Handprints Academy is a regional chain of large daycare centers, catering to daycare and after-school programs. Over the past twelve years, the chain has acquired and now operates fifteen daycare centers ranging from Killeen to Longview, with about half of the centers being in the DFW area. Many of these centers have been in existence for thirty-plus years, and previous attention to the roofs had been minimal.

Titan first inspected the DFW locations, and then the out-of-town locations, over a period of several days, documenting interior and exterior damage. Most locations exhibited problems, ranging from extensive hail damage to improper installation or repairs that had been done in the past.

Titan then met with the owners of Handprints Academy and recommended a triage approach that would initially deal with the two worst locations which were obvious candidates for insurance claims.

Over a period of several months, Titan met with insurance adjusters, walking each claim with them, and pointing out all the insurable damage which included roofs, gutters, windows, interior damage, HVAC equipment, and metal canopies. The adjusters then submitted their reports, along with estimates from Titan Contractors to the carrier.

Then Handprints ran into a wrinkle when they discovered that their insurance policies were ACV (actual cash value policies) which paid only a reduced amount based on the current value of the roof after depreciation. In addition, these were bare-bones policies that did not include code upgrade language. Because of the age of the roofs, there were several areas where a building permit would not be issued without bringing these buildings up to code. Titan found creative ways to address some of these problems, and the owners paid the difference between the full cost of replacement and the amount covered by the insurance company.

The week before Christmas, two crews totaling almost twenty people, worked diligently to complete the work on multiple roofs at both locations. On the pitched roofs, Titan upgraded the roofs from three-tab shingles to a thicker, longer-lasting architectural shingle, and added a ridge vent where none had existed before. On the flat roof, Titan upgraded the roof from a modified bitumen roof with a 10-year lifespan to a TPO roof with a 20-year lifespan.

The age of the roofs and the lack of previous maintenance created several challenges. Our carpenters spent two days at the Mesquite location repairing fascia and decking that had rotted from prior poor installations. At the Beltline location, one roof had seven layers of shingles and an alteration to the roofline that created issues that rotted out the rafters. Titan brought in their carpenter, and the crew of three worked from early morning until 10:00 pm that night under floodlights to reengineer the roofline and finish the job before the rain came in the next day.

Handprints two worst locations have beautiful new roofs. All their other locations have been inspected and a roof asset management program put in place to bring the rest of the locations up to standards and catch problems early on while they are inexpensive to fix.

The insurance policy is coming up for renewal, and management will discuss with their agent the need for a full replacement cost policy that would have saved them tens of thousands of dollars with a relatively small increase to their premiums