From Racing to Roofs
WeOnTop.com explores next-generation materials for lifetime solutions
While boat racing and roof construction may not seem like a recipe for success, it’s exactly the combination that is helping Brian Cole push the envelope in the roofing and overall commercial building space.
Cole is the President of Haslet, Texas-based WeOnTop.com (formerly known as Pro-Tech Contracting Inc.), which he founded in 2003. Over the years, he’s replaced and repaired commercial and residential roofs of all scope and scale and virtually every material, in North Texas and parts of Oklahoma.
Now, he’s looking at shaking up the industry norms, investigating more reliance on fiberglass, Kevlar and composite systems.
Roof Rewind
Cole learned construction at a young age. As a teenager, he worked part time pouring concrete, helping his uncle with his roofing business and working seasonal construction jobs.
In 2003, at the young age of 20, he was ready to start his own business in construction—and starting on the top with the all-important roof system was his service of choice.
“In those first few years, I primarily focused on installing and waterproofing new and repairing existing commercial and residential roofs of all types,” Cole recalls.
These systems include metal, thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO), shingles, modified bitumen and the familiar tar-and-gravel systems common to flat roofs on commercial buildings in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Roof types ranged from built-up and modified roofing to shingle and metal roof systems of varying complexity.
One recent project involved the installation of a new TPO roof for a 75,000-square-foot industrial warehouse in Dallas, which included the renovation of composite standing seams for the façade to ensure waterproofing even in strong winds and heavy rain.
Cole continues, “We do 10-20 large roof installations a year along with numerous repairs for building owners, management companies and general contractors.”
His growing reputation as an installer and for repair extended into Oklahoma.
The Water Ninja
Over the years, Cole became particularly adept at finding and repairing leaks in complex structures—from very tall high-rises to warehouses. “I love a good challenge,” he says. “The more difficult the better, particularly when it comes to leaks.”
Work on the Locomotive and Services Facility, part of GE Transportation, a Wabtec company, in Fort Worth, Texas, near Texas Motor Speedway, is a nearly 1 million-square-foot facility that serves as the main manufacturing hub of locomotive and mining equipment is one example. When the facility’s relatively new multimillion-dollar TPO roof had repeated leaks, the facility manager called four different roofers who could not find the source of the problem.
But Cole did. He laughingly says, “Finding leaks is my superpower.”
His skill at finding issues with roofs also prompted some rethinking about industry practices. In his experience working with general contractors, building owners and property management companies, he’s discerned a pattern in many commercial and residential roofs. Cole explains, “They are not really built for longevity, but instead with replacement in mind. Most are built cheap and fast with only one- to five-year warranties.”
He points to asphalt shingles as an example. While these roof systems can be installed quickly and easily, they rarely last more than 20 years and get brittle when cold. Metal roofing has long been a popular choice, but it can be expensive and is easily dented by falling objects or hail, a common occurrence in North Texas.
Drawing from his 17 years of experience in the roofing space combined with lessons learned with race boats, Cole believes he has the vision, experience and tools to facilitate a next-generation, true lifetime roof solution.
Fiberglass Possibilities
Cole is a longtime race boat enthusiast, a hobby that he has spent considerable amounts of free time on since he was a teenager. During this time, he worked almost exclusively with fiberglass to build and repair boats of all shapes.
He says, “Fiberglass is very durable and easy to repair. I can patch a boat in a couple of hours.”
While assessing one of the fiberglass panels of his boat, he began to consider the similarities between boats and roofs. As a self-proclaimed fiberglass hobbyist, he wondered, “Why can’t our roofs be built like the fiberglass on my boat? My boat is weather resistant, hail resistant, extremely durable and requires little maintenance.”
Of course, fiberglass is not new to the roofing world. Modified bitumen, a material common to flat roofs on commercial buildings, incorporates fiberglass. As well, composite shingles, generically called asphalt shingles, cover an estimate of 70% of all roofs in this country. Many composite shingles have a layer of fiberglass to increase strength and durability—and they are cost effective. The projected life of a composite shingle roof is between 20-30 years.
Even TPO roofs, a common material for commercial buildings, rely on some fiberglass strands in the sheets of rubber and other synthetics. “But we can do more,” emphasizes Cole, who sees his experiences in roofing translating to all over general contracting in the vertical construction space. He recently renamed Pro-Tech Contracting Inc. to WeOnTop.com, a play on his motto, “We Won’t Stop Until,” a phrase that reinforces his vision to deliver long-lasting and leak-free systems.
As he contemplates the next phase of his professional roofing career and his company, he’s building connections with material engineers to lay the foundation for a new generation of solutions with true lifetime warranties—warranties that will last multiple generations.
Cole concludes, “There’s no reason, with all the advances in materials, that our industry can’t come up with a lifetime roof that can withstand Mother Nature and require little maintenance. Excellence starts at the top—protect your investment.”
He’s optimistic about the possibilities, believing the next decade of roof advancements will introduce deep connections between fiberglass composites and rooflines.