If you’ve recently purchased a new home, or are considering doing so, you’ll notice that most new home builders don’t offer metal roofing. If they do, it’s only in accent areas, and even that’s rare. If metal roofing is so great, why don’t new home builders offer it then? The answer is simple. New home builders don’t make money when crews spend a lot of time in any one area. It’s the same reason why you can’t get a lot of options when you build with a production builder. The faster and easier a home goes up, the faster and easier the money comes in. And metal roofing, because it requires a longer installation process, is also more expensive to the builder as are the installation crews who do it, since metal roofing requires special expertise. Between the materials and labor, it’s pretty hard for a new home builder to get the profit margins they’re used to getting for a metal roof, so it’s easier and more profitable for them to include an asphalt roof.
Having been in the new home industry for years, I can tell you first hand that no one typically asks about the roofing that’s included with their home. When you think about it, how odd is that? The roof protects the entire investment under it, plus the family who owns the home. Instead, questions surface regarding counter tops, flooring, paint colors, carpet choices, cabinets, etc. While all important from an aesthetic point of view, none serve to protect your investment, nor do they relate to structural integrity of the house. And unless you simply get tired of your original choices, none of these items really fail (except for carpeting, possibly) within 12 years or less like your roof will.
So when your builder tells you they don’t offer or recommend metal roofing, you now know why. They know metal roofing is in YOUR best interests, but it’s not in theirs. Until people start demanding better quality roofing, builders will continue to put the cheapest product possible on homes and home owners will continue to throw money away on roofing every 12 years, on average. Call us….we can help.