Service area
Rental properties, older homes near the university and postwar ranch houses need clear access and scope decisions. Inspect the roof connections and identify who can authorize the work.
The roofing decision
For a Tempe rental, the person seeing a leak may not be the person approving the repair. Connect those roles early and collect interior photos, previous invoices and access arrangements. The roof investigation should still address the actual assembly, especially at cooler locations and pitched-to-flat additions.
Discuss your Tempe roofIdentify who can admit the roofer and who is authorized to approve the proposed scope. Record leak locations and any scheduling limits in occupied areas. The written plan should explain how additional findings will reach the owner or property manager.
Explore residential roofingLook at cooler curbs, removed-equipment openings and the connection to carport or patio roofs. On apartments with low-slope roofing, add outlet and parapet assessment. A new surface should not leave these details outside the work description.
Explore roof replacement
The roofs here
Tempe grew from Hayden’s Ferry, a Salt River crossing, and the 1887 railroad brought it a boom. The neighborhoods near Mill Avenue and the university have early twentieth-century houses and bungalows. Their roofs often sit on board sheathing and have several layers of older roofing.
Most of Tempe’s houses were built in the decades after the Second World War. Low-pitched shingle roofs, flat roofs over additions and carports, and rooftop coolers are common. The transitions between low-slope and pitched sections need assessment alongside the main surfaces.
With Arizona State University at its center, Tempe has a large share of rental houses and apartments. Ask for maintenance and repair records rather than assuming the roof history from its rental use. Flat roofs on apartment buildings need regular coating and drain checks before small issues spread.
Local building patterns help guide an inspection. Your roof’s actual condition, materials and repair history determine the recommendation.
Conditions
Tempe is almost entirely built out, and pavement and buildings hold heat into the night. Roofs here barely cool in summer. Reflective coatings on flat roofs and attic ventilation on pitched ones both help.
The Salt River runs through north Tempe, dammed to form Tempe Town Lake. Neighborhoods near the river and the old canals should keep roof runoff away from foundations, especially where irrigation is also in use.
Monsoon bursts find the weak spots on older roofs: worn flashings, low-slope sections and patched valleys. A pre-season inspection is the cheaper option.
Tempe publishes locally amended versions of the International Codes; the 2018 adopted residential and building codes are on record. Confirm the current edition with the Building Safety Division before a permit.
Compare the same work
Use these points to make the proposed work specific to your property.
Code and permits
Confirm the requirements for the building and proposed roof assembly. The links below go directly to the relevant authorities.
Tempe adopts the International Codes with local amendments in Chapter 8 of its city code, and the ICC publishes 2018 editions of Tempe’s adopted building and residential codes. We could not confirm whether a newer edition is in force. Ask the Building Safety Division before the roof assembly is specified.
Tempe Building SafetyMaricopa County is in IECC climate zone 2B, hot and dry. Arizona has no statewide energy code like California’s Title 24: the energy rules for a roof are the ones in the IECC edition the city has adopted, applied in that zone. Building type and roof slope still decide which of them apply to a given project.
The county climate zone guideMaricopa County publishes no special wind region list, so there is no county figure to quote for Tempe; the design wind speed comes from the ASCE 7 maps for the individual site. Look the address up and confirm the figure with the building department. Wind load rises with the square of the speed, so a few miles an hour changes what the fastenings, the perimeter and the edge metal have to carry.
ATC Hazards by LocationCity of Tempe Building Safety Division is the local authority for roofing permits. Establish the permit and inspection requirements for your project before work begins. Our Arizona license is ROC 367833.
City of Tempe Building Safety DivisionCode editions and dates here are as each city published them. They explain what applies; they are not a site-specific design calculation. Confirm the governing edition and design criteria with the building department.
What we do
Older houses point toward shingle replacement, apartments and flat roofs toward recoating, and commercial buildings toward low-slope repair.
Additional roofing services for homes and commercial properties:
Before you plan the work
Identify the owner or authorized manager, the access contact and known leak locations. Provide photos and prior repair records where available. Agree how findings and change requests will be documented so tenant access is not mistaken for authorization of the work.
Inspect the curb, flashing and surrounding deck where accessible, including former cooler openings. Ask how active equipment or abandoned penetrations are handled in the proposal. The equipment and roof responsibilities should be defined before work starts.
Include outlets, parapets, equipment curbs, surface condition and moisture assessment where appropriate. Identify shared access and occupied-area needs. A coating or replacement estimate should specify the preparation and detail work rather than the open surface alone.
Identify earlier coverings, sheathing condition where accessible and junctions to additions. Confirm any property-specific requirements before changing visible materials. An older neighborhood location does not establish the individual building’s designation or replacement scope.
Between Phoenix and Mesa, on the Salt River around Hayden Butte and Tempe Town Lake.
Elevation, incorporation, census and area are public record. The climate zone is Maricopa County's, from the county table in the International Energy Conservation Code.
Anywhere within 50 miles of Phoenix, and the Coachella Valley in California. The whole service area
Free written estimate. No obligation.
California
(442) 637-5222Arizona
(480) 978-5147Coachella Valley + Greater Phoenix
A 50-mile Phoenix radius, including Buckeye.
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