Efficiency drives Thermal Roof Systems growth (Sacramento)

Sacramento real estate mogul Buzz Oates launched Thermal Roof Systems in Sacramento four years ago out of frustration with the high cost of roof maintenance on his own buildings.

“I’ve got 24 million square feet of roofs and we were having big trouble with repairs on them,” said the venerable Oates, whose partners have built the spray polyurethane foam company into a growing stand-alone business after Oates’ internal success with the technology.

Revenue has quadrupled in the past three years, company representatives said this week, up from $1.3 million in 2006 to sales of $6.6 million last year. Thermal Roof expects revenue of more than $8 million this year and expects to add six to nine people to its 14 employees as energy efficiency becomes a priority for landlords and tenants.

Thermal Roof has done little advertising and has relied on word-of-mouth referrals to grow its market share.

“At first we were mainly doing this on Buzz’s buildings,” general manager Al Kennedy said. “We’ve branched out to third-party owners so now 60 to 65 percent of what we worked on was non-Buzz roofs.”

Thermal Roof Systems applies insulation in a liquid form. The polyurethane foam then expands to 30 times its original volume and cures shortly after application, creating a seamless seal.

Read the full story in the Sacramento Business Journal.