Commercial Roofing in Southfield, MI
Watertight Roofs for Southfield’s Office Towers and Plazas
Family owned. Our own crews, no subcontractors. More than 140 years of combined experience, based in Livonia and serving Southfield and Oakland County.
Commercial Roofing Contractor Serving Southfield
Southfield is an office market. The city reports more than 27 million square feet of office space and over seven million square feet of retail and industrial space. Much of it sits on mid-rise and high-rise buildings from the 1970s and 1980s, with rooftop units, penthouses and long runs of flashing. Shain Roofing installs, repairs and maintains those roofs, and the plazas, medical offices and flex buildings around them.
Our Livonia shop on Brookfield Street is a short drive west along I-696, so commercial roofing in Southfield is close to home. We are family owned and operated, use no subcontractors and fabricate our own sheet metal. We work with EPDM rubber, TPO and PVC, modified bitumen, built-up, metal and coating systems, and we answer leak calls 24/7.
What Southfield's Commercial Roofs Are Up Against
The City of Southfield counts more than 10,000 businesses, including over 100 Fortune 500 companies, and a business daytime population of 175,000. Newmark’s second-quarter 2026 office report puts the Southfield office submarket at 16,830,451 square feet. Vacancy stood at 26.2 percent, above the metro Detroit figure of 21.2 percent, but down from 29.2 percent in the third quarter of 2025. The submarket absorbed 281,463 square feet in the quarter, its third straight quarter of positive absorption.
Age matters for roofs here. The Southfield Town Center towers went up between 1975 and 1989, the American Center dates to 1975, and CommercialCafe notes that most major office buildings were completed in 1989. Roofs of that vintage have been through a replacement cycle or are due for one. High-rise roofs also hold cooling towers, exhaust fans and elevator penthouses, which means many curbs, penetrations and equipment supports to flash and maintain.
The stock is changing. Newmark’s tracked office inventory fell from 17,232,108 square feet in the third quarter of 2025 to 16,830,451 square feet in 2026 as older buildings leave the market. The former Blue Cross Blue Shield towers are being converted into 305 apartments, and the offices at 100 and 200 Galleria Officentre are slated for demolition to make way for a Costco warehouse store. Southfield also sits in Newmark’s Southeast Oakland industrial submarket, 98,016,440 square feet at 2.9 percent vacancy, so single-story flex and warehouse roofs are part of the picture. All of them need a roof that drains and holds up under rooftop traffic.
Where We Work in Southfield
Southfield’s commercial roofs cluster along a few corridors and office districts. Our crews work across the whole city, from the towers around the Lodge Freeway and I-696 to the industrial parks along Eight Mile Road. Here is where Southfield commercial roofing calls most often come from, and what those roofs tend to be.
- Southfield City Centre: The district bounded by Evergreen Road, I-696 and the Lodge Freeway, home to 13,000 office workers, with mid-rise and high-rise roofs crowded with mechanical equipment.
- Southfield Town Center: Five interconnected high-rises, 2.2 million square feet on Town Center Drive between 10 Mile and I-696, built 1975 to 1989, with roofs full of curbs and penthouses.
- Travelers Towers: Two interconnected buildings of 18 and 13 stories at 26555 and 26533 Evergreen Road, 810,460 rentable square feet on 21 acres, with classic tower roofs.
- Northwestern Highway corridor: Dozens of office addresses in the 21500 to 29999 Northwestern range, with long membrane roofs, rooftop units and plenty of edge metal.
- Telegraph Road corridor: Lear Corporation’s headquarters, the Raleigh Officentre and the buildings at 25300 and 25330 Telegraph, a mix of office and flex roofs.
- Twelve Mile Road corridor: Office addresses from 19000 to 26200 West 12 Mile Road, smaller office buildings and medical suites with low-slope roofs and many penetrations.
- Eight Mile industrial parks: Central Business Center I and II at Eight Mile and Lahser, and Bridge Street Industrial Park at Eight Mile and Telegraph, single-story roofs with internal drains.
- Centrepolis SmartZone: The state-supported innovation district for high-tech and advanced manufacturing, including the former Blue Cross Blue Shield towers being converted to apartments.
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 Southfield Winters
The Detroit 1991 to 2020 climate normals from the National Weather Service Detroit/Pontiac office show 45.0 inches of snow a year, 34.32 inches of total precipitation, and a January average low of 19.2 degrees with an average high of 32.3 degrees. That January range means roof snow melts by day and refreezes by night. For design, the Michigan Ground Snow Loads by Jurisdiction table in the Michigan Administrative Code, R 408.30515, sets the ground snow load for all of Oakland County at 25 pounds per square foot.
