A public building has to open the morning after the storm. Offices, courtrooms, maintenance yards and service counters cannot close for a roof leak, and the public notices when they do. Snow runs 90 to 97 inches a year in Flagstaff, AZ, so load comes before everything else on a public roof. We start with the sag check, move to the drains and then to the details that let water in. Every step is written down, because public owners answer to a council, a board and an auditor. Dated photos, drain logs and repair notes go into one file per building, so a question a year later has an answer.
The goal is simple. No surprise roof failure, and a file that proves the work was done.
By March 2, 2023 the late-February storm had buried parts of the city under 24.5 inches, and roofs gave way. The city's warning list was short: drooping ceilings, bowing trusses and heavy leaks. Residents can also call a line that the city and the county run together, and building staff should know that number.
A facilities manager can act on that list today. Train staff on the warning signs. Post the call number. Walk each roof before winter and again after every big dump. When a building shows a flag, clear the area and call for help. We give public owners a one-page checklist and a priority list of buildings, so the highest-risk roofs get checked first. After a big storm, the snow and ice damage review is the next step.
Public portfolios mix building types. A city hall, a fire station, a maintenance shop, a library and a recreation center all have different roofs. Some are flat. Some are steep. Some are metal. We build an inventory that lists each roof section with its age, system, drains and condition.
Walk each roof the same way. Probe seams. Check flashing at walls and curbs. Look at drains and edges. Note equipment on top. Photograph every defect with a date. The inventory sorts into three groups: replace, repair, watch. A watch roof gets a date for the next look, and a trigger such as a heavy storm that moves the date up. Because public budgets cover many departments, the list shows cost ranges and consequences, and a facilities director can take it to a budget hearing without rewriting it. One public owner may hold a school and a National Guard armory in the same portfolio, and a single file can carry both.
Camp Navajo, an Arizona Army National Guard site in Bellemont about 11 miles west-northwest of Flagstaff, is described as an industrial park, a munitions storage facility and a regional training site, and its units include a military police company and Field Maintenance Shop 6. Public ownership can run from offices at one end to depots at the other, and the inventory has to span both.
On a flat roof, the drain decides whether the thaw stays a nuisance. Clogged drains under a heavy snowpack turn melt into a pond. Of Flagstaff's 20 to 22 inches of precipitation, the monsoon delivers roughly a third, mostly in July and August. The same drains that carry snowmelt in March take monsoon cells in July.
The 2022 Pipeline and Tunnel fires burned 26,532 and 19,088 acres north of town, and monsoon storms then flooded the burn areas. City staff flagged new flood risk in the Schultz Creek watershed, which touches neighborhoods along Highway 180. That affects ground drainage more than roofs, but it raises the cost of any water that reaches a building, and it makes clean roof drains and clear downspouts more important. Our drain and scupper work includes overflow openings and downspout extensions.
Public work follows procurement rules. Bids, quotes and approvals each have thresholds. A clear scope moves a project through them faster. Each scope lists quantities by section, plus materials, attachment, flashing, edge metal, warranty terms and phasing. Every bidder can price from the same document.
The scope names the code basis. The scope cites the city's adopted 2018 building and energy codes, the 2017 electrical code and the 2019 amendments to Title 4. Replacement follows that edition and those amendments. We confirm insulation, wind and fire details with the building official before pricing. A pre-bid roof condition report sets the starting point. It protects the agency if conditions are questioned later.
Warranty and closeout come with the scope. We assemble product data, installation records, inspection reports and photos at turnover, filed by building and section. The next facilities director can find them without a search. For public money, the paper trail is part of the product.
Public counters stay open. Our occupied building reroofing plan works in sections. We set quiet hours, protect entries and keep one area open at a time. The facilities director learns beforehand which section is open, and each section is closed in by day's end.
Night and holiday leaks get a crew as well. If a leak hits a records room or a server closet, we stop the water first, then protect equipment and document. Then we finish the repair in the next dry window. Buildings in downtown Flagstaff and the airport technology park follow the same plan, with access and traffic rules set by the site.
Call before the first heavy storm. Send the building list, roof types and the date of the last walk. We will schedule the sag and drain checks, build the inventory and deliver a ranked list. The file serves audits, budget hearings and insurance claims. A department that manages several buildings can keep one format for all of them, which suits public agencies with mixed portfolios.
The Museum of Northern Arizona's original building dates to 1936, and a building can outlast any one roof on it. A roof file records what is on a building decades after the work was done. Start the file now, and keep it current. Add every walk, every repair and every storm response as it happens, while the details are still fresh.
The facilities director, with a board or council approving funds. We supply the condition, cost ranges and consequences so the decision rests on facts. Replacement goes on the capital plan with a date range.
Keep dated inspection reports, photos of repairs and a drain log. Auditors and insurers ask for exactly that. We deliver the file in a format you can store and hand over without special software.
Call us at once. We stop the water, cover the room, document the roof and the interior damage and repair the roof in the next dry window. Tell staff to move records only after the area is declared safe.
Yes. Every building keeps its own section list, and the totals sort by department and by year. A facilities director can show a single building or the whole portfolio at a hearing.
Start in late summer. Walks, drain work and small repairs fit before freezing returns in late September. Large projects need time for bids and approvals, so plan them a year ahead.
Browse the services, roof systems and building types we work with across Flagstaff and nearby Arizona communities.
A walk of the roof with photos, findings and a written scope.
Active leaks, storm damage and blocked drains get a fast response.
Roofing across Flagstaff and nearby Arizona communities.