Tag: national roofing week

Recap of National Roofing Week 2024

June 11, 2024 / Libby Cook

June started with a bang as we celebrated National Roofing Week, presented by NRCA. June 2nd through 8th was spent showcasing our projects, community involvement, and hard-working employees. This year, we celebrated a different theme each day: Signature Projects, Charity Projects, Employee Appreciation, Employee Training, and Celebration.

Monday – Signature Projects:

We proudly showcased several impactful projects we completed in the past year. The first of these signature projects is Lake Trust Credit Union in Brighton, MI, a sheet metal and TPO roof project with incredible architectural design. The next project is Edgewood Country Club, a shingle roofing project in Commerce Charter Twp, MI. Lastly, the Catholic Central Stem Building in Novi, MI, is a slate, green roof and paver system project for the Detroit Catholic Central School. Each of these projects demonstrates our expertise and contribution to the communities we serve.

Tuesday – Charity Projects:

Annually, we proudly sponsor multiple organizations that do important work. Some of those organizations include Bennett’s Beavers, Clara’s Hope, Hudson Mills Old Power Club, and Reaching Higher. Additionally, this year, we donated and helped roof a barn at the new Freedom River Veteran Recreational Center in Livingston County, MI. Also, we continue to support Cleary University in many aspects, from academics to athletics. Our commitment to giving back to our community is a testament to our values, and we are grateful for the opportunity to continue doing so.

Wednesday – Employee Appreciation:

Our company’s success directly results from our employees’ dedication and hard work. During National Roofing Week, we took the opportunity to express our heartfelt appreciation to every one of our team members. We showed our gratitude by providing lunch for our entire staff. Pizzas were delivered to around 10 job sites for our roofing and sheet metal employees, while the service, shop, and office staff enjoyed breakfast sandwiches and a small pizza party. Our staff is the backbone of CEI, and expressing our appreciation is a small way to thank them for their continuous efforts.

Thursday – Employee Training:

Training is very important in any industry, especially construction because we deal with dangerous and unique working conditions. That is why a top priority at CEI is to train our staff on safe work practices. Over the past year, our employees have undergone comprehensive training programs, including CPR training, OSHA 30, ladder safety, defensive driving, and RTF and MEWP training. These programs have equipped our employees with the necessary skills and knowledge to ensure their safety and the quality of our work.

Friday – National Roofing Week Celebration:

To wrap up National Roofing Week, we decided to celebrate by gifting our employees National Roofing Week T-shirts designed by Libby Cook. These T-shirts symbolize our pride in the roofing industry and our appreciation for our employees’ hard work. National Roofing Week allows us to recognize the importance of the roofing industry in all aspects while having fun. We are honored to be able to give our employees something to show our appreciation and to celebrate the week.

Dunk For Duke!

June 3, 2019 / Joaynna Cook

CEI is hosting a charity fundraiser for Duke Medical Center on June 8th, 2019. The event is in on honor of CEI’s late founder, John C. Cook. John passed away on April 24th, 2017 after a hard fought 14 year battle with prostate cancer. John and his brother stated CEI Michigan, John was the first full-time employee of Cook Roofing, Inc. John was passionate about the company and the roofing industry and strived to improve other people’s lives by sharing his eternal glass-half-full attitude. At the end of his career, John managed the international division of the roofing company. the projects took him around the globe and he loved the adventures while also leading the roofers on their foreign explorations. Although John loved working, he retired from the company in 2014.

Duke Cancer Institute was a big part of John’s battle! As apart of there 50th year celebration they wanted to contribute to the success of the Cancer institute that helped John over his 14 year journey.

#NATIONALROOFINGWEEK: Picking a Professional Roofing Contractor

June 8, 2018 / Joaynna Cook

National Roofing Week is coming to a close today! CEI wanted to close out the week with a blog post on the main topic of the week, which is to stress the value of a professional roofer for any project.

CEI is a member of the NRCA. This gives us access to leading industry education, safety information, and programs to keep our company serving at high-quality standards. The NRCA is one of the construction industry’s most respected trade associations and the voice of roofing professional. They are a large source of information for CEI and we are proud to be a member. CEI is a lead company in the commercial roofing industry in the mid-west. Yet, the NRCA has a focus on both the commercial and residential roofing industry’s. It is important to search out a quality roofing contractor, no matter what your project is so that it gets done right the first time. Often times our blog post are more suited for a building owner looking for information but when it comes to selecting a contractor the guidelines can be followed by both home and building owners.