On a flat office roof, those numbers show up as ponding around clogged drains, ice at scuppers and parapet flashings, and seams that open as the membrane moves. Snow drifts pile against penthouses and rooftop units, adding load to older decks. A maintenance program catches these problems early. Our crews clear drains, check seams and flashings before winter, and reseal penetrations around rooftop equipment. Proper detailing at curbs, edges and expansion joints keeps water moving off the roof, not into the offices below.
Roof Systems We Install in Southfield
No two Southfield roofs are the same. A 26-story tower, a Twelve Mile medical office and an Eight Mile warehouse each call for a different membrane, attachment method and set of details. Shain Roofing installs, repairs and maintains six types of low-slope and metal roof systems, so the recommendation fits the building.
EPDM Rubber Roofing
EPDM rubber is a common fit for the wide, open roof fields on Southfield’s flex buildings and single-story industrial parks. It handles freeze-thaw well and is easy to patch and maintain.
TPO and PVC Roofing
TPO and PVC single-ply membranes suit office roofs with many rooftop units and penetrations. Heat-welded seams and prefabricated flashings hold up around curbs, and the reflective surface cuts summer heat gain.
Modified Bitumen Roofing
Modified bitumen gives a multi-ply, puncture-resistant surface for roofs that see foot traffic from mechanical contractors. It is a strong choice for tower roofs and medical buildings with heavy equipment service.
Built-Up Roofing (BUR)
Built-up roofing was a standard commercial system when Southfield’s towers went up between 1975 and 1989. We repair and maintain existing built-up roofs and replace them when the time comes.
Metal Roof Systems
Metal roof systems cover the sloped sections, canopies and mechanical screens on office campuses and retail plazas. Our sheet metal shop fabricates the panels, copings and edge metal in house.
Roof Coating Systems
Roof coating systems extend the life of a sound roof on a Southfield office building or warehouse, sealing seams and reflecting heat without the disruption of a full tear-off.
Permits and Codes for Southfield Roof Work
The City of Southfield Building Department administers the building permit process for commercial construction. The department lists re-roofing or installing a new roof among the work that requires a permit, and its FAQ states that a building permit is required to re-roof over an existing single layer. The FAQ also notes that the Michigan Building Code limits the number of layers of shingles on a roof to two. The department is at 26000 Evergreen Road, (248) 796-4100, and since November 2020 permit applications and inspection scheduling have run through BS&A Online.
Shain Roofing handles the permit paperwork as part of the job. We file the application, schedule the inspections and meet the inspector on the roof, so the property manager is not chasing paperwork.
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 Towers to Plazas
Southfield’s skyline shows the range of roofs here. The Southfield Town Center holds five interconnected high-rises totaling 2.2 million square feet. The American Center at 27777 Franklin Road rises 26 floors over 500,000 square feet. Ascension Providence Hospital’s Southfield campus sits at 16001 West 9 Mile Road. At Northland City Center, the 114-acre site of the former Northland Center mall, construction is well underway on a 1,339-unit apartment community in 14 buildings and the Hudson City Market. Lear Corporation and Sun Communities keep their headquarters here. The same Shain Roofing crews that handle a 10,000 square foot plaza handle a distribution center, with the same detailing on both.
Why Southfield Building Owners Hire Shain Roofing
Shain Roofing is family owned and operated, with more than 140 years of combined experience across the team. We do not use subcontractors. The crew on your Southfield roof is our crew, on our payroll. That matters on a high-rise, where staging, safety and coordination with building engineers take real planning.
We are a certified TREMCO contractor and a certified FIRESTONE contractor, and a member of the National Roofing Contractors Association. Our sheet metal is fabricated in house, so copings, counterflashings and equipment covers fit the roof. We offer installation and replacement, repairs, restoration, maintenance programs, inspections and 24/7 emergency leak repair across Oakland, Wayne, Macomb, Washtenaw and Genesee counties, from our Livonia shop a short drive from Southfield.
Local data sources: City of Southfield business overview; Newmark 2Q26 Detroit Office Market Report; Newmark 3Q25 Detroit Office Market Report; Newmark 1Q26 Detroit Industrial Market Report; City of Southfield Building Department permitting; City of Southfield Building Department FAQ; NWS Detroit/Pontiac 1991-2020 climate normals; Mich. Admin. Code R 408.30515, Michigan Ground Snow Loads by Jurisdiction. Figures are as published by those sources and are provided for context. Every roof is assessed on site.
Get a Southfield Roof Assessment
If your Southfield office building, plaza or warehouse has a roof that is leaking, ponding or due for replacement, start with an inspection. We will walk the roof, document what we find and give you a straight answer on repair or replacement. Call Shain Roofing at (734) 524-0155 or request a free estimate online.
