Be the Solution with Maria Quattrone

Roofing, Construction Defects & Housing Quality: What Philadelphia Homeowners Need to Know (with Brian Spanier)

• Maria Quattrone • Season 1 • Episode 357

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In this episode of the Be The Solution Podcast, host Maria Quattrone sits down with Brian Spanier, founder of Philadelphia Roof Management, to unpack one of the most overlooked — yet critical — issues facing homeowners and developers today: roofing quality, construction defects, and long-term housing durability.

Brian brings nearly two decades of experience working on both new construction and re-roofing projects across Philadelphia. Together, Maria and Brian discuss how cost-cutting decisions made during the 2010–2020 construction boom are now catching up to homeowners — and what buyers, sellers, and builders need to know to protect themselves.

This episode is essential listening for anyone who owns, sells, builds, or invests in real estate in urban markets. 

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Why Roofing Failures Are Increasing in Philadelphia
  • The Shift from Cheap Roofing to Long-Term Surety
  • Why Water Infiltration Is Every Homeowner’s Nightmare
  • How Construction Quality Impacts the Housing Crisis
  • Why Single-Family New Construction Has Slowed
  • Why Quality Professionals Are More Important Than Ever
  • Maria’s Perspective: Value Over Price
  • 2026 Outlook: “This Is Our Year”


Best Quotes 

Brian Spanier:

“We’re seeing the real-world consequences of cheap construction decisions made 10 to 15 years ago.”


Maria Quattrone:

“Quality always matters — whether it’s roofing, real estate, or the people you work with.”


Guest Information

Brian Spanier
Founder — Philadelphia Roof Management
📍 Philadelphia, PA
📞 Phone: 215-565-6806
🌐 Website: phillyroofmanagement.com

Connect with Maria Quattrone:
Facebook: Maria Quattrone
LinkedIn: Maria Quattrone
YouTube: Maria Quattrone
Instagram: @maria_quattrone
TikTok: mariaquattronerealestate
Website: MQrealesate.com
Office number: 215- 607-3535

Maria Quattrone:

I'm Maria Quattrone and this is the Be the Solution Podcast. And if this is your first time listening to the podcast, make sure you subscribe and like. I'm so happy that you're here today and listening to learn and to be the solution. So this morning I welcome Brian Speener from Philadelphia Roof Management. Welcome, Brian.

Brian Spanier:

Thank you.

Maria Quattrone:

Yes. So, all about being the solution. We just we just had a whole big conversation for the last half hour in the green room about being the solution. And really, what does that mean? You know, what does that mean for the client, the people that you work with? You know, how does your company show up as the solution?

Brian Spanier:

Sure. Well, it's it's twofold for Philadelphia roof management. Um, we have a new construction business and we have a what we call a re-roof business, or uh someone who already has a roof on their home. Um for the new construction business, it's it's as much builders and developers who are building the homes as it is the ultimate end user. Um, but we always serve the end user via a 10-year warranty. Um, so we have a lot of interaction on the new construction side with both the builder of the home and the ultimate occupier end user. Um, on the reroof side, it's a whole different concept because usually when we get called in, we're called in as the expert where somebody's having an issue. If it's a roof we have done over the years, um, there usually isn't a major issue. It's going as a warranty and we're going in and looking at it one way to be the solution and fix any issue they have on their roof under warranty. If it's not our roof and we're going in as a first-time look to try to be the solution to fix an issue someone's having with their roof, uh, we really start at the top and look at the whole building envelope from the roof down and what's being affected. Uh, usually when someone calls us on the re-roof side, they're showing a leak inside their home. So you can source it back up to where it's coming in and then source that to the root cause. Um so we we try to be a resource for the end user, consumer uh who's ultimately going to live in the home. And then sometimes it touches some higher levels above it.

Maria Quattrone:

So one of the things that I'm and I was happy to hear about is that how uh you went away from the the past the old way to do the roof and fiberglass to polyurethane. And how long how long ago has that been going on for?

Brian Spanier:

Um, so fiberglass came around in like 2005-2010. It was the main flat roofing trafficable membrane choice for about 15 to 20 years in the Philadelphia market. So almost every new construction home built between 2010 and 2020, let's say, had fiberglass on it. Um, that was just a macro level market shift to commoditized roof coating. Um, that's how it worked. It did, it got down to about $10 a square foot. There was a massive influx of people doing it, a lot of competition, not a lot of oversight or uh or or or manufacture um quality control, I should say. And because of that, there were a lot of issues that arose out of this new product. And um just as of the last maybe five to seven years, there's been a dramatic shift away from fiberglass to what I call surety, which is something that's been around for 30, 40 years, something that people know is going to work the first time, and that is uh TPO, which is a rolled-out um thermoplastic white rubber, um, or another trafficable coating, which we've seen go to the polyurethane systems in Philadelphia. One thing to note on the TPO, it is not to be walked on directly. So you usually have to put a green roof, treks, or pavers on top. And by the time you put a TPO and an overburden on top, you might be paying $20 to $30 a square foot. Whereas if you did a trafficable system, it used to be about $10 a foot in fiberglass. Now we're seeing it go to $15 to $20 a foot, but it's it's surety and it's what the builders want, it's what the consumer wants, uh, it's what the market wants after 10 years of of various issues through through growing panes of new products.

