Crisis averted

When you own an apartment building, one of the worst calls you can expect is, “your building is on fire.”

That’s what happened to Ryan McMillan on a chilly night in early February.

He explains that a local roofing company that had been working in the building to address a leak had done what’s known as “hot work,” and accidentally left kindling still smoldering. 

“Of course, the safety of our residents was the biggest concern,” says Ryan, who bought the building in 2021. “The Fire Departments from Westlake, Avon and Bay Village were here in five minutes, thank goodness, and did an amazing job evacuating everyone and putting out the fire. But after the fire, it rained and the tarps failed, which caused more damage to five of the units.”

At 15,876 square feet, the 15-unit brick building sits in the heart of Westlake, near Crocker Park. It was built in 1968.

Leaving No Stone Unturned

After his experience with the original roofing company, Ryan reached out to Spartan StormShield, one of the largest family-owned companies in the area.

“I had a mutual friend of one of the owners, Joel Arlia,” says Ryan. “He emphasized what a trustworthy and reputable company it was.”

Joel, along with Commercial Division Manager Josh Williams, came out to investigate the damage.

“I was impressed by how thorough they were, extremely knowledgeable,” says Ryan. “Josh was persistent, leaving no stone unturned. After they took stock of the damage, they hired a structural engineer and consulted with the City of Westlake building department, fire department and insurance company, it was decided we needed to replace the roof and repair some structural damage from the fire. They explained everything in great detail.”

In the meantime, since the flat roof design posed drainage issues—Joel compares it to a swimming pool—the crews at Spartan StormShield crafted a plan to build a temporary, tapered structure. This plan diverted water towards the drain in the center of the building, with a quarter-inch pitch so the water would flow where they wanted it to go.

Your Go-To Guys 

With both commercial and residential jobs, Joel says it’s pretty common for them to get the call when catastrophe hits. They also have acted as the go-to company to save the day by correcting faulty work done by other roofing companies.

“In addition to thoroughness and expert knowledge, what stands out most to me about the crews at Spartan StormShield are their communication skills,” says Ryan. “They were interacting between me, the city and the insurance company to come up with the best solution for our problem. Midway through the process, our insurance agent retired, which was frustrating, but Joel and Josh calmly worked through it. If I’d reach out to either of them at night or over the weekend, not only would they take the call, but they’d spend however long it took to discuss what I was interested in. I felt they were emotionally connected and understood my sense of urgency. With so much at stake—that meant a lot.”



Lastly, Ryan is happy to report he now has several beautiful apartments available for anyone looking to rent.

Armed with product innovation and trusted craftsmanship from highly trained crews, Spartan StormShield lives up to its reputation for installing “the roof system to last your lifetime.” It installs and repairs roofs for homes and businesses all over Northeast Ohio.

Spartan StormShield

309 Silver Street, Akron

330-SPARTAN (330-772-7826) 

SpartanStormShield.com