Contractors, suppliers trying to keep up with southwest Missouri storm damage repairs

With extensive storm damage affecting much of southwest Missouri, local contractors are straining to keep pace with the surge in demand for their services.

"We were running behind before the storms hit, and they put us even further behind call-wise," said Dale Rector Jr., vice president of Dale's Residential Roofing. "My dad and I are both looking at 15 to 20 roofs a day, and we still can't keep up."

Doyle Forgey, owner of Forgey's Precision Roofing, also reports a backlog of appointments.

"People are waiting a week just for estimates right now, and depending on damages, we have about a month's wait for repairs," Forgey said.

Roofers have encountered further difficulties due to this spring's damp weather. "There's no doubt about it, if the weather were dry we would be getting more done. Obviously, if there's a chance of rain, we can't tear someone's roof off," said Rector.

Forgey reported similar difficulties.

"We have had a lot of slowdown this month because of all of the rain. We have had many days where I couldn't run my crews, and I had to go do estimates between rainfalls because I had nowhere else to schedule them," he said.

As it is difficult to introduce new crew members to keep up with this recent increase in demand, roofers are coping by reallocating their resources to serve cases in need of immediate attention.

"I took one crew off of the regular schedule and moved them out to the Battlefield area," said Rector.

"Battlefield is where we are handling the most emergencies people needing roofs or shingles put back on. Getting to them as quickly as we can is our biggest concern right now."

Roofers report a backlog of work ranging from four to eight weeks. Priority is given to the most severe cases.

"Right now we're concentrating on taking care of the people who don't have a roof over their heads. We want to get everybody in the dry and then we're going to go back and do the interior," said Eric Purvis, estimator for Kennco. Kennco handles both interior and exterior reconstruction.

With so much demand for roofers and other contractors, consumers must be wary of whom they are hiring, according to Daniel Sturkie, owner of American Roofing and Siding.

"It's been overwhelmingly busy," said Sturkie, "and unfortunately with events like this, everyone with a hammer is a roofer. By the time leaks and other problems begin, they are out of business and gone."

Supply and demand

Suppliers are taking measures to ensure that they are prepared to meet the demands of local contractors as renovations progress.

"They estimated that more than 400 houses were destroyed in Greene County alone," said Brian Welch, store manager of Meek's Lumber Company's location on East Sunshine Street. "That's a lot. It's too early to tell how long it will take to rebuild. It could take six months to a year, or up to two years depending on how many people decide to rebuild."

"The week after the storm we stocked up on materials we know are needed to rebuild these storm-damaged homes. Hopefully, we're prepared," Welch said.

With locations around the region as well as in California, Meek's has a large base of supplies to draw from.

"We do a lot of buying within our own company. This not only helps us keep materials readily available, but it will help us keep cost down too," Welch said.

The most popular items at this point in the rebuilding process have been windows and dimensional lumber for rebuilding roofs, Welch said.

Clarence E. McElroy, president of Midwest Window and Door Corp., said that he has had an increase in inquiries, but business has not increased dramatically thus far.

"A lot of the people whose homes were destroyed are still in the process of working out insurance issues and not really in a position to know what they are going to do just yet."

"The first thing we saw, of course, was a demand for repair items, replacement glass and other pieces. I expect in the not too distant future, when people whose homes were completely destroyed begin to rebuild, we will see a demand for sets of windows."

The overall effort of rebuilding these communities is only just beginning.

"In my opinion, it's going to be a while," said Welch. "People are going to have to work with us as well as we try to work with them."