Roof Replacement: The Cost of Waiting

When a customer asks us when the best and cheapest time is to buy a roof, we always give them the same answer: yesterday! That being said, the next best time is today. Several factors can impact the cost of a roof, and a roof replacement or repair is going to cost you more money next year, than if you get the roof installed today. If you’re wondering about the causes of this increase, as well as how much the cost is expected to increase this year, read on! You may be able to save a significant amount of money with this information. Damage Accumulates Over Time Roofing issues frequently extend beyond the spots where they’re visible from the exterior. For example, if some of your shingles are showing signs of water damage such as dark spots or moss, the issue likely is impacting the decking. Water flows to parts of your roof other than the shingles, and one dark spot of shingles could indicate that the decking underneath in several other spots is in need of replacement as well. Simply put, small issues accumulate quickly into one big problem. Leaving them addressed for even a few months could cause them to build up, making the inevitable replacement down the line a far costlier endeavor. Roofing projects go beyond just the cost of shingles after all. If more decking is damaged, or the interior of your house begins to suffer from leaks, you’re looking at more materials and more repairs to do the same job that you could have gotten handled the first time around. The crux of this is that the longer you wait to get a roof replacement, the more expensive it will be to tackle. Handling your roof before leaks begin, or before water damage and lifted shingles spread across your entire roof, could mean the difference between a $20,000 roof replacement and a $50,000 roof replacement. Material Costs are Expected to Rise Roofing installation used to increase an average of 6 to 8% percent year over year. This is due to inflation in the cost of materials and labor. However, since 2020 and the COVID pandemic, prices and inflation have actually been increasing at a significantly faster of 10-14%. In 2021, homeowners would have paid at least 10% more for their roof than in 2022. Therefore, a roof that would have cost $15,000 would end up costing them $16,500 or more. While this rate has steadied a bit since 2022, there are still significant economic factors on the horizon that could lead to price increases in the very near future, beyond even the 10-14% costs increases we’ve seen in since 2020. Now a hot button topic, tariffs are on the horizon, and could be implemented by the middle of the year, after a brief pause in them since early April.  How would tariffs impact the price of roof installations? In spite of the fact that Stellar uses American made shingles for all of our roofing projects, the fact is that even products manufactured in the United States will still be impacted by tariffs. This is because there are some materials used in roofs that are imported from abroad. This inevitably leads to an increased cost of production, impacting the final cost of an installation. In addition to this, other overhead costs of roofing businesses could be impacted by tariffs, leading to even higher costs as roofing companies attempt to manage these increased costs. While tariffs are currently on pause, some roofing companies are already increasing their prices preemptively in order to counteract the potential increased cost of managing their business. Therefore, it’s a good idea to treat your roof like any other financial investment. Get in early before costs go up later in the year. Small Repairs May Not Be Enough When you’ve finally come to the conclusion that your roof has issues that need to be addressed, your first instinct may be to get a roof repair. Repairs are cheaper options than replacing an entire roof. In an ideal situation, you could just hire a team to tear off some of the damaged shingles and reinstall new ones. While this may be the cheaper option in the short-term, it is not going to be cheaper in the long-term. Often times just patching up one spot of shingles in one year could lead to you needing to do a similar patch up the next year on a different part of the roof. This leads to more and more repairs that in total cost you more than just doing a replacement the first time would cost you. In order to determine your best course of action, have a specialist come and give your roof a free inspection. A qualified roof inspector will take the time to get into your attic and crawlspace in order to see both the exterior and interior of your roof, and thoroughly look for any major warning signs. If a roof repair is the choice you go with, the minimum amount of work you’ll need will still involve replacing one entire section of your roof. This is in order to detect damaged decking and underlayment, as well as giving your roof a matching appearance. However, if your roof is older than 10-15 years, or has more than two layers of shingles (violating NY state code), you’re going to need to get a full replacement done as soon as possible.