Weatherproofing Advisors set to take on 50 staff

Aug 13 2010 by John Hill, The Journal

While Gaskell admits the company has not “totally avoided the recession”, he said the offices in Newcastle and St Helens have been “very buoyant”.

Gaskell said: “We’re very much focused on the refurbishment of roofs, and we’re not really into new-builds. What we try to do with Realm is prolong the life of the roof for as long as possible through a management and maintenance programme.

“Instead of just supplying all this information in paper form - and sometimes not at all - we’ve got a web-based system which offers updates on everything from maintenance to budgets.

“Very few people maintain their roofs properly. People are always on the hunt for a guarantee and when they get that, they don’t realise they need to maintain it as well through cleaning and inspection.

“It’s a difficult economy at the moment and most people don’t have the money to spend on re-roofing the building. A lot of people are very unsure about the future and decision making is slow and very often reactive. But when it’s reactive it’s going to be much more expensive, as the damage has been done. It’s about educating people to be more proactive.

“If you have a leak and try to claim, the first thing an insurance company will ask is when you last inspected the roof, and it’s a perfect excuse for them not to pay out. However, in this case, you would have a computer with updates on exactly when everything took place.”

If an organisation takes the company on for a maintenance contract, Weatherproofing Solutions updates the system with pictures and reports, thus giving the client a log of actions taken.

A section can also be opened for upkeep of rooftop installations such as telecommunications devices.