Commercial Roofing in Detroit, MI
Watertight Roofs for Detroit’s Plants, Warehouses and Plazas
Family owned. Our own crews, no subcontractors. More than 140 years of combined experience, based in Livonia and serving Detroit and Wayne County.
Commercial Roofing Contractor Serving Detroit
Automotive plants, logistics warehouses, wholesale food buildings and light industrial shops fill Detroit’s industrial districts, with offices, plazas and mixed-use buildings around them. The city’s industrial submarket alone holds 79,859,555 square feet, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s second-quarter 2026 report. Shain Roofing & Sheet Metal works on all of it. Our shop is on Brookfield Street in Livonia, west of the city along I-96, so commercial roofing in Detroit is home ground for our crews.
We are family owned and we do not use subcontractors. Our own crews install, repair, restore and maintain EPDM rubber, TPO and PVC, modified bitumen, built-up and metal roofs, and we apply coating systems to roofs that are sound but tired. Sheet metal is fabricated in our own shop, and emergency leak repair is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
What Detroit's Commercial Roofs Are Up Against
Cushman & Wakefield’s second-quarter 2026 report puts metro Detroit industrial inventory at 505,494,697 square feet, with 21,537,649 square feet vacant and vacancy at 4.3 percent. Inside the city limits, the Detroit submarket holds 79,859,555 square feet, with 4,445,132 square feet vacant and vacancy at 5.6 percent. The same report notes that no new construction was delivered in the second quarter of 2026, a first for the market since 2014. The buildings standing today will need roofing for years.
Much of it is old. CBRE lists Detroit among the oldest warehouse markets, with an average building age of between 47 and 60 years against a 43-year national average. Friedman Real Estate notes that older product with functional obsolescence is adding to available supply but is not absorbing at the same rate as buildings with adequate clear height, power and loading. For a roofer, that means decks that have carried several roofs, abandoned drains and flashings patched more than once.
Large plants and warehouses carry acres of membrane, dozens of drains and rows of rooftop units, each a place where water can collect or a seam can open. On those roofs water pools where it cannot reach a drain, and freeze-thaw cycles split membranes and weaken seams. Offices face their own pressure, with CBRE reporting 19.4 percent office vacancy in the second quarter of 2026. A vacant floor still needs a dry roof.
Where We Work in Detroit
Our crews cover the whole city, from the Mt. Elliott district to the bridge-side industry in Delray and the redeveloped plants around Piquette and Corktown. The districts below hold many of Detroit’s largest commercial roofs, and they are where most of our Detroit roof repair, replacement and maintenance work takes place.
- Mt. Elliott Development District: 3,203 acres, the single-largest industrial district in Detroit, with automotive, transportation and logistics users such as LINC Logistics and Flex-N-Gate. Large low-slope roofs carrying heavy equipment.
- I-94 Industrial Park: a 186-acre site at the center of the Mt. Elliott zone, where ArcelorMittal Tailored Blanks reactivated over 300,000 square feet. Reworked membrane roofs on large manufacturing plants.
- Eastern Market Development District: 1,130 acres of wholesale food importing, processing and selling plus light industrial. Processing and wholesale buildings where roof leaks threaten inventory and sanitation.
- Delray and Southwest Detroit: the city’s plan limits future development here to commercial and industrial uses around the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Older plant roofs alongside new warehouse membranes.
- Fort Street Industrial Campus: 37 acres and 557,000 rentable square feet in Delray, formerly Sakthi, near I-75 and Norfolk Southern rail. Big industrial roofs with long drainage runs.
- Michigan Central in Corktown: a 30-acre technology hub with 640,000 square feet of space, where restored historic buildings meet modern roofing details around parapets, skylights and rooftop mechanicals.
Markers show the corridors and buildings named on this page, placed at the corridor or a representative address. The red dot is our Livonia shop.
Built for Detroit Winters
Detroit’s weather works on a flat roof all year. National Weather Service Detroit/Pontiac normals for 1991 to 2020 show 45.6 inches of snow a year, with 14.0 inches in January and 12.5 in February. The January normal minimum is 19.2 F. Annual precipitation totals 36.33 inches. For reference, Michigan Residential Code Table R301.2(5) lists a ground snow load of 20 pounds per square foot for Wayne County. On a large industrial roof, that snow sits for weeks, melting and refreezing.
That cycle finds every weak point. Meltwater backs up at clogged drains, ponds in low spots, then freezes and pries at seams and flashings. Older decks carrying a second roof and added insulation work harder than they were built to. A maintenance program catches these problems early. Our crews clear drains, check seams and flashings, and fix small failures before spring rain turns them into leaks. On new roofs, proper detailing at drains, parapets and rooftop units, with tapered insulation where ponding is chronic, keeps water moving.
