Natural roof choice for courthouse

 The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors decided to stick with the real thing in a half-million-dollar courthouse roof redo.

When deciding whether to replace the existing slate with a synthetic product, the supervisors decided the savings with an artificial product is not enough to justify the change.

Last week, during a special meeting, the supervisors received five bids for the project that has been pending for several years. 

Architect Daric O’Neal, with the Omaha firm Alley Poynter Macchietto, met with the supervisors to discuss the bids. 

Those from Weatherguard and Skyline Roofing were deemed too high.  

A bid from Roof Tech was also rejected by the supervisors because it didn’t have a base bid for slate. 

Ten Men Roofing’s base bid of $477,000 and Renaissance Roofing’s base of $518,000 were the top two discussed by the supervisors. 

O’Neal weighed in on the choice of material.

“There’s just not enough difference between a slate roof and our synthetic alternates to make me suggest you jump into going with the synthetic alternate price,” he said. 

“I think you should stick with the natural slate.” 

Supervisor’s Chairman Bryant Amos, who has replaced slate roofs on two homes he once owned, questioned the ease of replacing the roof. O’Neal said if Amos had concerns, to leave the choice between actual slate and synthetic roofing under discussion. 

While the bid from Renaissance Roofing was higher than the low bid, the supervisors felt the reputation of the company and its experience in replacing slate roofs made Renaissance their contractor of choice. 

The supervisors gave O’Neal their intent to go with Renaissance Roofing.

The awarding of the contract is scheduled for the next Board of Supervisors meeting on Thursday, Feb. 25.