WRITTEN BY JACK SLATER

Lifetime Roofing Ltd was founded in 1987 with the registered name of Lifetime Roofing Ltd, however since then the company’s product range has grown from roofing to include, waterproofing, windows and doors, skylights, insulation, guttering, composite panels for external building envelopes skylights and soffits. For marketing purposes the company was rebranded as Lifetime Solutions in 2012. Jack Slater caught up with Sales Director Mr. Kazim Boodoo.

A BUSY2014

Kazim, who joined the company twenty years ago in the

sales department says that over the years, the company

expanded its products and services to include structural

framing,specialty roofing products such as metal and polycarbonate

domes and general contracting works

Lifetime has always been a leader in the roofing industry. It was

in fact Lifetime Roofing that brought in the country’s first on site roll

former which allowed full length roofing panels to be roll formed on

any site. This dramatically improved the efficiency of its installation

service not to mention the improved quality of the finished product as

a result of reduced transport abrasion.

“The company kept a very strong emphasis on contracting,” Kazim

continues, “Over the years we handled very specialized, complicated

projects of a grander scale and we also expanded our contracting

portfolio geographically.having completed projects as far north as

Bahamas and as far south as Guyana“.

“Our retail division now operates from five strategic locations

throughout the country Arima, Caroni, Port of Spain, San Fernando

and Tobago.

A certified contractor for a number of international roofing

manufacturers of the likes of Berridge, Englert, DECRA, and

Firestone, Lifetime Solutions has had to ensure that its standards

are never compromised. Robert Costelloe, one of the founders of

the company (the other being his wife Deborah Costelloe), served

as a director on the board of the National Roofing Contractors

Association. The company is a lifetime member of the Copper

Development Association, The Green Energy Association and the

Metal Roofing Association of America.

Market Coverage And Business ActivitiesLifetime’s primary target market is the construction sector,

however they have been able to make a name for themselves in

other congruent markets including home repairs, agricultural and the

government sector.

Kazim explains that Lifetime Roofing is a full service roofing

company with a contracts, a projects division and a metal roofing

manufacturing division offering roof consultations, quotations and

project management services.

“We have one manufacturing facility which is a full coil processing

centre complete with five in house roll forming panel machines,” he

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“The company started off as a roofing contractor,” Kazim explains, “Offering an installation service for products manufactured elsewhere. Gradually Lifetime began to manufacture roofing panels and trims for steep slope roofing applications in both residential and commercial settings. Lifetime currently offers five different profiles manufactured inhouse and an additional seven provided by our suppliers AHI roofing Products out of NewZealand and Decra Roofing Systems out of the USA. Additionally Lifetime offers the most comprehensive and internationally recognised range of flat roof waterproofing products suitable for the most extreme and demanding applications.”

Lifetime Solutions installing a custom made steeple on top of a church in Tobago

Kazim is probably one of the finest examples of Lifetime Solutions’

commitment to employees, as a qualifying geologist in the University

of West Ontario and a stint as a teacher, joined two decades earlier

and has remained ever since. He explains that one of the guiding

principles of the company is to give employees clear monthly targets

to achieve and that performance evaluations are held each year to

assess performance and goals.

“An annual training program is held by the HR department to ensure

that employees are up to date with new products and techniques as

it relates to their respective jobs,” Kazim elaborates, “Employees are

also given opportunities to move around into different departments

of the company to develop new skills and enhance their own value.”

“Because roofing is a very skilled trade,” he goes on to continue,

“The company considers staff development to be a very important

long term commitment and an investment into the company. They

need to be kept on the cutting edge of the roofing industry.”

On the other side of the coin, what specific customer focuses are

in place to keep them satisfied and happy? Kazim explains that they

have service warranties included into their product offering, three day

delivery on orders and a wide range of roofing products and solutions.

They have also increased their locations with four fully

operational showrooms which

allow customers to see products,

samples, receive literature, talk

to a sales rep, get a quotation

and make payments easily and

conveniently.

“We have a full service

department for supply only and

supply-and-install and a fleet

of thirty five vehicles and field

sales reps who visit all parts of

Trinidad and Tobago to view

sites together with the customer

to offer advice and lend their

experience,”

One of the things that

Kazim is quick to highlight is the

importance of after-sales and

customer commitments and with

this in mind Lifetime Solutions

provide a one year service

High Quality Roofing supplied in the Caribbean by

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explains, “Three CNC bending

lines, two cut to length lines and

coil to coil slitting lines.”

With a long list of products

available ranging from metal

roofing systems to match any

requirement, guttering products,

water-proofing and all styles of

insulation and skylights they

also work in a full range of metals

including steel, prepainted steel,

aluminium and copper.

Staffing And Customers

With over one hundred

permanent staff and fifty

sub-contractors, Lifetime

Solutions has a responsibility

to set a high standard for them.

installation warranty to ensure that any issues that come up after are

addressed with as soon as possible.

This forms part of the strategies to keep them ahead of their

competition. This strategy is based around building upon their already

established strong reputation and foundation in the roofing industry

It is clear that the only real to win the race is not to focus on what

the competition is doing but to focus intently on how to provide the

customer with the very best and to continue looking out for new ways

to do this.

A Busy 20142014 is set to be a busy year for this innovative, customer

driven company with plans and developments including expansions,

additional certifications and a scheduled rebranding with a significant

investment of time and money being assigned to each to ensure their

successful implementation.

Lifetime Solutions is on the way to being Safe to work (STOW)

Certified. Seen as part of their responsibility to their staff, this

certifies that the company is a safe workplace, free from hazards and

in perfect compliance with the standards, rules and regulations under

the OSHAt act.

“In order to achieve this goal we have retained the services of SCM

Safety Consultants Ltd to assist with accomplishing same,” Kazim tells

us, “This is a huge company investment which will benefit the company

long term as it will allow the company to be eligible to tender projects

with specific safety management system requirements.”

The re-branding to Lifetime Solutions follows a development in

2012, where Lifetime Roofing Ltd merged with TARMET (Trinidad

Asphalt & Metal Roofing Ltd), a company with thirty years of flat

roof waterproofing experience. With these two strong portfolios

combined and with the strategy to expand the business outside of just

roofing, the company rebranded to Lifetime Solutions.

This rebranding exercise required a huge marketing and

advertising campaign to introduce and increase awareness of the new

brand.

“This rebranding will change how the customer perceives the

company as one that is not just focused on roofing but solutions to the

roofing industry.” Kazim concludes.

“Because roofing is a very skilled trade the company considers staff development to be a very important long term commitment and an investment into the company. They need to be kept on the cutting edge of the roofing industry.”

Magdalena Grand Beach ResortLifetime Solutions was nominated for NRCA Gold Circle Award 2013 for this project

www.littlegatepublishing.com

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001 868 223 7663

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