When done right, commercial roofing can last up to 50 years. Regardless of how often it’s done, though, commercial roofing jobs are never small projects. And, roof repairs and replacements can be particularly stressful on organizations with tight budgets or minimal knowledge of the various types of systems available.
But, there is light at the end of the tunnel for those who qualify to join a cooperative purchasing organization. Keep reading to learn about how cooperative purchasing works and what types of benefits you can get by partnering up.
How Does Cooperative Purchasing Work?
Cooperative purchasing is a system under which individual organizations work together to get better pricing on products and services.
While it’s possible for two or three organizations to contract with one another to purchase items or services for the group (often referred to as piggybacking), deeper discounts and more flexible negotiation come from being a member of a larger cooperative purchasing organization.
Cooperative Purchasing Organizations
Cooperative purchasing organizations, like OMNIA Partners and The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS), exist to help entities pool their purchasing power. They take over many functions that organizations would otherwise have to handle themselves:
- Standardizing item specifications/Posting and managing RFPs
- Researching product and service providers
- Establishing competitive service terms and pricing with quality providers
Organizations who join the buying cooperatives can take advantage of the benefits:
- Lower prices
- Streamlined contracting processes
- No minimum order requirements
- Avoid low-bid, low-quality work
In most cases, there is no cost to join a purchasing cooperative. These groups can be local, regional, or themed (for example, serving only schools or only educational institutions), and organizations can join more than one cooperative if they desire. Taking advantage of membership can help keep costs down while maximizing selection and service.
Who Benefits From Cooperative Purchasing?
Cooperative purchasing membership is typically open to a variety of businesses and organizations:
- Governmental agencies
- Not-for-profit organizations
- Schools and other educational institutions
- Enterprise and Fortune 1000 companies
Members can utilize purchasing cooperatives for everything from basic supplies to major renovation projects.
Provider Benefits of Cooperative Purchasing
Commercial roofing companies and other providers also benefit from working with cooperatives. Although the providers ultimately do work for members at lower prices, they benefit from higher volume. And, like participants, providers also benefit from a streamlined solicitation process.
Cooperative Purchasing and Roofing Projects
Many organizations assume that cooperative purchasing is limited to standard supplies, like office products, cleaning supplies or equipment.
In reality, however, cooperative purchasing can be applied to nearly any product or service, including large-scale building and commercial roofing projects. In fact, commercial roofing services are an ideal way to utilize a buying cooperative.
Save Money on Commercial Roofing
Roofing projects can get expensive quickly, particularly where large-scale commercial buildings are concerned. And, if you’re unfamiliar with roofing and end up using an unreliable commercial roofing company, you may end up having to spend even more money to fix their mistakes.
Cooperative purchasing allows agencies to access quality commercial roofing services at affordable prices. It can also leave you with more time for normal job responsibilities because the management and collection of bid-related information is handled by the purchasing cooperative.
Get More Commercial Roofing Choices
As a member of a purchasing cooperative, businesses and organizations have access to a large pool of commercial roofing companies that have been vetted and proven trustworthy. Whether you’re in search of metal roofing, rubber roofing or even green roofing, you’ll be able to find what you need.
Save Time and Effort
Hiring commercial roofing services under normal circumstances can be a large undertaking. It can include:
- Creating specifications
- Writing and issuing requests for proposals (RFPs)
- Reviewing bids
- Negotiating contracts
- Overseeing projects
However, getting commercial roofing services using cooperative purchasing can be significantly faster. Cooperative purchasing agreements typically allow organizations to streamline the RFP process and sail right through the contract negotiation phase.
As a result, organizations can make decisions more quickly and get their projects started sooner. They can also put the money that they would otherwise have had to dedicate to the contracting process toward roofing project upgrades.
How to Get Started With Cooperative Purchasing
The first step to using cooperative purchasing for your commercial roofing project is to join! You may choose to join a local organization or trusted regional and national groups like The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS) or OMNIA Partners.
Alternatively, you may elect to join a partnership specific to your organization type. For example, one that serves only governmental agencies or schools.
Before joining, talk to the representatives and review what each group has to offer. Specifically, you should consider the following:
- Range of products and services covered
- Terms and prices offered
- Availability of locally-based service providers
- Quality of available service providers
Look for a buying cooperative that gives you great prices with high-quality, local providers.
Business Roofing Projects
Once you’ve joined, you can review the list of approved providers and begin the process of choosing a top-quality commercial roofing company with whom they have a contract.
If your organization has a particular type of roofing in mind, be sure to mention it to the roofing company. They can tell you what will be appropriate for your building and if it will be within a price range you are comfortable with.
Contracting
Once you’ve settled on the type of roof, enjoy the streamlined contracting process that cooperative purchasing offers. Expect to see your roofing project underway quickly and with minimum hassle.
Your Commercial Roofing Project
If there’s a roofing project in your future, consider what cooperative purchasing can do for you. At TEMA Roofing Services, we are proud to be contracted with both TIPS and OMNIA Partners, and we are happy to answer any questions you have about the process!