Maria Quattrone:

It's a lot, well, surety is a better more expensive, but better in the long run. For sure. That's what that's what it sounds like for lots of people. And I think you know, there's always a problem when you have water that's penetrating your house. It's one of the hardest things to find. I know from my own experience and having a property that I had 20th and lumber, we couldn't find the leak forever. We finally did find it, but it took a long time and many different roofers over those years. But water is one of those things when you hear that there's water penetrating, it scares the bejesus out of most homeowners.

Brian Spanier:

Sure.

Maria Quattrone:

So surety is something that you know people want in general, whether they're a builder, whether they're a consumer, and then you just you know own a home. So you see that in Philadelphia, you know, we talked a little bit about new construction and less new construction than there's been. Um, do you think that there will be more people getting into the new construction business of single-family homes?

Brian Spanier:

I think without the tenure tax abatement, you're not going to see a resurgence like we saw in the 2008 to 2015 period. I think that tax abatement and that $50,000 clip allowed developers to build these homes with some small margin of profitability. And now that the margins are too thin for them to be able to get funding to bring these out of the ground. So, no, I don't think that you will see new construction single-family homes on the level that they were, say, seven years ago in the city ever again, unless the abatement comes back, interest rates stay down and capital flows pick up. Um, but a lot of the a lot of the builders who have built in the last 10 to 20 years have have encountered various issues to decrease their appetite to want to to want to replicate that model again in Philadelphia right now under the current conditions.

Maria Quattrone:

Yeah, it's really, really hard to make it make it work.

unknown:

Yeah.

Maria Quattrone:

It is.

Brian Spanier:

But on that note, we're seeing we're seeing a pickup in multifamily units um being built. Um, so we are seeing a shift from more single family fee simple sales to uh apartment rentals, um you know, at the macro level.

Maria Quattrone:

And that's been that's been something that's been happening for gosh, and these people started to do more multifamily probably 10 years ago, started, and then really took off in around the pandemic, and then they filed all for their 10-year tax abatement all at the same time, right?

Brian Spanier:

And we touched on it before we started, but a lot of that has to do with the the small builders of the single families, the two-unit, the four-unit, the 10-unit projects, as they grew over the years and as the market increased in terms of resale value and they made profits, they grew into larger developments. So a lot of the guys we did single family homes for, say 10 years ago, are the same guys building the multifamily now. And a large catalyst for that are the water infiltration issues that they experienced at that single-family home level.

Maria Quattrone:

Yeah, it makes it very difficult, which is a problem, which is a problem for consumers, right? You say there's not enough inventory, not enough rate inventory for the amount of buyers nationally, we're short, 4 million homes. You know, there has to be a solution to this issue. I just saw something that in Philadelphia they want to ban uh boarding houses, you know, low-income people that are paying by the room, you know, they want to make it more affordable, but there's ways you can make it more affordable, and they don't want to do it where it's prevalent in other parts of the country, you know, so it doesn't make sense. One hand saying this and the other hand saying that, why get rid of the lots of different people living together situation? Let it happen and keep so they can have somewhere to live. Like, I don't get it, but that was in yesterday's housing wire. I saw it actually on Housing Wire about Philadelphia.

Brian Spanier:

Yeah, I also saw something about there's some national home builders who have never been in the Philadelphia market, like DH Horton, DR Horton, excuse me, who uh are coming into South Jersey and Philly for the first time. And I know we've seen Toll Brothers and Lenar, at least in the metro uh area. Toll brothers has been in the city, uh, but there are not a lot of national home builders in the Philadelphia market relative to other markets, even like New Jersey or Delaware or uh central Pennsylvania. Um so Philadelphia is kind of a hotbed for that mom and pop developer, that little guy who grows and grows in the city organically. And a lot of those guys have just had it, you know, their appetite has been decreased over the last five to ten years with the issues they've faced in the market and the abatement going away, which decreases the incentive for somebody to build in the city.

Maria Quattrone:

No doubt, you know, and then they also have the issues with just getting through zoning and all of the red tape that the city puts one through.

Brian Spanier:

And that's that's where local partners are gonna help you more, the people who really know the local zoning codes and the local the the way the locality operates.

Maria Quattrone:

100%. You really need to be partnered with the right people, people that have been around a long time and stood still standing.

Brian Spanier:

Well, that's what we were talking about earlier is just that flight to surety and quality. And uh we saw it around the time of the pandemic that people are willing to pay more for the first time in 10 years, not a lot more, maybe 10% more, uh, for that quality. Um, that surety, that brand value. So that's what we we try to portray in our roofing. We're not the low-priced guy all the time. Rarely are we the low-priced guy because of the the value and the quality we bring to the table.

