By Fox23.com News Staff
TULSA, Okla. — The Oklahoma Roofing Contractors Association (ORCA) hosted a code compliance class to help local roofers stay up to date with all aspects of Oklahoma’s building code.
“Basically, we want to get to a place where we’re building better,” said Scott McCollum, the instructor of the class and the Chairman of RoofRx University. “For a long time, roofs have kind of been commoditized in Oklahoma. Things have been to the lower end. We’re talking about building better, we’re talking about systems roofs, we’re talking about code plus roofs.”
McCollum said there hasn’t been a huge emphasis on code enforcement in Oklahoma.
“Codes are things that a lot of the roofing contractors have never really paid a lot of attention to. The reason for that is that roofs typically in Oklahoma have not been inspected. Building permits have not been required. No one’s been looking at it, so there wasn’t really a lot of incentive for the roofing contractors themselves to dig deep into the codes and really understand what the code books says.”
Avery Smith, the Executive Director of ORCA, explained that the intricacies of building code can be confusing, especially as it receives updates every now and then as time passes.
“We have a lot of experienced roofers and code has never been a real emphasis for our industry in this state. With so many changes happening, permitting processes, a residential endorsement or license coming down the pike, we want to make sure that the industry’s up to speed on the codes…A lot of it can be unintentional, but it’s still not being followed. Homeowners can suffer, policyholders can suffer and so that’s what we want to try to do is try to really get the word out.”
Still, McCollum said roofers in Oklahoma have a responsibility to follow state codes and provide the best product possible.
“That’s what we’re building the organization on. It’s about best practices. it’s about giving the consuming marketplace what they’re really entitled to. It’s about abiding by the laws and the rules in the state of Oklahoma and doing business the right way. Our businesses have to be about saving lives, protecting property and mitigating risks. They can’t be about nailing shingles.”
To learn more about ORCA and to stay up to date on any future classes, you can visit the organization’s website here.
