In 2013, Breault Roofing, Inc. was the first contractor in New England to receive Duro-Last’s John R. Burt Award, named in honor of the company’s founder, for sales exceeding $1 million annually.

Located in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Noah’s Place Playground is an interactive playground for children with disabilities. Breault Roofing, Inc. provided the crane service to install the massive stone sign at the entrance to the playground.

The adage that a family that works together stays together certainly rings true for the Breault family. Alphonse Breault started his roofing career in 1947. In 1966, he and his wife, Theresa, founded Breault Roofing, Inc. in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Alphonse’s son, James, grew up working for the company and eventually took over as President in 1989. Today, James, his son, Jay Breault, his daughter, Erin Aspden, and his son-in-law, Kent Aspden, all work for the company. “We are a third-generation, family-run business with more than 100 years of collective experience as a full-service roofing contractor,” says Kent Aspden, Manager of Breault Roofing. “We pride ourselves on our workmanship, customer service and response time.”

Since 1990, Breault Roofing has been an authorized contractor for roofing distributor and supplier Duro-Last, Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer of custom-fabricated roofing systems. In 2013, Breault Roofing was the first contractor in New England to receive Duro-Last’s John R. Burt Award, named in honor of the company’s founder, for sales exceeding $1 million in Duro-Last sales.

“We are extremely proud of that accomplishment, especially since our working season can be cut short by bad weather,” Aspden says. The company has also received other awards from Duro-Last, including the Master Contractor and Elite Contractor awards, which recognize authorized contractors that have a strong record of Duro-Last sales and consistently install Duro-Last roofing systems with exceptional attention to quality with 5 million square feet of warrantied work.

In addition to providing commercial and residential roofing services throughout New England, the company assists other contractors. “Because we own specialized equipment, we can offer services beyond a traditional scope of work,” Aspden says. “Other roofing companies hire us to vacuum the stones and gravel off roofs that they have installed, and our crane is used to install roof trusses, HVAC units or unload building materials at job sites.”

Raising the Roof Right

When EDOS Manufacturers’ Reps, Inc., an agency that represents plumbing, heating and commercial manufacturers throughout New England, purchased an existing 27,500-square-foot warehouse in Foxboro, Massachusetts, in 2015, the building’s aged roof needed to be replaced before interior improvements could begin. Breault Roofing was hired to explore possible solutions.

“A pull test was performed on the existing roof to make sure the building had the proper structural strength to support a new roof,” Aspden explains. “While the decking wasn’t deteriorated, the pull test values were considered low by industry engineering standards.”

Based on Breault Roofing’s findings, Robert Os, EDOS President and the building’s owner, chose a Duro-Last Duro-Bond Roofing System for the metal retrofit. One of the biggest advantages of this system is the ability to custom fabricate the membrane in-house. Once the PVC sheets were engineered and manufactured for this specific building, Breault Roofing developed a new methodology to install the membrane using carpet rolls with a tab to ensure a tight roof system.

“We decided to fasten the membrane directly into the purlins with induction welding instead of using a regular fastened system onto the pan,” Aspden explains. The result was a timely and efficient metal retrofit that used 10,000 fewer screws than normally required. “It also turned what could have been a disaster of a roof into a very solid structural feature.”

Lending a Helping Hand

Community involvement is equally as important to the Breault Roofing family as is delivering quality customer service. And although they might view themselves as competitors in the business world, the construction industry is a tightknit community when it comes to helping one of their own.

Such was the case in 2016 when the unthinkable happened to Victor Fernandes, Co-Owner of Fernandes Masonry, Inc., a masonry construction firm in New Bedford. Fernandes and his wife, Christine, lost their son, Noah, who passed away after a 10-year-long battle with MELAS Syndrome—a progressive and degenerative condition that affects many of the body’s systems, particularly the brain, nervous system and muscles.

To honor Noah’s memory, the Fernandes family founded the Team Noah Foundation to raise funds to build a playground where children with disabilities can enjoy the outdoors. Noah’s Place Playground, located on Pope’s Island in New Bedford, is the largest and most sensory rich inclusive playground in New England.

“It’s a unique and amazing place,” Aspden says. “When the park was being constructed, we donated our crane to erect some of the specialized playground equipment and to place several large boulders throughout the grounds. Breault Roofing, along with many other local contractors, continues to support Team Noah Foundation by donating our time and materials to help improve the quality of life for other children with special needs.”

Breault Roofing has also been a longtime supporter of New Bedford’s Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, an annual midsummer festival that has become the largest Portuguese feast in the world and the largest ethnic festival in New England. “Aside from contributing yearly donations, the company has supplied the materials and installed most of the roofs on the buildings at the festival site,” Aspden says. “The Feast of the Blessed Sacrament celebrated its 105th year in 2019. Thousands of people come to this festival from all over the world so we’re proud to play a small part in such a historic event.”