Our home base
J&M Roofing is based in Rochester Hills. This is the city our crew drives every day, from the subdivisions off Rochester Road and Crooks to the streets between Hamlin and Tienken. We do residential and commercial roofing here, and every estimate is free.
What the houses here are like
Rochester Hills was Avon Township until November 1984. Before that, and for years after, farms were turned into subdivisions one at a time. The result is a city of ranches and colonials built mostly in the last quarter of the twentieth century.
Census-based estimates put the median home here at about 1984. The 1980s are the biggest single decade, followed by the 1970s and then the 1990s. Only a few percent of houses predate 1940, and roughly one in nine went up after 2000.
That spread tells you a lot about the roofs. A house from 1978 or 1988 is almost always on its second roof by now, and some are on their third. Owners are usually deciding between a repair and a full roof replacement, not wondering whether the original roof is still on.
What we see on roofs here
Most of what goes wrong on a Rochester Hills subdivision roof is predictable:
- Layers. The Michigan Residential Code allows no more than two layers of shingles. If the last roof went on over the first, the next one starts with a full tear-off.
- Ice at the eaves. Heavy wet snow and freeze–thaw cycles build ice dams on under-ventilated attics. Code requires an ice barrier at the eaves, and a replacement is the time to check the venting that causes the dam in the first place.
- Flashing. Chimneys, skylights and the spot where a later addition meets the original roof are where most leaks start. Many of those are a roof repair, not a new roof.
The city also has plenty of commercial roofing. Shopping centers and office buildings like the ones along Rochester Road, including Winchester Mall between Auburn and Hamlin, usually sit under low-slope roofs. Those need a different kind of attention: drainage, seams and rooftop equipment. That work is covered on our flat roofing and commercial roofing pages.
Permits in Rochester Hills
Re-roofing needs a building permit from the City of Rochester Hills Building Department at 1000 Rochester Hills Drive. Residential builders must register with the city before they can apply, which is one reason the contractor, not the homeowner, normally pulls a roofing permit. Permits can be applied for and paid online.
One thing the city will not do is enforce your subdivision’s deed restrictions. Your association can. If your neighborhood has an architectural committee, get the shingle color approved before work is scheduled, not after.
Where we work in town
We cover all of Rochester Hills: the neighborhoods on both sides of M-59, the streets off Adams near Oakland University on the west side, the neighborhoods along Auburn Road, and everything from South Boulevard, where Troy begins, up to Tienken. To the east, Dequindre Road is the county line, with Shelby Township on the other side.
If your roof is leaking, aging, or you just want to know where it stands, request a free estimate. We’ll look at it and tell you plainly what it needs.