JUSTEN NEWTON
The Blue Collar Scholar
Premium slate and clay tile for Centennial's estate-scale homes, and historic roofs wherever they stand. Denver metro, and landmark roofs nationwide, outside Florida and Alabama.
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Serving Centennial·Denver Metro & Front Range
Centennial is one of the youngest cities in the metro — incorporated in 2001, built mostly for the estate-scale new build rather than the century-old restoration. There's less clay tile and slate history on the ground here than in Denver's older neighborhoods, but the roofs that do carry premium material get judged by the same standard.
A large custom property doesn't need historic matching so much as it needs the same hidden-work discipline that keeps a hundred-year-old roof alive: fasteners sized right, flashing detailed properly, and underlayment that doesn't get skipped because the house is new instead of old.
Centennial's Building Division publishes a residential guide for roof repairs and re-roofing.
Source: City of Centennial (opens in a new tab)Custom Ludowici clay, hand-slushed with battered butts — 128 squares in a three-color blend, full restoration in Denver. Completed with Precision Construction and Roofing.
Full tear-off and re-deck — 2,500 squares of Boral Tejas España tile, battens and field reinstalled across the complex. Completed with Precision Construction and Roofing.
DaVinci slate in a black-and-grey blend — 396 squares total, custom copper-and-lead turret work on a full replacement. Completed with Precision Construction and Roofing.
Free inspections·A written scope·No pressure on the porch
One standard, whether it is a courthouse, a church or a house. Documented, preserved, and put back better than the archives remember it.
Fired clay that outlives its warranty by a century. Matched, milled, and hung by hands that know every profile in the catalog.
Stone laid to shed water for a hundred years. Cut, hung, and headlapped like it has to prove it every day.
The dangerous work nobody photographs. Brought down under negative air by certified crews — contained, cleared, and manifested — so the beautiful work can begin.
Walk the roof of the estate the way a restorer walks a landmark. Pitch, headlap, fastener type, valley metal and underlayment condition go on paper, since a new build can hide shortcuts too.
Large custom roofs open in sections, and each section gets temporary cover before the next one comes off. The interior stays dry while the schedule does its slow work.
Specify the premium material to the house: Ludowici clay or slate chosen for color, profile and thickness, with the field laid so it reads as one continuous roof, never a patchwork of whatever shipped fastest.
Fasteners sized to the pitch, flashing detailed properly, underlayment in every valley and eave. Slate goes on copper, headlap is sized correctly, and the finished field stays unwalked.
A clean manifest, photos and a written scope of what was installed. Warranty paperwork goes in the file where it applies, so the next owner of a young house inherits a documented roof.
A new estate roofed in slate doesn't get a pass on headlap just because the house was built last year instead of a century ago. The same failure points apply — fasteners that weren't sized for the pitch, a valley flashed in something that won't last. Get it right once instead of getting it right the third time.
Ludowici clay on a new Centennial build still deserves the same care as a matched restoration — the field laid so it reads as one continuous roof, not a patchwork of whatever shipped fastest. New construction is the easiest time to do it right, and the easiest time to get it wrong.
A large new property hides the same lesson every century-old roof teaches: the underlayment and decking decide how long the pretty material on top actually lasts. Skip it on a new build and you've built a countdown into a house that hasn't even settled yet.
“The archives remember what the roof looked like. My job is to make the roof agree.”
— Justen Newton
The pretty part is the clay. The century is everything underneath it. Walk the layers.
A century is the floor for Ludowici clay and quarried slate, and a house in a city incorporated in 2001 gets the same ceiling as any landmark. What decides it is the layer under the tile: underlayment, flashing and fasteners done right the first time.
Yes. Ludowici's catalog and graded salvage drive the match. Centennial has less clay tile history than Denver's older neighborhoods, so most of the work is specifying fired clay that reads as one continuous roof, with profile and color agreed before anything is ordered.
On a newer estate, repair usually means correcting a detail early: fasteners sized wrong for the pitch, a valley flashed in something short-lived. Fix it now and the stone keeps its hundred years. Replacement is only for roofs where the details cannot be saved.
Less likely here. Centennial was built mostly as new construction, so abatement is the exception. If an older structure on the property carries transite or aged membranes, they come off under negative air, with certified crews and a clean manifest.
Yes. Centennial's roofs run to the large custom property rather than the century-old restoration, and premium slate and clay on them get the same discipline. The Building Division's residential guide for repairs and re-roofing is the starting point, then a site visit and a written scope.
Steep-slope craftsman. Historic clay and slate. One standard, whether it is a courthouse, a church or a house.
Seventeen years on landmark roofs. Roofing work nationwide, outside Florida and Alabama. Ludowici clay, premium slate, and asbestos abatement handled by the book. When the roof carries the building’s story, the work travels.
Pick the closest match. The inquiry form fills in the roof for you.
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Tell Justen what you are seeing. He usually calls back within one business day. The inspection is free. Next comes a site visit, then a written scope. No pressure on the porch.
Justen sells and personally runs high-end roofing jobs, usually through Precision Construction and Roofing, and consults independently.
31 points, 6 sections. Print it before the site visit, or take it to the board.
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