The Scope: How Misdefined Work Created Long-Term Damage
A case study in why accurate scope definition—and adherence—determines the success or failure of any project.
The “scope of work” became one of the central failures in this entire roofing timeline. Rackley Roofing repeatedly reframed their scope in ways that minimized responsibility, ignored earlier commitments, and failed to address underlying structural issues. Rather than evaluating the roof as a system—fasteners, penetrations, substrate, insulation, and water paths—they narrowed each visit to surface-level observations, allowing problems beneath the metal to worsen unchecked.
This section documents how the scope provided by Rackley shifted over time:
The 2022 preventive maintenance, where improper fasteners were installed but substrate integrity was never assessed.
The 2024 re-quote, which ignored the previous work entirely and treated the ongoing leaks as a new, unrelated issue.
Subsequent service visits, where techs focused on isolated screws rather than identifying water intrusion pathways or verifying the roof’s structural condition.
Each narrowing of scope resulted in missed evidence: rotted purlins, oversized holes, mold-saturated insulation, and progressive water damage that could have been prevented with a comprehensive evaluation.
By contrast, the corrective crew defined scope the way it should have been done from day one:
full tear-off assessment, substrate inspection, insulation health review, moisture mapping, and structural repair tied directly to documented failure points.
This case underscores a fundamental operational principle:
When a contractor controls the scope, they also control the outcome—and redefining scope to avoid responsibility can cause years of preventable damage.
For homeowners, project managers, and operations leaders, this serves as a clear example of how scope misalignment creates risk, and how transparent documentation, proper inspection protocols, and system-level thinking protect both property and people. Link to full article