School roof slipped through cracks
| • | State's new bid system for construction not foolproof |
| • | Buying a roof the PIPS way |
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
When the specified roofing material ran short for a Kalani High School project, the contractor, Certified Construction, substituted the wrong material from a different supplier and concealed that fact from the state. The new roof technically violates the city building code because it doesn't have a required "fire rating."
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
The roofing material manufacturer, Malarkey Roofing, submitted a warranty for the roof when it knew it contained materials made by a different company, according to testimony by Stephen Miwa, a deputy in the state Public Works Division who was questioned about the job at a recent administrative hearing.
Certified Construction was able to substitute the wrong material from a different supplier for a Kalani High School building's roof.
Miwa was asked if the state downgraded the PIPS "performance ratings" of Certified Construction and Malarkey after he learned about the Kalani job problems.
"We should have," Miwa said. "I'm glad you reminded me. I didn't even think about that."
Kevin Simpkins, president of Certified Construction, said he is limited in what he can say about the Kalani job because he is scheduled to testify next week at the hearing. But, he said, substituting roofing materials can be "an apples-to-apples situation."
That's because roofing material manufacturers "a lot of times will market or buy materials that are marketed and made by another manufacturer and slap their label on it," Simpkins said. "If somebody gets short on a project, they may go and use a like-product.
"I'm not saying that's done on a regular basis, but they're apples to apples for the most part."
As for worrying about getting downgraded on performance ratings, Simpkins said, "That really wasn't too much of a concern."
Mark Alexander, the representative for Malarkey Roofing representative in Hawai'i, could not be reached for comment.
