Antis Roofing
Drought
By Gina Dostler
July 17, 2015
Charles Antis is president of Antis Roofing, a southern California company well-known for its outstanding work in HOA roof construction services and is celebrating their 25th anniversary this month. Antis is also a board member of Habitat for Humanity of Orange County and his company regularly donates roofs to limited-income families.
Q: What experiences brought you into roofing?
A: After graduating from Brigham Young University in Utah I was recruited by a company in California to sell insulation for homes. This was really different for me having worked labor jobs growing up, but the missionary work at BYU had given me a good background on selling. Not too long into the job I found out what I had been selling was actually worthless and broke my heart that I had sold it to families. I quit the company and went looking for another job. I found a job in Torrance for a roofing contractor where I worked in the hot sun tearing off roofs.
Q: When did you start your company?
A: After I got married, I supplemented my income with side jobs since there wasn’t steady work. Soon the side jobs increased enough and I got the courage to break out on my own working out of my home. Since I didn’t have equipment, personnel or experience running my own business, I marketed myself to HOAs by asking them to give me the leaks no one else could solve and didn’t want. We solved the leaks, gave really good customer care and our company has grown ever since.
Q: Do you work mainly with HOAs?
A: Yes, we mainly work with HOA residential properties and multi-tenant housing. Right now the roofs on these homes are in the worst state of repairs. For the past 7 years there was an economic downturn that really stalled repairs. And now with the biggest drought on record, no water to produce leaks, the business of repairing roofs has declined and that could only mean one thing.
Q: Please explain.
A: So many people feel they can get away with another year without maintenance on their roofs. The drought has made many people forget what it is like to have rain and a leaky roof. Let us say it rains hard for just one day, even though the drought is dragging on. It’s possible since El Nino was officially confirmed in March. Reports show there’s a greater than 85% chance El Nino will continue into winter, bringing more rain than average to the West coast. If that happens, a lot of homes will experience leaks just by the amount of negligence to roof maintenance we are experiencing right now. With many people calling in at the same time to repair leaks, it places a higher demand on the industry creating higher prices. Right now roofing repairs are at an all time low so prices are much lower.
Q: Don’t HOAs have a responsibility to homeowners to bring awareness about maintenance?
A: Absolutely. There is a lot of education available through community associations such as CAI (Community Associations Institute) or CACM (California Association of Community Managers) to educate on such housing matters as roof maintenance. Sometimes the HOA or property manager needs to push the owners to see the advantage of timely maintenance to avoid much larger costs down the road.
Q: What type of maintenance is needed?
A: It’s really simple actually. Clean the gutters, the down spouts, drains, waterways and keyways. Keyways, the joints between the shingles, are where water ends up due to the path of least resistance and gravity. If a waterway pushes debris into a collective pile, the water dams, sits on the roof and ends up under the roofing product through these joints. Just by regular cleaning this can be avoided and the roof will last longer. This will prolong the roof life and minimize roof leaks.
Q: Tell me about your work with Habitat for Humanity of Orange County.
A: Giving back to the community all started when I received a call from a woman who said she had a leak in the house. I knew the woman from church who is a single mother with 7 children. When I got there, she opened the door and I was overwhelmed by the smell of mold and mildew. Her little girl took my hand and went to show me where the leak was and I saw a mattress on the floor with mold on the bedding. I called some friends and we got together to fix her roof free of charge. Since 2009 we have built, along with supplies contributed by our supplier Eagle Roofing Products, over a ½ million dollars worth of donated roofs to Habitat for Humanity of Orange County. And it really feels good to be able to say that.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Charles Antis
President
Antis Roofing & Waterproofing
2649 Campus Drive
Irvine, Ca 92612
949-461-9222
Info@antisroofing.com
www.antisroofing.com
