# Shingles



## Kmart88

Why are shingles so much cheaper at Home Depot lowes and Menards? Than my supply store? Are these a lesser version of the shingle or can they just offer a cheaper price?


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## ABC

Lots of reasons, on both ends

Big Box suppliers:
-Shingles are not inferrior, but they usually only carry and stock certain colors of 1 brand
-They are probablly manufactures top client, and get a lot back on the back end with rebates
- roofing maybe makes up 5% of their sales, they can afford to make less in one area when they make it up to another
-if you're grabing stuff, you're also loading up your own truck, usually with no help

Supply house:
- they are offering you a service on top of the actual product
- they prob. can answer any kind of questions you might have
- they deliver, and usually in a small time frame

there isn't a huge difference in price, but i do know home depot drops the price with the more bundles you buy.


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## dougger222

At a lumber yard/roofing supply house you'll find the salesman with 10-30 years experience, boom truck drivers with 20 years experience and yard guys with 10-20 years experience. 

At a big box store you'll find the salesman with 1-10 years experience, boom tuck drivers with 5-10 years experience and yard guys with 0-5 years experience. 

Also at the big box stores you'll find shingles mismatched and quite often damaged by the yard guys. 

Did one job from Menards a 55sq tear off. The boom truck driver showed up with 25sq of the right shingles and 30sq of the wrong shingle. Did another job, they sent out both English and Metric 3 tabs for the ridge cap.

Sure the big box stores are cheaper but you get what you pay for.

My yard has been around for over 30 years and half the staff has been there since day one. The yard guy retired last year and he started there on day one! Most call in or walk in homeowners ask about shingles and quite often the people up front say, "Call Doug".


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## texashomeprosaustin

*Austin Texas Home Depot no longer to retail shingles*

I stopped purchasing GAF roof shingles quite some time ago here in Austin, Home Depots 30 year Timberline typically retailed for 99.00 per square plus tax...2 roof supply locations only miles away retail the exact same shingles from 82.00-84.00 per square plus tax. Large percentage of overall savings with margins in roofing so tight here in Central Texas. 
My understanding is GAF had to make the decision to either support the local roofing supply or watch Home Depot become a monopoly.


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## dougger222

Personally I feel the gaf/elk timberline shingle is GARBAGE. They are thin, they are missing granules on parts of the shingles, they blow off very easily, the laminated tabs on the shingles come off very easily. Plus give them 10-12 years and they crack.

If a customer is stuck on timberline the sale of another shingle is very easy. They are shown the other two top shingles and after they feel the weight difference and after they pry on the laminated tabs they quickly stop talking about the timberline and move their attention to a better shingle.


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## Dallas-Roofing

The reason for it is that Home Depot and Lowe's buy in a much larger quantities than the distributors we buy from so they purchase at a lower cost. Plus I believe Home Depot and Lowes do not markup their shingles as much as our distributors do. Percentage wise. The shingles are anchor products. Meaning that they will sell shingles at a lower price to get customers in and may even loose on shingles to make money on accessories and other products. 

Devin Mahdi
Roof Repair Dallas


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## hotrodo351

first of all if you have a account at the roofing supply house and there selling you shingles for more than home depot then something is wrong. second = home depot can sell there shingles at any price they want, h*ll they can give them away. remember they also sell lots of other stuff. i went though this years ago. funny thing was that if i did buy them from home depot my local supplier actually furnished and loaded them. ofcourse i didnt buy form home depot. i stick with my supplier because of the service and recommendations i get from them. but if you can save $10.00 a square loaded on the roof then id buy from them, might give your supplier a reality check.


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## Wislon Roofing

Dallas-Roofing said:


> The reason for it is that Home Depot and Lowe's buy in a much larger quantities than the distributors we buy from so they purchase at a lower cost. Plus I believe Home Depot and Lowes do not markup their shingles as much as our distributors do. Percentage wise. The shingles are anchor products. Meaning that they will sell shingles at a lower price to get customers in and may even loose on shingles to make money on accessorie and other product http://wilson-roofing.com/ Vancouver roofing company 604.700.5405
> Devin Mahdi
> Roof Repair Dallas


That's interesting to think they would lose out on money just to bring in customers. That's where I buy all my hook blades and my hook knives from. But there is no way I would buy my roofing supplies from home depot. I have a good relationship with my supplier and they bring my supplies on time every time.


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## Maxon100

Well I figure its because they buy huge volume but our company is in Anchorage, Alaska and it is much cheaper to go to a roofing supplier than to go to Home Depot or Lowes. About $10 more for one bundle shingles at Home Depot or Lowes, just crazy.

http://stormproofroofing.org/


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## Hardt Roofing

I always use Lowes a Home Depot to get an idea of what the materials are going for and then use that info. to go off. My distributor charges a little more but they have better service so unless it is a huge difference I stay with my distributer.
_____________
David
www.hardtroofing.com


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## ZChek

I agree, David. A quality distributor goes a long way. I've found Atlas to have a pretty solid variety for most budgets. There's a good breakdown on some of some of the better architectural options here if anyone's interested in going that route.


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