Roof Systems We Install in Detroit
No single system fits every Detroit building. A plant built in 1919, a new five-story fulfillment center and a neighborhood plaza each call for a different roof. Shain Roofing installs, repairs and maintains six commercial systems, and we recommend based on the deck, drainage, rooftop equipment and budget.
EPDM Rubber Roofing
A proven single-ply membrane for Detroit’s warehouses and light industrial buildings. EPDM handles temperature swings well and is straightforward to repair on older decks with many penetrations.
TPO and PVC Roofing
Heat-welded single-ply membranes with reflective surfaces, common on newer logistics and distribution buildings. PVC suits Eastern Market food processing roofs where grease exposure is a concern.
Modified Bitumen Roofing
Multi-ply asphalt systems that Detroit factories have long relied on for durability. Modified bitumen suits plants with heavy foot traffic and rooftop equipment.
Built-Up Roofing (BUR)
The traditional multi-ply system still found on many of Detroit’s older industrial buildings. We repair, restore and replace built-up roofs and can match existing BUR.
Metal Roof Systems
Standing seam and architectural metal for sloped sections, canopies and the office buildings around Detroit’s industrial districts. Our sheet metal is fabricated in house, so flashings and copings fit.
Roof Coating Systems
Fluid-applied coatings that restore sound but aging membranes and metal roofs. For a Detroit plant with acres of roof that is not yet failing, a coating can extend service life.
Permits and Codes for Detroit Roof Work
Roof work in Detroit runs through the Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED), Permits and Plan Review, which lists Roof Replacement as a permit category. The city’s Roof Replacement Requirements state that a permit must be obtained prior to starting work to recover or replace a roof, filed on the #2 Building Permit Application at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, Room 408. The same document sets the layer rule: new roof coverings may not go over a roof that is water soaked or deteriorated, or one that already has two or more applications of any roof covering. Two inspections are required, tear-off and final, and the work must follow the current Michigan Building Code.
Shain Roofing handles the permit paperwork and schedules both inspections as part of the job, so the owner has a clean record when the building is sold or refinanced.
Shain Roofing is Proud to be:
A Certified TREMCO Contractor
A Certified FIRESTONE Contractor
A Member of the NRCA (National Roofing Contractors Association)
Roofs of Every Size, From Plants to Plazas
Detroit’s commercial roofs span every scale. The Stellantis Detroit Assembly Complex on Mack Avenue covers about 3 million square feet on 266 acres, the first new assembly plant in the city in nearly 30 years when production began in March 2021. The Amazon fulfillment center at Eight Mile and Woodward runs 823,000 square feet over five stories. Henry Ford Hospital’s Destination: Grand project on West Grand Boulevard adds 1.2 million square feet. Fortescue is converting the roughly 515,000 square foot former GM Truck and Bus plant at 601 Piquette, and the 600,000 square foot Fisher Body 21 plant, built in 1919, is becoming lofts. Between those landmarks sit ordinary warehouses, shops and plazas. Our same crews handle a 10,000 square foot plaza and a distribution center.
Why Detroit Building Owners Hire Shain Roofing
Shain Roofing & Sheet Metal is family owned and operated, and our team brings more than 140 years of combined experience to Detroit’s plants, warehouses and offices. We do not use subcontractors. The crew on your roof is on our payroll and answerable to us. We are a certified TREMCO contractor, a certified FIRESTONE contractor and a member of the National Roofing Contractors Association.
Because our sheet metal is fabricated in house, flashings, copings and curb caps for Detroit’s older buildings are made to fit rather than forced to. Our maintenance programs and inspections keep large industrial roofs ahead of failure, and our emergency leak repair line is open 24/7. From our Livonia headquarters we serve Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw and Genesee counties, and Detroit commercial roofing is a core part of that work.
Local data sources: Cushman & Wakefield Detroit Industrial MarketBeat, Q2 2026; CBRE brief on aging warehouse inventory; CBRE Detroit Office Figures, Q2 2026; DEGC land development districts; NWS Detroit/Pontiac monthly climate normals; Michigan Residential Code Table R301.2(5) ground snow loads; City of Detroit BSEED building permit requirements; City of Detroit BSEED roof replacement requirements. Figures are as published by those sources and are provided for context. Every roof is assessed on site.
Get a Detroit Roof Assessment
If your Detroit building has a roof that is leaking, ponding or simply aging, start with a straight answer about its condition. Shain Roofing will inspect the roof, explain what we find in plain terms and lay out clear repair, restoration and replacement options. Call (734) 524-0155 or request a free estimate today.
