Even though he's drenched with sweat and covered by dirty, tar-stained long pants and a long-sleeve shirt, Demetrio Borja insists he loves his job as a roofer. Really.

Most days you will find the 35-year-old spreading a gooey, gelatinous concoction called liquid tar on a roof under the glaring South Florida sun, but he said the job has its rewards.

``It is just fun,'' said the Spanish-speaking Pompano Beach resident, with translation help from his boss. ``And I get satisfaction from making other people happy with my work.''

Making people happy depends on doing a dirty job with many challenges. He uses a type of squeegee to properly roll the tar onto the roof, but to call it a messy job would be an understatement.

``It is really sticky to touch, and very dirty. That is the worst part of it,'' said Borja, who has been a roofer for nine years.

Borja works for Dakoma Roofing of Oakland Park. Owner and President Joel Bustos can empathize with what his employees endure on the job.

More than 20 years ago, he climbed his first roof as a young apprentice in the business. Bustos said he loved being outdoors, and as a young man, didn't see himself in an office job.

``I thought it was the best job in the world at first,'' he recalled.

So for years, he helped mix and spread hot tar all over South Florida roofs. The tar works likes a coating that helps fill in cracks on roofs that are aging or damaged. But it is hot, and smells bad, and this being South Florida, friends wondered why he, or any roofer, sticks with it.

``Some people would ask how can you stand it in this 90-degree heat, but you get used to it. It just becomes a job,'' he said.

There were the good years to be a roofer, like post-Hurricanes Wilma and Andrew when residents practically treated the workers like heroes when they showed up to fix a storm-ravaged home. But still, the job always brings the same inherent problems.

``It is extremely messy,'' Bustos said. ``Once it is on your clothes, you can't get it off.''

It's so messy, in fact, that roofers will buy cheap trousers they can toss after wearing only a short time. So messy that most laundromats they use have machines set aside for roofers.

``The other customers were complaining their clothes were coming out with tar,'' he said.

-- JULIE LEVIN

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