Roofing Prices Rising Fast in 2013

Southern Shingles, our close neighbor, and most every building wholesaler have sent us letters announcing 10-12% price increases in most products that should take effect later this month. The wholesalers are simply passing  along the information previously given to them by the manufacturers.

Petroleum is to blame for this. It is the major cost component of shingles two fold. First asphalt is the main ingredient of a typical shingle.  Second, transportation cost greatly impact roofing as the materials are very heavy.

Hurricane Sandy has also had an impact on building materials as the price of OSB decking has increased about 30% since the storm hit. OSB and most lumber products are commodities which can have very sudden and large price swings. Unlike the shingles, I expect these products to fall later in the year. Shingle on the other hand only seem to go up.

Rain Rain Go Away

Based on the very unofficial record keeping at Bert Roofing, it has rained 32 of a possible 61 days for September and October of 2009 in Dallas. Despite all this rain, we are not close to any records per the Dallas Morning News weather blog.

http://weatherblog.dallasnews.com/archives/records/

In short, we have been very busy. In fact any roofer worth his salt is very busy. So why is there a new roofer in my backyard (Lake Highlands) that has time to go knock on doors? (more on that later)