NRCA has consumer-focused resources. Their main source is a blog that is focused on helping consumers be educated on there roof and roofing contractors (everyoneneedsaroof.com). Through their resources, they touch on a hand-full of things to look for in a roofing contractor. To help spread awareness, CEI has compiled the resources for customers on the Roofer Madness Blog. As a company, we want to provide customers with the quality resources to help them make their contractor selection. The following list of qualifications that your roofing contractor should have according to the NRCA’s consumer advisory bulletin.

Permanent place of business
Knowledge of roofing systems
Affiliated with an industry organization
- Ex: NRCA or any other local, state or national organization
Committed to education
Insured and committed to safety
Licensed and bonded
Financial Stability
Application expertise
Insist on a written proposal
Warranties
Completed projects list
References
Provisions for on-site supervision
Professional maintenance program

The video below was created by the NRCA to help explain these points. You can also read more from the NRCA here or visit http://www.everybodyneedsaroof.com/

#NATIONALROOFINGWEEK- Employee Training

June 5, 2018 / Joaynna Cook

Happy National Roofing Week to everyone! Yesterday we kicked off with a wonderful employee appreciation day! All of the CEI team had got pizza or breakfast delivered to them as a token of our appreciation. It was a great start to an exciting week.

Every day this week has a theme or focus to be talked about. Today’s (Tuesday) focus is on Employee Training!

A key part of being a quality roofing professional is ensuring that all members of your team are properly trained. CEI focuses its training efforts in two major areas; safety training and job skills training.

Safety Training

CEI started a bigger push on safety about 7 years ago.

“We had a couple of tough safety years before that and there was also a big push from our Consumers to step up safety. It had always been something we did, but we started to make it something we live everyday.” -Kristine Cook Lindsey, Vice President

CEI always met safety regulations but after those couple of years, they decided it was going to be one of their main goals to excel in safety. They posted a large board that read “Days since an accident”. The goal was to publish what was happening in regards to safety and make everyone responsible for safety on the job.

Joe Fulton- CEI Safety Director

In 2011, they added a full-time Safety Director to there team. He was tasked with keeping up with regulations and revamping the training program.

Jacob Rosiek- CEI Safety Manager

CEI safety standards started to grow and in 2016 they added another full-time position to the Safety Department, a Safety Manager.

In 2017, CEI was awarded the NERI safety excellence award for there efforts. Today, CEI’s safety training looks like this.

Monthly Foreman Safety Committee Meetings- To review how the company is doing and identify where and how to improve. Critical feedback from the field participation is key in these meetings.
Six Company Wide Safety Meetings- Every other month there is a different focus presented by our Safety Director or we bring in guest speakers to keep safety in the minds of the Foremen.
Weekly Toolbox Talks- These also focus on important safety issues but are run by the Foremen to stimulate discussion on safety and provide training opportunities for our crews.
Daily Hazard Identification Checklists
All Foremen are required to be 30hr OSHA Certified
All other workers are encouraged to be at least 10hr OSHA Certified
CEI’s insurance group also has its own Safety Requirements that CEI is annually audited on.

Job Skills Training

The other focus area for training is skills training. CEI as a union contractor is supportive of apprenticeship programs that serve to develop skilled professional Roofing and Architectural Sheet Metal Journeymen. Some of the ways that CEI supports skills development are-

Manufacturer Training- CEI is certified in almost every type of roofing system. CEI sees this as a way to open doors for new and interesting projects. We want to know how to do it all so we can take on any project start to finish.
Local 70 Union Block Training- CEI helps support their local union by participating in block training programs. They often help with the Crane and Lift classes.
Employ apprentices- To provide critical field training experience

#NATIONALROOFINGWEEK: What is National Roofing Week?

May 17, 2018 / Joaynna Cook

To raise awareness of the significance of roofs to every home and business, stress the value of professional roofing contractors, and promote the good deeds of the industry, CEI Michigan, LLC will recognize National Roofing Week taking place June 3-9.

Organized by the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA), National Roofing Week is a reminder that the roof is one of the most important components of every structure. It is the first line of defense against natural elements, such as rain, snow or wind, yet it is often taken for granted until it falls into disrepair.

National Roofing Week enables roofing professionals to engage in their communities and inform the public about the essential role roofs and professional roofing contractors play in every community, as well as the importance about making informed decisions about maintaining or replacing any roof system.

NRCA has planned a social media campaign for all of its members to be involved in. CEI will be participating in the weeks worth of posts to help engage its customers. This week will involve a series of blog post that will give details into how CEI keeps a quality reputation in the commercial roofing industry. It will also give the company a chance to reach out and help the community through charity acts, recognize their staff, provide important information to their customers about roof maintenance and most importantly have some fun taking pictures of the celebration.

To see all the action follow CEI on Facebook, Twitter or Blog.

Additional information about National Roofing Week can be found at www.nrca.net/National-Roofing-Week.