Hail Study on a 15 Year Old Sprayed Polyurethane Foam Roofing System

Zulanas

Gajjar³

2020

Self Cite

An Alpha roof is a type of Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF) roofing system that has been documented to be one of the highest performing roofs in the industry. Despite the high level of performance of the Alpha SPF roofs, owners still try to protect themselves by purchasing warranties. When the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) did not receive enough funding to purchase the Alpha roofs for their school buildings, general contractors started shopping the Alpha contractors. The demand for Alpha roofs during DISD bond programs exceeded the supply of Alpha vendors. DISD lowered the requirements and the contractors and manufacturers delivered lower quality roofs. DISD still required the performance of the Alpha roofing system, even though they bought lower performing systems without the quality control requirements of the higher performing Alpha roofs. DISD was not happy with the lower performance on some of the inexpensive roofs. This paper describes a case study that proposes that high roof performance is a result of expert contractors proving their past performance, detailed preplanning, manufacturers doing quality control, contractors tracking their time and cost deviations and independent third party inspections. The expert Alpha contractor completed the project with the best dimensional stability metrics (dimensional stability is a metric of long lasting roofs). The roof installation was completed in 20 days and saved DISD over 20% of the cost of the roof, despite an increase in the scope of work. It was the first DISD project that had no punch-list items after the final walkthrough. DISD was extremely satisfied with the roof and the Alpha program demonstrated its effectiveness in the installation of roofs.

Section: Case Study At William Lipscomb Elementarymentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Value of Alpha SPF Roofing: An Alpha Case Study at William Lipscomb Elementary School

Zulanas

Gajjar³

2020

Self Cite

“…Their published results identified silicone coating as the most hail resistant, and urethane coatings as offering the worst protection. PBSRG tests found it was the exact opposite (Kashiwagi & Pandey 1996). FM testing was done only on new coatings and coating systems that were weathered using artificial weathering.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Replacement of Warranties with Logic and Common Sense

Gajjar

et al. 2015

Self Cite

Many problems are caused by owners specifying project technical requirements to expert vendors, then picking the low-price vendor, assuming that all the vendors are providing the same quality of product. Research over the last 20 years has identified that when working with highly technical areas, this practice brings high risk to the owner because the vendors do not have the expertise to understand the requirements. The Alpha sprayed polyurethane foam (SPF) roof system has brought the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) high value but also occasional risk caused by the low-price vendor. The authors are proposing that DISD’s effort to buy the Alpha SPF roof system through the low-price competition will cause DISD risk. A new approach is proposed to DISD: the Alpha SPF roof system only be used as an alternate value added option. This approach assumes that the only way the Alpha SPF system can be procured is if it is in the best interest of the owner due to dominant value. This approach minimizes the risk that DISD has encountered from low-price contractors who have not been able to minimize risk through the use of expertise and experience because their low-price was directly related to practices which are related to a lack of experience and expertise.

Development of the Use of Performance Information

Harare

Kashiwagi²,

2020

This paper documents the history of the development of performance information [1982-2020], for the delivery of services. It identifies traditional industries as client controlled. In the past, clients utilized a structure of technical professionals who had education, certifications, and experience. Professionals set both policy and structure for their professionalism. The traditional industry does not differentiate between the values of vendors, professionals and stakeholders. This paper identifies that professionals are resistant to using performance information which differentiates. The initial proposal to successfully implement information management was to use automation. However, the industry resisted the automation and the research identified that simplicity and transparency was the only solution. This paper identifies that the Performance Based Studies Research Group’s (PBSRG) success in performance information development was due to a unique design and methodology to research performance information as a disruptive technology. A new methodology called the Information Measurement Theory (IMT) was designed to redefine risk, expertise and information. The major source of validation of the new concepts was joint academic and industry research tests. Three major research tests confirmed that the client creates over 90% of all risk. PBSRG worked with a manufacturing company to design a high-performance roofing program which ended after 16 years due to it being based on client centric concepts. An expert contractor took the lessons learned and maximized the use of performance information with a vendor centric approach.