Roofing supply shortage

That tapping sound on your roof Sunday night should be a reminder, hail season is here, but this year, roofing materials and roofing contractors are in shorter supply than ever. <br/><br/>As News on 6

Monday, March 13th 2006, 11:12 am

By: News On 6

That tapping sound on your roof Sunday night should be a reminder, hail season is here, but this year, roofing materials and roofing contractors are in shorter supply than ever.

As News on 6 business reporter Steve Berg explains, the early bird gets the shingle.

You shouldn't have to get smacked by a hailstone to remember to replace your roof, but Ronnie Petersen with RP Roofing says a lot of people have not gotten their roof replaced from last year's hailstorms. "It's about the time where if you have had hail, it's going to start leaking soon and you want to get it done before you get put back in the stack."

Petersen says roofing contractors tend to go after the newest, biggest claims first. So if you have a smaller house or if you've waited a while, he says you'd better get cracking if you want to get the job done soon. "During the summer, once a hailstorm hits, it goes from being a week out to two weeks out, to being about three or four weeks out, sometimes even longer maybe."

Hurricane damage on the gulf has created a huge demand for workers and supplies. And shingles are largely an oil product. It's a perfect storm for shortages. "We don't always have all the material in of every brand and so sometimes that makes it hard to be able to do a certain type of roof."

At ABC Roofing, which supplies most of the contractors in town, Joe Perez says this inventory is a half to a third of what it is usually. "Usually you can only get one vehicle through here, so this is not very much.â€