The Perkins Roofing journal
Plan the work beyond the roofline.
Explore our construction articles on building inspections, repairs, exterior finishes and outdoor spaces. Original posts, with the newest first.
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At Perkins Construction, we specialize in delivering comprehensive turnkey roofing solutions that go beyond just roofing. Our roofing services are integrated with a full range of HVAC, MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, and
Welcome to Perkins Construction, your trusted partner in creating luxurious outdoor spaces that combine style, comfort, and functionality. We specialize in designing and building custom exterior pool cabanas and outdoor
Expert Commercial Building Inspections You Can Trust At Perkins Construction, we specialize in comprehensive commercial building inspections for all types of properties, from office buildings to retail centers,
At Perkins Construction Repairs, we specialize in top-quality construction and repair services, offering expert solutions for residential and commercial projects. With years of experience in the industry, our skilled
Commercial painting pays off three ways for South Florida property owners: fewer costly errors and rework, modern coatings and stronger curb appeal.
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Principles
Four ideas that decide whether an exterior project goes well, none of which are about product selection.
One system
A roof, a window head, a stucco crack and a blocked drain are not four separate problems — they are four openings in one barrier. Water that gets past any of them shows up somewhere else entirely, which is why chasing a stain rather than the assembly wastes money.
Sequence
Roof, then openings, then walls, then finishes. Each stage disturbs what is under it, so doing them out of order means paying twice for the same surface. Sequencing is the single cheapest decision in an exterior project and the one most often made by accident.
Permits
Permit review and inspection hold points sit on the critical path, not beside it. Requirements and timelines differ by county and municipality, so confirm them with your building department early rather than discovering them mid-project.
Corrosion
Near the coast, metal components fail before the materials they hold. Fastener grade, flashing metal and hardware coatings decide the real service life of a detail — and they are invisible in a finished photograph, which is why they are the first thing cut from a cheap bid.
Details
At transitions. The field of a roof, the middle of a wall and the center of a window are the easy parts; the junctions between them are where water gets in and where trade responsibility blurs. A roof-to-wall termination, a window head flashing, a parapet coping, a balcony threshold and a penetration through a wall are all places where two scopes meet, and each one needs an owner named before work starts.
The second recurring failure is drainage. Water has to leave the building somewhere, and a roof that drains beautifully into a blocked scupper or a downspout that discharges against a wall has simply moved the problem. On low-slope buildings especially, drainage is a design question rather than a maintenance one — see flat roofing for how slope and drains are handled.
The third is documentation. On an occupied building, a written record of what was replaced, when, and what condition the rest was left in is worth more than it costs. It is what makes the next repair a targeted one, and it is what a condition report draws on later.
Questions
Generally top down and outside in: roof first, then windows and doors, then stucco and wall repairs, then painting last. The reason is that each stage disturbs the one below it. Setting new windows after painting means patching fresh paint; painting before a re-roof means the roof crew works over a finished wall. There are exceptions, usually driven by permits or by an active leak that has to be stopped immediately.
Most structural and envelope work — roofing, window and door replacement, structural modifications — requires a permit and inspections, and a licensed contractor pulls it. What is exempt varies by county and municipality, so the only reliable answer for a specific address comes from your local building department. Work done without a required permit tends to surface later, at a sale or an insurance inspection, at the worst possible time.
Because corrosion, not wear, is usually what ends the life of a coastal component. Fasteners, flashings, edge metal, hurricane hardware, railings and window frames all age faster within a few miles of the water. The practical consequence is that specification matters more than brand: the grade of stainless or the coating on a fastener determines whether a detail lasts twenty years or five.
It is not required, but a single point of responsibility removes the most common failure in envelope projects: two trades each certain the other owns the junction between them. Where the roof meets a wall, a window head or a parapet is exactly where leaks start, and it is exactly where responsibility gets disputed. If you use separate contractors, agree in writing who owns each transition.
Usually yes, and most of our commercial work is on occupied buildings. What changes is the planning, not the feasibility: staging and material handling, protecting entries and parking, restricting noisy work to agreed hours, and sequencing so that no unit is left open at the end of a working day. That planning belongs in the schedule before work starts rather than being improvised.
This guidance is general and specific to South Florida practice under the Florida Building Code. Permit requirements, inspection sequences and exemptions are set locally — confirm them with your county or municipal building department. More guides are in our article archive and across our resources.
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