Maria Quattrone:

100%. And I think that goes around to you know, our business as well. I mean, we're definitely not the cheapest game in town. In fact, with the way that the the NAR lawsuit happened, which is another bunch of BS. I we raised our prices. We had to.

Brian Spanier:

You have to to survive right now. It's it's it's very uh a low, a low margin game in most industries real estate right now and construction. There's a lot of competition, everybody's willing to to almost pay to take the job. The margins are thin to nothing, and uh then we're then unfortunately see people try to cut corners and save money all the way down the the totem pole, but we don't do that. Um we we get what we can get value-wise out of the job, and then we perform to the highest level for our customer.

Maria Quattrone:

Yeah. Well, that's why you've been around for some time and continue to doing you know great work. So I'm gonna segue for a moment into I I have a question for you. Do you have a word for the year?

Brian Spanier:

Put me on the spot. Um, I don't have a word for the year, but I can I can shoot from the hip here.

Maria Quattrone:

Well, um, you don't have to, it's just that you know, we I'm in an defending.

Brian Spanier:

No, but this is our night, this is our 18th year um in business in Philadelphia, and we do think that this year is our year to really emerge. Um, it's been a game the last couple years of just trying to survive since COVID, adapting to the new marketplace, and then the way the housing stock has run from 2010 to 2025 in terms of construction defects, uh running through warranty periods, and on a rare case litigation, um, and then seeing that play out over 15 years and seeing the stuff that was constructed in 2010 to 2015 come up on their 10-year warranties and and move from a warranted uh you know, warrantied roof to a non-warranted roof. And how does the market for the first time adapt to that, understand that? Um, you tell someone who just bought a new home, let's say they're the second buyer and they bought a home in 20 that was built in 2012, and their 10-year warranty is up, their 12-year statute of repos is up, and now they have a huge roofing issue, and they need to re-roof, and it's going to come at a cost of $50,000, and they just spent $500,000 on the home, and they put their down payment down, and they don't have any equity to fix their leaky roof disaster that slipped through the inspector, that got by the agent, that you know, got by everybody, and now we have to be the bearer of bad news. It really puts the the homeowner in a spot. So you you have to be able to see that cycle run its course over 10 to 15 years and get the real world situations that we're now starting to see from stuff that was built 10-15 years ago. Um, so there's there's a you know a lot of interesting stuff going on in the trafficable roof market. Oh, yeah. Um, but I don't have a word for the year. Um, I have a phrase for the year, which this is our year.

Maria Quattrone:

This is our year. I love it. I love it. So my word for this year is fearless. Fearless. Feel the fear, do it anyway. You know, I wrote a poots last night. Um, I always write my own stuff, you know. I don't have uh, I don't use like people to do my social media. I do everything because it's all about being authentic and being your true self, right? So I write this. Life isn't about being perfect, it's about showing up every day and working to be your best self. Some days are better than others, every day you wake up is a blessing. We all have fear and doubts when we want to grow. It's normal. Feel the fear and do it anyway. Here's the deal: no one gives up. We just think they do. You aren't chasing the life you want because you'll be judged. If you're weeks from dying, I bet you you wish you took the chance. Take it now. Be the solution. We all go through life, lots of people go through life, you know, afraid to be who they are, afraid to take the chance, afraid to put themselves out there, you know, myself included. Like I think about things that I've I've wanted to do, and I think about it. I'm like, is this gonna be the year? This is gonna be the year. This is gonna be the year. And you know, I think Brian, something we we mentioned several times in our conversation today is you know, the last few years have been really hard, and I'm um I am generally hard on myself, so I don't really say that or think about it that way, although it really has been. And for those that have survived it, you know, we should all uh give ourselves a little pat on the back that we we survived it and we've been able to still stand because there's a lot of people that aren't, and you know, it takes it takes a lot of grit and determination and hard work and integrity, doing the right thing, and being the solution.

Brian Spanier:

You have to work hard every day, and I always say, you know, we live in a very gritty city, and I I love I love living in Philadelphia, and I love Philadelphia, and I want to be a part of the solution for that rush to cheap product from 2010 to 2020 and and fix you know some of these homes that uh are having roofing issues. Yeah. So I urge any of your listeners to feel free to call me at any time for any any roofing look, big or small. If anybody just wants a free analysis, I'm happy to do that.

Maria Quattrone:

What's the best number or uh how can they reach you?

Brian Spanier:

Uh our office line's 215 565 6806. uh or they can go to phil phillyrm.com which is phillyroofmanagement.com. I think both both of those get you there. But um we're pretty easy to find if if you google us or something like that. But uh or you can call Maria and she can give you my number.

Maria Quattrone:

That's right. You can call me message me.

Brian Spanier:

I know I'm always trying to connect people to uh you know work with good people I always enjoy speaking with you and you always have something good to bring to the table.

Maria Quattrone:

Yeah well it was great having you on the show today Brian and we're definitely going to follow up with you later in the year to see what 2026 what happened this is the year.

Brian Spanier:

Please do we're we're all in this year and uh you know putting our best foot forward try to try to bring everybody what they need and be the solution I love it let's go get them thanks Maria