Roof Warranty Coordination in Orlando, FL

Every major manufacturer's NDL warranty has a maintenance clause. The specific language varies, but the common requirements are: semi-annual inspection by a manufacturer-approved contractor, written inspection report submitted to or available for the manufacturer's review, all repairs made by or approved by the manufacturer's approved contractor, and drain and debris clearance on a defined schedule. Failing to meet these requirements does not automatically void the warranty — but it gives the manufacturer grounds to contest a claim by arguing the building owner did not perform its maintenance obligations.

In Central Florida, the post-storm inspection requirement adds specific weight to the maintenance cadence. After Hurricane Irma, several manufacturers included language in their warranty communications indicating that post-storm inspections were required within 90 days of a named storm event for coverage to remain intact. Building owners who did not know about this requirement and did not schedule inspections after Irma found it difficult to support warranty claims for progressive damage that developed in the 2018 and 2019 storm seasons.

When a leak develops on a warranted roof, the correct sequence is: document the interior water event, call the manufacturer's warranty desk to open a claim file, have the manufacturer-approved contractor make the temporary dry-in repair, and then have the manufacturer's field inspector visit to determine warranty coverage. Most building owners invert this sequence — they call a contractor, get the repair done, and then try to file a warranty claim on a repair that is already complete without the manufacturer's field inspection that would have confirmed coverage.

For buildings that took damage from Hurricane Irma or Ian's remnant bands and have not yet resolved the warranty position on that damage, it is worth having us walk the roof and assess whether any of the remaining conditions are within the warranty scope. The statute of limitations on contract claims in Florida is five years from discovery of the condition — there may still be recoverable warranty coverage on buildings where the owner did not pursue the claim at the time.

If a building has a warranted system but has not been maintaining it per the manufacturer's requirements, the warranty is not automatically void. Most manufacturer warranty desks will reinstate a lapsed maintenance record if the building owner can demonstrate that the system is in otherwise good condition and commits to a going-forward maintenance program. We have navigated this process for buildings in the Lake Nona and Maitland office corridors where the original warranty was intact but the maintenance documentation had lapsed for 2-4 years.

The process involves a current condition inspection, a written report documenting that the warranted system is in acceptable condition with no active failures, a commitment letter from the approved contractor (us) to run the going-forward maintenance program, and a submission to the manufacturer's warranty desk. Approval is not guaranteed, but in our experience with the major manufacturers, a clean current-condition inspection significantly improves the chance of reinstatement.

NDL stands for No Dollar Limit. A standard manufacturer warranty covers the cost of labor and materials up to the original installed cost of the system — which on a roof that is 15 years old may be a fraction of current replacement cost. An NDL warranty covers the full repair or replacement cost regardless of current material and labor pricing, which is significantly more valuable on an older roof. Most 20-year and 25-year commercial warranties on TPO and EPDM systems are NDL. Verifying your warranty type is the first thing we do in a warranty coordination engagement.

Potentially. If the damage was documented at the time and was related to an installation or materials failure — not pure wind uplift beyond the system's design rating — there may be a claim path. The statute of limitations in Florida is five years from discovery. We can walk the building, document current conditions, and advise on whether a claim is worth pursuing based on what we see and the warranty terms.

Start with the original installation contract and the closeout package from the installing contractor. Most manufacturer warranties are registered by address and can be looked up by the building owner or an approved contractor through the manufacturer's warranty portal. We look up warranty records as part of our onboarding for any building on our asset management program, and we can run a warranty lookup for you as a standalone service.

We will pull the warranty record, assess your current documentation status, and tell you exactly where you stand — and what it takes to keep or recover the coverage.