S-5!® founder Rob Haddock has spent 35 years in the metal roofing industry. Starting out as a metal building erector, today Mr Haddock is a well-known metal roof consultant, author, speaker and inventor. Throughout his career, Mr Haddock has been unwavering in his belief that metal roofing is superior to other types of roofing, and believes just as strongly today that his S-5!clamp innovation is making metal the most user-friendly roof type on the market today.

“There is simply no other roof to which things can be attached with such ease, economy and security,” says Mr Haddock.

Structural standing seam metal roofing (SSMR) has emerged as a leading mounting platform for the integration of photovoltaic (PV) modules and has numerous benefits, including:

  • Providing a service life in excess of 40 years, outlasting the PV array
  • The attachment of the PV module is non-invasive to the roof – given the correct wire-management techniques and other associated installation techniques, it is not only possible but common practice to mount megawatt-sized power generation arrays on metal rooftops with zero penetration of the roof
  • Installation costs are significantly lower than other conventional installation methods – because the SSMR provides a grid of beam-like configurations, the PV array conveniently mounts either by lamination or mechanical attachment above the seams of the roof. These methods are much less labour-intensive and translate into significant cost savings over other roof types.

S-5! believes that initial PV costs for SSMR are significantly lower than for other roof types. Total life-cycle cost analysis that considers necessary roof replacement costs during the usable life of PV modules also demonstrate that using metal roofing under the PV not only conserves the environment but conserves the cash as well.