Working around a business that's open
Most commercial work here happens over an operating building, and that shapes the job as much as the roof does. Raise these before anyone prices it.
- Phasing.Big roofs come off in sections, dried in each night. Ask how many squares a day and what the plan is if rain arrives mid-section.
- Odor and noise.Torch-down and hot asphalt smell, and it goes straight into rooftop air intakes. Restaurants and medical suites may need weekend or overnight work, or a system that skips hot asphalt entirely.
- Access and parking.Cranes, hoists, dumpsters and staging take spaces you're probably leasing to someone. Sort it out early.
- Tenant notice.Dust comes down through the ceiling grid when a deck is being fastened. Tenants told in advance are far easier than tenants who weren't.
- Permits.LADBS in the City of Los Angeles, separate departments in Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank and the other independent cities. Title 24 can also apply to a re-roof, which affects the specification and the schedule.
Getting someone out to a commercial property
Tell us the address, roughly what's on the roof, the square footage, and what's prompting the call. It might be an active leak, a lease renewal, a condition report, or next year's budget.
A licensed roofer who does low-slope work comes out to the building. You'll have the CSLB license number before the visit, so you can check the classification and status yourself. On the roof they walk the whole surface, open up the curbs, drains and penetrations where leaks actually start, and pull a test cut if the decking is suspect. You get one written scope, with photos and a price.
The inspection and the written scope are free. The scope says what gets replaced, what gets repaired, what gets left alone, and why. Read the warranty terms on any system before you sign, and read what voids them. If something in the scope doesn't fit the building, say so and we'll go back over it with you.
The commercial work in detail
Each of these has a page of its own.
- Commercial roof repair.Temporary work that holds water back and the permanent repair a manufacturer warranty will accept are two different jobs, and the warranty is the reason they stay apart. More on commercial roof repair
- Commercial roof replacement.Whether the old membrane comes off to the deck or stays under a new one is decided by code, and that answer sets the specification before anyone talks about price. More on commercial roof replacement
- Condition reports and inspections.A condition assessment writes down what is on the roof now and what is wrong with it, in enough detail to budget from. More on commercial roof inspections
- Coatings and restoration.A coating goes on last. The roof gets surveyed, dried out and repaired first, and the membrane covers the finished work. More on roof coatings
The offer
$500 off a new roof, 10% off any repair
Start online and it is attached to your request, with nothing to remember.
- We get on the roof, and into the attic if that is where the answer is
- You get photographs of whatever we find
- The price in writing, with nothing to sign on the day
Where we work
Across Los Angeles County
Tell us what is going on
A description is enough to start. We will come out, look at the roof properly, and give you the price in writing.