42 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Late Summer 2018 TheCoastalBend.com 42 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Early Summer 2018 TheCoastalBend.com cabinets, and even their belongings, were covered in black mold, which was also forming in unseen locations inside walls and within the home’s frame. While the roof itself was in no way reinforced enough to withstand 130 m.p.h. sustained winds, and gusts over 150 m.p.h., it is unlikely that it would have survived what- ever unidentified flying object created the three-foot gap through which a river of storm water poured into the house. Bepko’s best guess as to the UFO’s true identity is an air conditioning unit blown off the roof of the nearby Sandcastle Condominiums. Brandon Bepko’s unchosen road to roofing expertise began with the rudimentary first step in dealing with a damaged roof—tarping. After waiting for three weeks, Texas Windstorm Insurance Agency (TWIA) dispatched a contractor from San Antonio to place one of those big, blue tarps over the house—but when the guy pulled up alone, Bepko expecting a crew close behind, the contractor looked at the house, declared it too big a job to do alone, and drove away. TWIA was sure to bill the Bepko’s for no tarp. Another two week wait later, all during an unusually rainy September, a second roofer showed up and attached the cheapest blue tarp money could buy, quickly anchored with the cheapest roofing nails on the market, that together lasted four days until gulf winds blew it free. Bepko was lucky enough to find a good quality, free tarp at the Port A donation center, which he decided to attach alone in a most harrowing experience. After a four-hour fight in heavy winds that almost took him airborne, Bepko tarped his busted roof himself. Over the ensuing weeks, Bepko tried dealing with over a dozen roofing contrac- tors, doing his best to call those who at least had a “361” area code, knowing well the nightmare stories of shoddy out-of-town contractors who took the money and ran, with or without doing a good roofing job, or any roofing job at all. While roofers were understandably overwhelmed with work after Harvey, few proved their ability to handle it. After one missed or hours-late appointment after an- other, more than a few roofers who never produced an estimate, and others who were clearly in the business of price-gouging, he was referred to Chris Cuellar at Pinnacle Roofing Systems. Bepko’s experience there was completely different. He found a neighbor whose own family members were rebuilding after Harvey, and along with it a company that operated professionally, kept their promises and delivered a great job at a price below expectations. The Bepko’s even got to pick out their own designer shingles! When you are rebuilding from a natural disaster, good contractors are going to advise you on how to come out better next time—because there will always be more hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, Sharknadoes, what have you. Pinnacle advised the Bepko’s that a solid, ventless roof with a reinforced ridge would be less susceptible to wind damage—they even suggested a color scheme that would enhance the look of the home. The crew from Pinnacle, led by a father-son team, did the job in a day, removed all the materials from the old roof, and were thor- ough enough to clean up their own work mess, including using rolling magnets to pick up roofing nails from the street—a detail neighbors appreciate. Recognizing Good & Bad Roofing Work—it’s all about the details.