You received notification, that roofing materials distributors were increasing prices by 4 to 6% across the board on all of their steep slope roofing materials. Here's what they're not telling you, that for the past six months, prices have been crashing on the cost to manufacture those same roofing materials. So, why are prices going up? We're discussing that today.

The number one variable that determines the cost of manufacturing roofing materials is, by far, the currency exchange market. As the dollar increases in value, in relation to the Chinese currency, the Renminbi (The Yuan is the principal unit of the RNB, or a unit of measure) decreases in value because of their inverse correlation. As a consequence, the cost to manufacture roofing materials will drop. 

 The second variable influencing the cost of roofing materials is availability of supplies. Let me tell you, during the past five months, there has not been any problem with availability of products. In fact, there's been an overabundance of products and materials.

As the dollar increases in value, in relation to the Chinese currency, the Renminbi (The Yuan is the principal unit of the RNB, or a unit of measure) decreases in value because of their inverse correlation. As a consequence, the cost to manufacture roofing materials will drop.

The second variable influencing the cost of roofing materials is availability of supplies. Let me tell you, during the past five months, there has not been any problem with availability of products. In fact, there's been an overabundance of products and materials.

A couple of weeks ago a vendor specializing in selling generic  asphalt roof shingles offered GAF Timberline HDZ for sale. The term generic asphalt roof shingles, in this case, means repackaged from manufacturer due to liquidation of overstock. They had truckloads and truckloads at ridiculously low prices. The Roof Store doesn't sell shingles at the moment, so I declined and said thank you, but no thank you. Yesterday, the same vendor called me because they have 36 truck loads of more generic roof shingles.

This time, they have Atlas product that they've repackaged. It's bought directly from Atlas as a liquidation purchase. The company is selling them at $40 a square and $42 a square, depending on the location of the warehouse where it is being stored. All that, to say there isn't any roofing materials shortage as the cause for the roofing distributors raising prices.

The Third variable that determines the prices you pay for your roofing materials is going to be the cost to move the roofing materials via freight from point A to point B.

Across the country, we are experiencing record level low prices in trucking costs. Individual owner operators of trucking companies often times lose money on loads because the loads being offered are priced to provide a profit.  Freight prices have crashed from over $4 dollars a mile, to $1 per mile.  Moving freight from point A to point B is very cheap right now (2023). The Roof Store is passing on these savings to our customers by maintaining our free shipping policy and maintaining low prices that we have on the prices for 1 1/4 inch coil roofing nails, cap nails, Bullet Boots, 1 to 3" Galvanized Pipe Boots, Roof Glue and the rest of the products we sell.

Our truth, is that there's really no reason why you should be paying more for your roofing materials in a time when the cost to manufacture the roofing materials has been steadily decreasing for the past six months.

In December, that's when the prices of coil roofing nails started to drop for us. And let me tell you, when it comes to brokers and distributors, they all got stuck with a bunch of product that they had overpaid for. They could have lessened their loss by liquidating their inventory at a slight loss had they reacted quickly as the prices began to crash, but they didn't. They held on to the truck loads of inventory and it has taken them 5 to 6 months to work through some of that inventory to the point where at least it's at a manageable level.

The roofing industry finds itself in a time when manufacturing prices have decreased, but roofing distributers are raising prices because their business model is very inefficient, so they cannot lower their prices.

I hope you appreciate the behind the scenes that happens at the distributor level. We operate with full transparency. We disclose all prices on the website.

Let us know how we may help you.