A Toronto-based construction company is looking to grow its business - and increase warehousing and other commercial space for customers - by raising roofs.

Rooflifters got its start a year ago when business partners Daniel Siegel and Marty Shiff, general contractors and co-owners of Planit Construction, bought Liftplate, a Miami firm that developed and patented a system for raising roofs off large-size but lowrise buildings in order to add vertical headroom.

First, crib posts are placed underneath the main structural beams of a building. The posts are then welded into place and the supporting columns severed so the crib posts can hydraulically lift the entire roof.

Once the roof reaches the desired height, the columns, services and other infrastructures are reattached and the newly added space is enclosed with metal, brick, stucco or block cladding.

Photos courtesy of Rooflifters
Rooflifters goes to work raising the roof on a large commercial building

By taking single-storey buildings as large as several hundred thousand square feet and literally raising the roof, Liftplate developed a modest niche.

Siegel says vertical space is needed in a modern distribution and logistics environment.

"There has been a fundamental shift of manufacturing from North America to overseas locations," he notes. "Companies need warehousing and logistics space to distribute products, but the low ceiling heights of many existing industrial buildings can't accommodate such an operation."

Planit Construction, a general contractor, specialized in commercial projects.

Siegel says he saw a Liftplate sticker pasted on a column outside a jobsite in Ajax, Ont., where the roof had been raised earlier. He investigated after a real estate agent suggested that some buildings might sell more quickly if they were slightly taller.

Siegel discovered that Liftplate had raised roofs on more than 30 buildings across North America over 15 years, working as a subcontractor.

Typical jobs included a five-foot lift for a 50,000-sq.-ft. Home Depot in Des Moines, Iowa, and a 15-foot lift for a 307,000-sq.-ft. General Motors plant in Detroit.

Liftplate's Canadian credentials included 71/2 feet added to a building for Simcoe Leaf, a tobacco company in southern Ontario, four feet to a Zellers store in nearby London, and the Ajax site, which eventually allowed a mezzanine to be added to a fitness club.

"I called Liftplate, but they weren't terribly interested in coming back to Canada," Siegel says. "But we called again and proposed a licensing arrangement, and discussions just evolved from there."

Liftplate soon ended up in Planit Construction's hands. Siegel says Liftplate founder and owner Peter Vanderklaauw died in 2004 and the company's successors wanted to grow the company, but needed extra muscle. Liftplate management maintains the Miami office, while Siegel and Shiff run the Toronto operation.

Photos courtesy of Rooflifters
Rooflifters goes to work raising the roof on a large commercial building

With 20 employees, the new entity - Rooflifters - scored its first contract earlier this year, refashioning a new Canadian distribution centre for Johnvince Foods, which owns the Planters brand in Canada and also handles private-label and bulk foods.

At 18 feet in height, the 70,000-sq.-ft. building in north-end Toronto was too low to accommodate the food company's distribution needs.

Rooflifters raised the height to 32 feet, providing Johnvince with an additional 1.12 million cu. ft. of warehouse space, and installed new columns and increased the number of shipping and receiving doors. The building had been vacant for 10 years, so Rooflifters replaced aging mechanical and electrical systems as well as a weak roof membrane.

"It came in around $34 or $35 a square foot for the entire project," Siegel says. "This is an extreme because it included revamping everything. If you were to tear down that building and build a 70,000-sq.-ft. building, it would probably cost in the $70 range."

Siegel says retaining an existing structure minimizes red tape. "Once you tear down a building, everything changes. You need a site-plan approval, which can take six months to a year and you might not even get what you want. With our process everything is effectively grandfathered and involves just a straight renovation permit, which usually takes just a couple weeks."

John Logarakis, vice-president of special projects with Johnvince Foods, says the extra height will let his company use the tall, state-of-the-art pick- towers, conveyor belts and racking systems needed in a modern-day distribution environment.

"The old building could not accommodate these," Logarakis says. "If we used the building as it was, the pick-towers would be too small for all our products."

Logarakis says Johnvince found the procedure cost-effective and environmentally friendly. "If we were to turn that whole building into rubble and start fresh, it would cost a whole lot more money than it's costing to just raise the roof and fix it up. We're just lifting the roof and adding steel."

With the Johnvince project under its belt, Rooflifters has close to a dozen potential projects under discussion, Siegel says.

"The evolution of the sale is quite long. Lifting roofs is completely unfamiliar to the industry, even to structural engineers with lots of experience.

"Clients tend to want to explore all their options, and this includes tear-downs, moving, leasing and acquiring a building. We knew that our first year was going to be a developmental year."

James Kirby, senior technical director with the National Roofing Contractors Association in Rosemont, Ill., says he was unaware of any construction companies lifting roofs in order to add vertical space, but considers the idea viable.

"It's just a different type of construction methodology. There are companies that move buildings and houses, or raise them up if there's a flood issue or to redo the foundation. But I don't know of anybody who's actually lifting a roof or the upper structure of a building to put in additional space. So, this is a little bit new to me."

Kirby does recommend that building owners considering a roof lift ensure that contracts spell out responsibility for any damage that might occur.

"From a very conservative standpoint, I would think you'd want to make an assessment of the roof system prior to the work being done and then do a damage assessment afterwards."

As part of its efforts to build the business, Rooflifters is taking its message to government.

"Municipalities across North America are losing millions of tax dollars and revenues to newer and higher buildings in the suburbs," Siegel says. "It's cost-effective to re-adapt existing commercial structures and it keeps business within their borders."

Siegel says the company made a presentation to the City of Toronto's economic development office in September, and also met in July with Ontario MPP (York West) Mario Sergio.

"We're promoting the revitalization of older areas where these buildings are," Siegel says. "The city could be collecting business revenues from buildings that are now vacant. So why not come up with some sort of a program or tax abatement to encourage businesses to buy and lease these older buildings?" Ronald Rea, a manager with the Toronto economic development office, says he only knew of one roof raised in the city during the 20 years he has been with the organization.

"One of the reasons companies are moving is they're looking for modern buildings elsewhere, with greater heights underneath the joists," Rea says.

"If we can persuade a company to raise the roof to allow for more warehousing space, so they don't need to relocate outside Toronto, then we've saved jobs and taxes."

(Saul Chernos can be reached at chernos@businessedge.ca)