The Role of the RRO
By Daniel J. La Fountain, RRO How many times have you awakened to a 3:00 a.m. alarm, thinking that yet another day of battle was about to begin. Following the typical morning rou¬ tine, a thermos of coffee and a dozen doughnuts, you are ready to head to the jobsite. The morning traffic is thin as you make your way to the construction entrance. There you find a security guard/part time college student awaiting your arrival. After convincing him you are who you say you are, you are allowed on site. Upon arrival at the staging area, your first greeting of the morning comes from a man holding a flame thrower and about to fill the crisp morning air with the odor some refer to as “Black Gold” and others—well, we’ll leave that up to your imagination. As you look in the rearview mirror, rub¬ bing your eyes and shaking your head, a shiver runs up your spine as you remember that you, too, were once a viscosity engineer. But now you have advanced to another level and are indispensable to owners, designers and contractors alike. You are a Registered Roof Observer (RRO). As an RRO. you know that the best design can be flawed by a poor installation. It is terribly frustrating to design a roofing system that you believe satisfied the owner, roofing manufacturer, building officials and your own standards, only to have that design disregarded by a roofing crew which doesn’t possess a set of plans or specifications, has a set of plans and specs but chooses nor to utilize it. or has no one to turn to for instruction. That is when the most com¬ mon misrakes are made and the roofing crew insralls your intricate design the way they installed their last roofing sys¬ tem. “ITere are marry reasons w hy this happens, but one of the most cvmrnon is tirat a roofing contracting company consists of two ssiest the project manager and superinten¬ dent. and the fixeman and crew . The project manager and supetinteadeat attend the pre-bid meetings, pre-eonstrucriea auceeirgs mv’ progress meetings. The foreman and ere* are inert dSreerod te icsmll ±e reefing svstem. IXpscatts. sex do net know er ex design requirements writ artee the ceestriteaK directs to remove and retitenit aS er pecroess cf these completed roofing work. The ronctnae. w snest cases, is proseoc during the preeettsCTicwft sneeengs and progress weeriugs Fat dees be <ucs me contract deewnetats as dose?y a- hrs superiors? The quesoon ronrattr-. do exeat the best cudirrea preeMistxueuott •ne.s>»c> cumulate the prebJem cf mtsttxteepretatam or cwract jeeumcacs? the answer is ^mte dear¬ ly, hhC there has w be a meeaamsm »tesoive eaefiiet and pttMHOte ejawnunteMson ceTOre hard w er< ami exgensoe‘ nsKetnhs are wasted. Chat .s where the .s at groat vaiue. Ebe ’TRV > a person whu can enmnutweate saeetsstuib* with owners, design consultants and contractors. The RRO must be tactful, accurate and prompt when giving direction. It takes diplomacy to tell a roofing crew that their installa¬ tion procedures lack specification requirements and not get thrown off the roof. That is why it is very important to develop a positive relationship with the roofing crew from the very beginning of your assignment. You need to gain the respect of the roofing crew by proving your knowledge of the contract documents and the roofing industry. In return, you should respect their knowledge. Nitpicking a contractor’s installa¬ tion procedures will gain nothing. Emotions should not influence decisions or responses to a roofing crew. As the RRO, you are there to aid the roofing contractor during installation. Most foremen take a great amount of pride in their work. They have a way of doing things that they feel is correct. You have to be sensitive to individual personalities and be aware that providing the same information to two different people can result in two very’ different responses. An effective approach to problem resolution is to solicit the contractor’s input. Explain to him the variance from the specification, for example, and listen to his response. Use vour knowledge of the roofing industry and specifications to subtlv guide the contractor to make a decision w hich will comply w ith the specifications w hile allowing him to believe it w as his know ledge which resolved the issue. Once the crew understands that you are there to assist them in interpreting the construction documents, that you are a line of communication and can help to correct over¬ sights before they become removal issues, the anxiety and uncertainty of the first day will disappear. Remember, you are only as good as the last observer this crew had…until you prove you’re better. About The Author LT-T I La ■ is J arc -ar Kar* .VUy MittewwcA ‘iiwtW iis aw ijrw.w FFT ixs Kavr . rttwee .wri/iiunv* . xc 2 ‘ -M5. ,e< iws .w « x’.I’s .Vswwmr .■xmmw.w .‘^c. .’a bMMtenr azs , w» woww w ‘wring rwr’ swar , .aw su? .» ‘wo.ng
