If you want it done right, do it yourself. Company owners
Todd Westby and Tim Westby take a hands-on approach to running
TurnKey Corrections, the
River Falls, Wisconsin-based company that provides commissary and jail
management services to county corrections facilities nationwide. The Westby
brothers also take pride in the fact that TurnKey manufactures the kiosks it
provides to its clients and develops and owns the proprietary software used to
run them.
So, it’s perhaps not surprising that, when building the company’s
new headquarters, Todd Westby, the company’s CEO, founder and general manager,
served as the general contractor. Or that he had definite ideas regarding the
roofing system that would be installed. Or that he was more than willing to get
his hands dirty during the installation process.
Founded in 1998, TurnKey Corrections helps corrections facilities
streamline and lower the cost of delivering a variety services to inmates,
including commissary, email and email-to-text communication, video visitation,
law library access, and paperless intra-facility communication and
documentation. Following several years of robust growth, the company had
outgrown its three existing buildings. So, it constructed a new
115,000-square-foot facility to bring all operations, including 50,000 square
feet of office space and a 65,000 square-foot warehouse where commissary items
are stored prior to shipment to corrections facilities, under a single roof and
accommodate future success.
“We wanted to be involved in the project from beginning to end so
we knew what we were getting and how it was built,” Todd Westby says of the
decision to keep construction management in-house. “We wanted to know about
anything and everything that was being built for the company in this building.”
In planning the project, Westby initially set two key criteria for
the roofing system: that the building would be made watertight as quickly as
possible so concrete slab pours and other interior work could be completed, and
that the roof would be covered by a warranty of at least 20 years. The
design-build firm’s initial plans called for a ballasted EPDM roofing system,
but Rex Greenwald, president of roofing contractor TEREX Roofing & Sheet
Metal LLC of Minneapolis, suggested a white TPO system, noting that it would
meet the quick installation and warranty goals while also enhancing the
building’s energy efficiency. Westby was intrigued and, after some research,
agreed to the recommendation. In addition to helping reduce cooling costs
during summer months, the reflective surface would allow a blanket of snow to
remain on the roof during winter months to provide additional insulation.
The
Roof System
The
TPO roofing system included a 22-gauge metal fabricated roof deck; two
2.5-inch-thick layers of Poly ISO insulation from Mule-Hide Products Co., with tapered insulation saddles
and crickets to aid drainage; and 811 squares of 60-mil white TPO membrane from
Mule-Hide Products Co. The insulation and membrane were mechanically attached
using the RhinoBond System from OMG Roofing Products. Cast iron roof drains, designed and
installed by a plumber, were used rather than scuppers and downspouts—a
practice that the TEREX team strongly recommends to prevent freezing during the
cold Upper Midwest winters. Walkways lead to the mechanical units, protecting
the membrane from damage when maintenance personnel need to access the
equipment.
The TEREX team finds the RhinoBond System to be the most efficient
and economical attachment method for TPO systems. Specially coated metal plates
are used to fasten the insulation to the roof deck and then an electromagnetic
welder is used to attach the membrane to the plates. The membrane is not
penetrated, eliminating a potential entry point for moisture. And while other
mechanical attachment methods require the crew to seam as they go, the
RhinoBond System allows them to lay the entire membrane (a task which must be
completed in good weather conditions) at once and go back later to induction
weld the seams and plates, which can be done when Mother Nature is slightly
less cooperative.
Greenwald estimates that the switch from the originally specified
ballasted EPDM system to the TPO roofing system and RhinoBond System shaved at
least 10 percent off the installation time and reduced the roof weight by 10
pounds per square foot.
Having Westby on-site as the general contractor also sped up the
project considerably, Greenwald notes. “He was a huge asset to all of the
subcontractors,” he explains. “We could get construction questions answered
quickly and could talk through issues and procedures on a timely basis.”
And the most memorable moment in the project for Greenwald was
seeing Westby working side-by-side with his crew. “One day we had a delivery
truck show up, and Todd jumped on the forklift and helped us unload the truck.”
As sought from the project’s outset, the roofing system is backed
by a 20-year, no-dollar-limit labor and material warranty.
With one winter of use in the rearview mirror, the roofing system
has exceeded Westby’s expectations. Warehouse space was doubled, but heating
costs have been cut in half. The 10-unit heating system also is able to keep
the warehouse a uniform temperature, without the cold spots that were common in
the old building.
“It really is a beautiful, very efficient and organized-looking
roof,” Greenwald says.
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