Pioneer Regional School Corporation has entered into a lawsuit against Cleveland-based Tremco Incorporated and its subsidiary Weatherproofing Technologies, Inc. over a construction project to repair the Pioneer Jr./ Sr. High school roof.

In its complaint, the school corporation seeks damages for “fraud, deceptive trade practices, and conspiracy arising from the use of a fake bidding scheme, false statements, and improper recommendations to procure contracts for the “restoration” and replacement of a rural high school’s roofing system.”

Pioneer is asking for $3.5 million exclusive of interest, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs.

The lawsuit includes two counts of fraudulent inducement (installation contract and settlement agreement and warranties) and one count of deceptive trade practices.

According to Pioneer’s complaint, in 2015, under then superintendent David Bess, the school corporation began seeking expert advice on how to replace the high school roof in a cost-effective and energy-efficient manner. That spring, Indiana-based Performance Services, Inc. (PSI) recommended that Pioneer reach out to Tremco to inspect the roof. The complaint noted that numerous Indiana public schools were Tremco clients.

Tremco provided Pioneer with a roof analysis report on May 26, 2015. The report claimed to have evaluated all 140,205 square feet for the high school’s roof and said it could restore 19 of 21 roof sections and that two roof sections—sections 8 and 9—which were in poor condition, could be restored by removing blisters and wet insulation.

The complaint alleges that Tremco told Pioneer to restore the roof sections, even though Tremco knew that they could not actually be restored, because doing so would help ensure that Tremco could sell Pioneer a future roof replacement project, which would actually increase the School Corporation’s costs.

In August, 2015, a proposal given to the school reiterated Tremco’s recommendation that the roof sections could be restored by removing blisters, wet insulation, making spot repairs and applying a surface coating.

The complaint also questioned the bidding process, saying that the proposal required all bidding contractors to use Tremco roofing products and that the proposal was crafted in a way to deny third-party contractors key information that would lead them to overbid. In this way, Tremco’s subsidiary Weatherproofing Technologies, Inc. (WTI) was able to underbid for the job by approximately $200,000.

The complaint said that Pioneer would not have agreed to the installation contract and would not have agreed to confidential arbitration without a jury had the school known about the rigged bidding process or the fact that the roofs needed to be replaced, rather than restored.

The complaint explained that the project officially began in September 2015. During the summer of 2016, Pioneer had a third-party roofing consultant inspect PSI and WTI’s work and learned of numerous instances of defective conditions such as trash and debris allowed to clog sump pumps in one roof section. The consultant also 
foundareas of wet insulation that showed the roof had already failed.   

Despite all the problems that the consultant found, PSI and WTI announced the roof project was complete in December 2016.

What followed was years of dealing with a leaking roof and negotiating repairs with PSI and WTI through the Tremco-provided warranties. Pioneer’s current superintendent, Charles Grable, also took over for Bess in 2017.

On March 28, 2022, Pioneer received an email from a whistleblower at WTI. The whistleblower had blind copied the school corporation on the email—meaning that others receiving the email could not see that Pioneer was part of the conversation.

In the email, a copy of which was attached to the complaint, the whistleblower said he had done an inspection of the two roofs at the high school and said that they should never have been repaired due to the age and condition and should have been replaced. The whistleblower called the repair work substandard and said incorrect materials had been used in some circumstances.

By this point, Pioneer had paid more than three million on the roof project.

Pioneer met with Tremco and WTI representatives on July 12, 2022, and, during the meeting, they once again failed to tell the school that roof sections 8 and 9 could not be repaired and needed replacing. Instead, they told the school they would find a “permanent fix” for the roofing problems.

Pioneer recognized that they were caught in a cycle of promises and repairs and proceeded to reach out to lawyers.

The complaint noted that Tremco had previously faced allegations of deceptive sales and bidding practices in connection with commercial and institutional roofing projects, including school districts.

The complaint was filed in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas in Cleveland.

Multiple attempts were made to reach out to Tremco Incorporated and Weatherproofing Technologies, Inc. for this story, but representatives could not be reached.

Respect.

Robert R. Solomon
State Certified CCC1325620
Licensed Roofing Consultant
Tampa, Florida

NOTE:  Retired 2003, do not solicit, nor accept, compenssation or personal advancement of any kind.

I will help anyone who needs help.
Write to me :
RobertRSolomon@aol.com