b'STEEP SLOPEDuring the callback investigation, Pond Roofing found the insulation packed against the plywood near eaves inside the attic and multiple signs of excessive moisture.)The homeowner said it felt like all of the heated air forinsulation baffles to unblock the vinyl soffit. We do the upstairs was being sucked up into the attic, sayingthat all the time. Then, on the day of installation, our it was freezing upstairs, said Patrick Readyhough,field supervisor would have been on the scene to see, president of Pond Roofing Company. Thats whatWait a second. Its solid wood behind the vented vinyl triggered our investigation. soffit. Its not venting anyway. We need a new plan.Readyhough went inside the attic and quickly spottedThe new plan Pond Roofing pursued was to install soaked plywood. And on the roof-top side, there wasroof-top intake (The Edge Vent) to offset the non-water actually weeping out from between the shingles,functioning vinyl soffit, insert insulation baffles in the thats how much moisture was present. Back insiderafter bays to keep the insulation from blocking the the attic he noticed the insulation was pushed upintake airflow, and switching from the roof-mount power against the plywood at the eave, in effect blockingfan to ShingleVent II ridge vent for exhaust.the intake airflow. Looking back, Readyhough wishes the estimator either So we had no intake airflow from the soffit to the atticrescheduled the estimate so he could have time to exhaust fan, said Readyhough. I told the homeownerinspect the attic or politely insist the attic inspection we missed something. We need to get it corrected.must happen today. Homeowner, I cannot give you this So we installed new plywood, new underlayment, newproposal until I take a look inside the attic. Otherwise, shinglesa brand new roof, said Readyhough withoutwere making assumptions, Readyhough plays out hesitating to do the right thing during the callback.aloud how the conversation should have gone that day. Why it was Skipped You cant let your customer run your show. Youre Why did the estimator skip the attic inspection? Hethere as an expert. Theyve asked you to come as an allowed the homeowner to take charge. expert. You have to be able to stand up for yourself and say, Hey, Im the expert. I need to look at a few We have a process and we have a system. We do atticthings. If we cannot do it now lets please reschedule. inspections. This customer was running behind (withWe learned a valuable lesson there. Readyhough said.his personal schedule) and he let my estimator get offCorrective Action for the Futurehis game and he rushed him, said Readyhough. The customer didnt even let him inside the house or attic.One of the positives to come out of this learning Soacoupleofmistakesweremade.One,notexperience is some tweaks to the process that Pond demanding that we do an attic inspection was theRoofing uses. first mistake. The second mistake was the fact thatWe have new CRM (customer relationship manager) the vented vinyl soffit was installed over solid soffit.software created by Contractors Cloud. I worked with There were no airflow openings. Had the estimatorthe company to customize the workflows to create done his attic inspection and noticed the insulationa gateway requirement at the roof measurement packed against the plywood near the soffit, he wouldstage, said Readyhough. It requires the estimator have told the homeowner that were going to removeto tag a photo(s) from inside the attic and document the bottom row of plywood so we can insert atticnotes from the attic inspection. Without satisfying this Continued on page 44www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer 43'