School Roofing

Miami-Dade County's school and university campuses run aggressive summer capital improvement programs that compress roof replacement work into a narrow window between the end of the spring semester and the start of fall. Delivering a complete replacement — permits pulled, installation done, punch list closed — within that window is what we're built to do.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools operates the fourth-largest school district in the United States, with over 500 school facilities across Miami-Dade County — elementary schools, K-8 centers, middle schools, high schools, and alternative education facilities spanning every neighborhood in the county. The district's facilities division manages roof capital projects through a vendor approval and procurement process that has specific documentation, insurance, and compliance requirements.

Higher education in Miami-Dade spans three major campus systems: the University of Miami's Coral Gables main campus and its UM Health medical campus; Florida International University's two campuses at University Park (SW 8th Street corridor near Tamiami Airport) and Biscayne Bay (North Miami); and Miami Dade College's eight campuses including the flagship Wolfson Campus in downtown Miami and the Kendall Campus in southwest Miami-Dade. Each of these systems has its own facilities management and procurement process, and each carries a substantial commercial flat roof inventory in various stages of the replacement cycle.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools: Summer Window Projects

MDCPS school facilities run roof replacement projects almost exclusively during the summer recess — mid-June through early August — when the buildings are either unoccupied or running summer programs on a reduced schedule that allows construction coordination. The summer window is 8 to 10 weeks of production time for a full replacement project, and the constraint is hard: the building has to be fully weather-tight and punch-list complete before the fall term starts.

MDCPS facilities requires contractors to operate within the district's vendor qualification framework. Insurance certificate requirements, background check compliance for workers on school campuses, and the district's specific closeout documentation requirements are all baseline for any MDCPS roofing contract. We maintain current compliance with MDCPS vendor requirements and can provide compliance documentation packages on short notice for bid submissions.

Many MDCPS school buildings — particularly the older elementary and middle schools built from the 1950s through the 1980s — were originally constructed with concrete or clay tile deck construction that differs from the metal deck buildings that most commercial flat roof specifications are written for. Pre-bid deck assessment on older MDCPS buildings is essential — discovering unusual deck conditions during summer production when the schedule has no float is a project-recovery problem, not just an inconvenience.

University of Miami: Coral Gables and Health Campus

University of Miami's Coral Gables main campus covers 239 acres with buildings spanning from the 1920s through active current construction. The campus facilities team manages roofing capital projects through a competitive bid process that requires detailed pre-bid site visits, specific insurance and compliance documentation, and closeout packages that include warranty documentation, NOA approval records, and as-built photo documentation.

UM's Health campus on NW 10th Avenue in the Miami Health District is a concentrated cluster of medical, research, and administrative buildings managed through UM's facilities infrastructure but subject to the same healthcare facility operational constraints that apply at Jackson Memorial and other Health District campuses. Roofing work above active laboratory or research spaces requires additional containment and scheduling coordination.

UM's Coral Gables campus contains some of the oldest commercial buildings in the Miami metro. The Mediterranean Revival-era buildings from the 1920s through the 1940s — built to George Merrick's original Coral Gables design standards — have tile roof sections, ornamental parapets, and structural conditions that require assessment expertise different from standard commercial flat roof work. We assess these buildings with the understanding that the historic character elements are not incidental — they are the building.

FIU and Miami Dade College: Multi-Campus Coordination

Florida International University's University Park campus on SW 107th Avenue in West Miami-Dade is a large-format academic campus with a mix of 1970s-era original construction and more recent academic and research buildings. The Biscayne Bay campus in North Miami is a smaller academic campus with a distinct inventory of 1970s-through-1990s construction. FIU's facilities management team coordinates roofing capital projects through the Florida State University System's procurement process.

Miami Dade College's Wolfson Campus in downtown Miami occupies buildings that are integrated with downtown Miami's urban fabric — buildings on NE 2nd Avenue and NE 3rd Street in the heart of downtown with street-level ground floor uses and restricted material staging and debris removal options. The Kendall Campus in southwest Miami-Dade is a more conventional large-format academic campus with simpler staging logistics but a substantial roof inventory from the 1970s through the 1990s that is in active replacement cycle.

Community college and state university procurement in Florida runs through specific purchasing thresholds and competitive solicitation requirements. For projects above the threshold that triggers competitive bid requirements, we participate in the formal solicitation process — submitting through the institution's procurement portal with the required compliance documentation, references, and scope narrative.

Frequently asked questions

Can you complete a school roof replacement during the summer recess?

For most single-building school projects — an elementary school of 30,000 to 60,000 sq ft — yes, comfortably within the summer window if permits are filed in the spring before school lets out. The key is pre-construction work done before June: permits submitted in April, pre-bid site visit and deck assessment completed, material ordered and on delivery schedule. A school replacement project that starts its permit process in June is already behind on the summer window timeline.

What documentation does MDCPS require for roofing contractor compliance?

MDCPS vendor compliance typically includes contractor background check compliance for all workers on school campuses, insurance certificates meeting MDCPS-specific limits and naming requirements, the district's contractor safety orientation completion, and subcontractor compliance documentation. The specific requirements can change with procurement cycles. We maintain our MDCPS vendor compliance current and can provide the full compliance package on request.

The UM building we're evaluating has Mediterranean Revival tile roofing. Is that part of the scope?

The flat roof membrane sections behind and above the decorative tile elements are typically the scope for a commercial roof replacement. The tile sections themselves require a separate assessment — in many cases the tile is serviceable while the underlayment and flashings beneath the tile have failed. We assess the flat membrane, the tile underlayment condition, and the flashings at the transition between tile and flat membrane sections, and we scope each component separately so the decision on each can be made independently.

We're at Miami Dade College. Do the roofing contracts have to go through a formal bid process?

State colleges and universities in Florida have competitive procurement requirements that kick in above specific dollar thresholds. For roofing projects above the threshold, the work goes through a formal solicitation — ITB or RFP — published through the institution's procurement portal. We participate in these formal solicitations and can provide the compliance documentation, references, and technical scope narrative that the solicitation requires.

Start the permitting and scope process now for your Miami school or university roof.

Summer window projects that miss the permit filing deadline in spring run out of schedule. I'll assess the building, write the scope, and get the permit application filed while there is still time to complete the work before fall term.

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