Thanks but we really want the look of cedar o the roof - I need to get a better understanding of the different types of synthetic cedar roofing options and pricing. I know there is a metal roof that mimics cedar shakes too

Cedar is a luxury roofing product with a luxury price tag, and an oddly short life span. If you are trying to save money do anything other than cedar for long term and short term savings.

I'm going to be looking at Da Vinci's alternatives for shake - they seem to have good reviews and their pricing may be even better than thick cedar but with much better warranties/longevity.

I had a cedar shake roof on my first house, which was built in 1952 and was still in good shape when I bought it 22 years later; by the time it got to 30 years it needed replacing. The second, "high quality" cedar shake roof lasted about 12 years. Cedar shakes these days are not old growth cedar (like my first roof was) and simply don't last. They look good for about two years and then the deterioration and annual cleaning and maintenance starts. Plus, they're a fire hazard. When I sold that home, I chose a different style home that had a steel, standing seam roof. Almost 20 years later it looks about as good as new and I haven't had a bit of maintenance. Find yourself a steel or synthetic substitute for a cedar shake roof and you'll be much happier.

Most likely the cedar shakes are cosmetic. It is the waterproof membrane under the cedar that protects the house.

If it helps any, we built in FL and put in an upgraded cement roof tile that was installed June 2021. We paid around $72K for a large one story house. Spoke to our roofer a few weeks ago when he was quoting a job down the street - prices have not come down and some manufacturers have lead times of 26 weeks to 50+ weeks for many products.

Get a couple of bids from referred roofers who's shake work you've already seen. Cedar is one of the more expensive woods which is already expensive. Lumber is "down" to a new floor still above pre covid and doubtful it will drop below the current numbers without the mills closing.

Understand thicknesses and look for the most you can afford.

The last few we installed were thinner than expected and replaced in 20 years so not going back here. Thicker would have lasted longer.

Be wary of fires… ask people that lost their homes in the Marshall Fire in Boulder, CO county whether they ever thought their home in a traditional neighborhood would be susceptible to a wildfire… cedar (or any wood) roof is just asking for trouble. You may get a nice discount in your homeowner’s insurance by changing to a non-flammable substance too…

Cedar shake roofs were once the norm here. The material was readily available, roofers were experienced in working with it and installing it correctly. It fit the coastal homes cosmetically and lasted a very long time in wet and windy weather.

That's no longer true. Quality cedar shakes are close to impossible to find and exorbitantly expensive. The last cedar roof we had put on a house, DH sourced the raw material and delivered it himself to a semi-retired gentleman who split every shake by hand - it was still within budget. Only a very few of roofing contractors have anyone employed who understands and is qualified to work with cedar now.

We're going to need to roof in a year or two. It will probably not be cedar but we haven't made a final decision as to what. I try to stay true to the original concept of the home when having projects done but probably not with this one. This is a 1955 house and has never had but a cedar roof - only never has had a poor quality material cedar roof either.

Could you contact your local county extension and see if there are sawyers in the area who saw out cedar shakes?

We got a cedar shake (technically a cedar shingle mill as shakes are riven and shingles are sawn) mill, but do not do custom sawing.

A local guy near me does shingles and can get them pressure treated. They will last longer than most homeowners will.

Might be a long shot but you never know, people do have these mills around.

Price proposals by contractors are set by what the market will bear, not by what customers consider "reasonable".

Joseph- Ive had bids - for the same exact syn shake product - vary by $38k for the same scope of work in the past 3 weeks. So I think its perfectly prudent for me to ask others what they are seeing in the market because right now the market is anything but ”settled”

I think a homeowner should go with their gut instinct, and while not very scientific, in my experience my gut feelings have seldom been wrong. In this situation, if something seems unreasonable, intelligent is a homeowner who does their research into what they have been told. Fact checking a contractor's claim is prudent, and not to be scoffed at.

Within 3 bids you should be able to find a tighter range to expect bids. That high bid is an outlier. Sometimes the scope they bid is different (added new roof sheeting, higher end underlayment, thicker shakes, etc) or they don't expect competition which I've seen sometimes in the reroof field, especially when offered as a financed deal.

If there is a single low bid that is especially different, examine carefully for missing scope, thinner materials, etc.

Houzzers cannot provide you decent *cost* information. Online estimators are click bait garbage.

Roof pitch impacts costs per square, state workers comp costs, shipping/loading costs, local labor rates will vary significantly.

Medium = 1/2"

Heavy= 3/4"

Jumbo=1"

Thicker should have a longer life.

As far as alternative options, I was considering the Cedur roofing shakes. The sample I got looked pretty good but I'm not 100% sold if it's the right look for my house.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=cedur+roofing+shakes&t=ffab&ia=web

The fire resistance and durability of concrete or metal imitation shakes makes either a much superior choice to cedar. If this is a new build and you are at drying in, you are likely past the engineering stage to create support for concrete. If that is the case, then choosing metal should be the easy decision. It has a far longer lifespan.

@Adama Engineering makes a valid point.

A roof that would look as good as a shake roof would be slate, and would last the lifespan of ten homeowners. A lot of older houses around here have slate roofs and they look really nice.

I priced out cedar shake a couple of years ago. The only good shake was coming out of Canada, hence the high price. A lot of the stuff being sold in the US was being cut from stumps. My roofer did another roof with the US stuff and they curled and he had to redo it. Make sure you know where they are coming from!

My understanding is that cedar siding and shake prices are at or near all-time highs despite lumber prices coming down. I had cedar siding priced for my house, and it was 4x more than what it would have cost two years ago, per my contractor. It may be consistent with pandemic pricing patterns overall, which is that high end product and material prices increased faster and higher than mid and low end products and materials.