And they'll be dear when on shelves again, experts say
By John Holland STAFF WRITER Posted October 29 2005
Don't even think about getting new barrel or flat roofing tiles for about a year, and expect prices to soar when they do finally arrive.
That's the message from contractors and suppliers who said Hurricane Wilma turned an incredibly tight market into an impossible situation. Homeowners seeking shingles still have plenty of selection and large supplies, but that's expected to change in the next few months.
Overall, construction materials of any kind are going to be expensive and difficult to find for quite some time. Manufacturers of barrel and flat tiles had already cut the color options from more than 50 choices to about 20 in an attempt to increase production.
In the days since Wilma pummeled South Florida, owners of commercial buildings have snapped up every piece of roofing to fix or replace flat roofs that were ripped apart.
"I've ordered $4 million worth of roofing material within five last days, and I'm just hoping to get some of it," said Don Hamby of ABC Supply in Lake Worth. "I'm shipping from all over the place, paying any price. Roll material [for roofs] that I normally get from Savannah, Ga., I'm now ordering from Oklahoma for a lot more money."
