PHILOSOPHY

Eco-Tech's founder Mike Beauchemin comes from Moisie, Quebec, a tiny fishing village of 300 close to Labrador and the North Shore of the St. Lawrence. His family lived off of the land, and he grew up with a special appreciation for nature because of it.Mike has witnessed the impact of environmental change and he feels it. He remembers as a young boyhoping there wouldn't be a major snowstorm before Halloween because he didn't want to trick or treat in snowshoes. Now when he visits during the Holiday's, his hometown is lucky if it sees a white Christmas. Snow is almost a thing of the past. In Toronto, he can feel the 5-degree difference the urban heat-island effect creates. He suffers the blackouts from failing electrical grids as energy is used up from over-worked air conditioning systems. He then goes home and must deal with his children's anxiety about the environment and the planet's future. He knows that this is nothing special and everyone wants to do the right thing about the environment, but opportunities to make a difference are not always available. Luckily, Mike works in an industry that allows him to make a huge difference

There are very few industries that allow improvements in environmental practice such as roofing does. Traditional roofing practice is designed to remove the entire roof at the end of every service life and discard this toxic waste into a landfill. The General Toronto Area is about 2,600 square km, one third of it covered by roofs that are destined to end up in landfills every 15 to 20 years. That's about 867 square km of rooftops. It's not in the tens of millions of tons of toxic waste, but hundreds of millions of tons. By changing our roofing practices using good science and good engineering, we can create a completely sustainable roofing system: one that is designed, constructed, maintained, rehabilitated and demolished with an emphasis throughout its lifecycle on using natural resources effectively and preserving the environment, and we've done it.

When we design a roof, we do our due diligence and look at the entire cross section of the building. We don't only look at the roof, we inspect the entire building since the elements can even penetrate through brick and mortar if built improperly. Our systems don't remove the existing insulation on the roof if we don't have to. Since it's already paid for, think of it as free insulation and free energy savings. With these savings we add another layer of insulation to increase the overall R-Value of the building. We then apply a longer lasting, recyclable and reflective membrane over-top, which directs energy away from the building, saving the building owner up to 65% in cooling costs alone. We've also designed our systems in such a way that the building envelope becomes self-drying, improving air quality within the entire building. There will never be never be an issue with mold, and we guarantee it. Even our warranties are different. They come with a minimum of 15 years, 100% labor and materials and they're transferrable. Since we only use products that have been proven by the test of time in the field and not just in a laboratory, we can build roofs that last up to more than 30 years. All of the products we use are LEEDS (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, which allows our clients to take full advantage of the rebates the Green Roof Initiative in Toronto offers. At the end of the day our clients get a better product that's maintenance free, carries a minimum warranty of 15 years, lasts 2 to 3 times longer than a typical tar and gravel roof, cuts their energy costs in half on average, is totally recyclable at the end of its service life and is comparable in price to a typical roof retrofit. With a little bit of science, engineering and education about what has to be done within the roofing industry, we can all make a big difference.

CRAFTSMANSHIP AND TRAINING

We take craftsmanship for granted because of our extensive training program and our exceptional standards of quality control. There simply is no other way of doing the job than the right way. All of our welders are certified and have passed a rigorous training program. In fact, many new trainees coming on board find this meticulous attention to detail intimidating since it's not something they're use to. For example, it takes an apprentice one year to complete the 3 levels of training. Each student must pass 19 modules before he or she is allowed to even attempt to weld seams in the field. Before apprentices in training can pass a module, they have to be tested twice by two different supervisors. Only if they pass both tests, can they continue.

INSPECTION

After a roof is installed, it goes through 2 levels of inspection. Eco-Tech quality inspectors comb over each roof and test all welds for strength first, followed by a second inspection by the manufacturers for proper installation to ensure the exceptional warranties we offer.