A roof needs to be well maintained at all times to protect both the exterior and interior of the premises. When construction kicks off, people are often looking for tips on choosing the right roofing materials. Globally, a growing number of homeowners and businesses are looking for sustainable roofing solutions that offer both performance and environmental benefits. At MR Roof, a local firm that has embarked on a journey to introduce eco-friendly roofing, durability is one of the main benefits of sustainable roofing solutions. They typically last longer than traditional roofing materials, and according to the firm’s management, they can last for hundreds of years. They are also designed to resist leaks and weather-related damage, a move that can save money in the long run by preventing costly repairs or replacements. For Mr Roof, sustainable roofing solutions are ones that take the environment into account. This means that they use materials and methods which will have minimal impact on the earth, its resources, and its inhabitants. Earlier this week, The New Times’ Edwin Ashimwe sat down with the firm’s Chief Operating Officer, Olivier Gakuba, to get a glimpse of the company’s operations in Rwanda, the progress after its launch as well as major developments in the pipeline. The excerpts: To start with, tell us a little bit about Mr. Roof At Mr Roof, we witness first-hand the importance of construction projects to our clients. We also know how challenging the construction journey can be. Especially taking into account that roofing is the most important milestone of a building project. If your roof is dysfunctional, it is your entire building that is at risk. We therefore make the experience a pleasant one for our client by offering rapid installation and a five-year warranty. From the roof structure to the covering, we manufacture and install innovative, highly effective and durable light steel structure, 100 percent galvanized and soon the self-lock roof sheet for all types of buildings including residential, commercial and industrial. Since you started operations, how has the progress been like so far? When we started operations in Rwanda, in May 2022, we put in place our production facilities that satisfy the needs of our clients as far as the roof is concerned. We also carried out a professional training for our technicians for the Installation of our roofing products to our various clients. The first opportunities we were given were those projects with very tight deadlines and only our alternative could meet those time expectations. It is one thing to have an innovation, and another to ensure that it is affordable. What are you doing in terms of striking a balance between the two? This question is key - because cost perception is an important barrier for customers who are price driven. The innovative products that we are introducing came to overcome some of the challenges associated with roofing such as water leakages, lack of aesthetics, defective roof due to inappropriate installation practices and the exceeding time execution. Our products offer a solution for quality and meeting the client budget. Why Rwanda? The construction and real estate industry is growing at a fast rate in line with Rwanda's development agenda. There is currently plenty of opportunity in the construction materials supply chain. As a local manufacturing company, we were able to benefit from many incentives that Rwanda offers to investors including exemptions and expedited administrative documents. Circling around the same question, what has the feedback been so far? So far the feedback has been great as showcased by returning clients and also from the leads generated from those seeing some of our visible projects in the city. As per the architects, we are receiving many recommendations from them; some of them started including the specifications of our products in their design and BoQs. If you can briefly touch on your flagship product, and what is in the pipeline? Construction and buildings contribute to more than 30 percent of carbon dioxide emissions and close to 40 percent of energy consumption. For our flagship product, the light steel structure is a sustainable alternative that eliminates all waste on site with its pre-fabrication; its lightweight feature reduces transport costs and minimizes impact on the environment. Because of the use of screws instead of heavy fastenings and the need for welding; the structure is installed using only hand tools and in the future can be disassembled to be reused multiple times without any industrial transformation. By March 2023, we will be introducing our self-lock roofing sheet which is a strong alternative to traditional roofing sheets with its beautiful finishing and 100 percent eliminates water leakages with no direct nailing on the sheets. Finally, where do you source the raw materials? We source our raw materials and consumables from Europe, the Middle East and South-East Asia. We are strongly investing in the training and certification of our local technicians because proper installation is a crucial component for the success of our company. Our customer can count on our qualified teams or entrust their project to our network of certified installers. We train them to the specificity of our products in order to ensure a quality service and a durable roof is offered.
