A commercial roof never fails on a convenient week. It starts as a stain on a ceiling tile, or water finding the seam that opened in a March freeze-thaw. Then the bids arrive and none match: patch it, tear it off, or a number with no scope. That is what Blake and Craig built Loon Roofing & Construction to fix. Call (231) 392-1512 and you get an owner, not a call center. Blake goes up himself, photographs the seams, flashings and drains, and shows you the pictures before writing the scope. If a repair will hold, we repair it. If the roof is done, we tell you which system fits your building and why, and work around your hours so your doors stay open. Every job runs under Michigan license #262300660, with our crews and our 10-year workmanship warranty.
Your roof protects every other asset on the property: inventory, equipment, tenants, records, the floor your customers walk on. When it fails, the roof itself is rarely the biggest cost. The interruption is. A dining room closed on a Friday night, a tenant calling about a ceiling tile, stock pulled out of a warehouse aisle in the rain.
Most owners only find out what kind of contractor they hired after the tear-off starts. We run commercial roofing in Traverse City the way we would want it run on our own building. Blake inspects the roof and writes the scope himself, so the person quoting the job is the person who was on it. A roof with five good years left gets told that, not sold a replacement.
Blake goes up himself and walks you through the photos before anything is quoted.
Michigan builder license #262300660, and every job runs under it.
The same experienced crews on every project, so your building gets what our last one got.
Our 10-year workmanship warranty. If a problem traces to our installation, we fix it.
From new installations to full replacements and repairs, we tailor every service to your building’s structure, usage, and long-term performance needs.
A leak almost never starts where the water lands. Blake traces it to the real entry point: a failed seam, a split flashing, a blocked drain, or a penetration added for equipment and never sealed. We check the deck for trapped moisture first.
When a roof is past repair, patching moves the cost to next year with interest. We tear off, replace soft decking, correct drainage while the roof is open, and rebuild from the deck up.
Flat roofs fail differently: water sits instead of running off, so seams, drains and slope matter most. See our flat roofing page.
Roofing a home instead? See residential roofing or all roofing services.
Heat-welded seams, not glued, which keeps a flat roof watertight where water sits longest. White membrane reflects summer heat. Suits retail, offices, warehouses.
A proven rubber membrane that handles cold well, which matters where temperatures cross freezing dozens of times a winter.
Layered asphalt, tough underfoot, suited to smaller roofs with heavy foot traffic.
Metal sheds our snow load well, and a retrofit can go over leaking panels instead of a tear-off.
Churches, schools and small mixed-use buildings often have steep slopes, and those get the same CertainTeed system we install on homes.
Not sure which system is on your building? Most owners aren’t. That is the first thing Blake identifies, with the life left in it.
Water standing 48 hours after rain. Ponding is the leading cause of early flat-roof failure.
Blisters, ridges or lifting seams. Where nearly every single-ply failure starts.
Stained ceiling tiles or damp walls. Water has been tracking the deck a while by then.
Clogged drains or scuppers. A drain that cannot drain turns rain into weight.
Failed flashing at parapets and curbs. Every penetration is a joint, and joints fail first.
Energy bills climbing. Wet insulation stops insulating before a leak ever shows.
Seeing two or more? Read commercial roof replacement signs, then book an inspection.
There are three answers on a commercial roof, not two, and the middle one is where owners get taken advantage of.
Failures isolated, deck dry
Lowest now, recurring near end of life
Membrane worn, deck dry, not recovered before
Below tear-off, shorter life
Moisture trapped, deck compromised, or recovered once
Highest now, longest life
A recover only works on a dry roof. Cover wet insulation and you pay twice. More in how long a commercial roof lasts.
No honest roofer prices a commercial roof from the parking lot. Two buildings the same size can be far apart once you see the deck and the penetrations.
Deeper numbers: cost per square foot and replacement cost in Traverse City. Your scope arrives itemized, with nothing added later without your agreement.
Steel, wood and concrete each change the install.
Removal and disposal is a real line item; a second layer doubles it.
Anything saturated has to come out.
Every curb and rooftop unit is flashing work; slope corrections save the roof later.
A downtown building with no lot is not a warehouse with an open yard.
An owner picks up, not a script.
Seams, flashings, drains, penetrations, low spots, deck.
Itemized, with photos behind each decision.
Start date, staging and access agreed first.
Tear-off, corrections, new system, dried in nightly.
Warranty paperwork and photos for your file.
Lake-effect snow puts real weight on a flat deck for months. Freeze-thaw works every seam loose. Meltwater refreezes at drains and scuppers, turning a drain into a dam and a roof into a pond. Wind off the Bay finds any edge metal not fastened properly. That is why ice and meltwater damage drives most of our February and March calls.
New construction and build-outs run alongside our construction services. Towns we are often in: Traverse City, Interlochen, Acme, Elk Rapids and Lake Ann.
We are a Northern Michigan roofing company with a local team. We don't chase storms, and we plan to be here at your next inspection.
Click a question to open it
No, and be careful with anyone who does. Deck, insulation, penetrations and whether a tear-off is needed all move the price, and none are visible from the ground. Blake inspects first, then writes the scope free.
Yes. Staging and access are agreed before we start, the site is cleared daily, and the roof is dried in each evening.
Yes, and on a flat roof that is usually the real problem rather than the membrane. A new membrane over bad drainage fails the way the last one did.
It depends. A recover works only when the existing system is dry. Cover wet insulation and you pay twice.
Yes. Michigan builder license #262300660, and every job runs under it, backed by our 10-year workmanship warranty on seam, flashing and fastening work.
Free inspections. Written scopes. A straight conversation with the owner about what your roof needs. Call Blake at (231) 392-1512 or schedule an inspection.
Response within 24 hours · Inspection within 1 week
