Hello, I'm brand new to the forums. I'm just starting construction of our new house and I hope to be able to use this as a great resource while we build to both make sure that we are doing things right and get some great tips for things to include in the house. My first question revolves around shingles. We recently got shingles and all the associated materials ordered for the roof and I was really shocked to see that the shingle price came back so high. It actually put us around $1500 over for the roofing material from what was originally estimated.Now I understand with our recent price of oil being high (now falling) that the price may be a little higher than normal as the inventory is bought and replaced with the cheaper ones, but the price for a square was $86. How come when I look at a shingle price on lowes.com or homedepot.com for what seems an equivalent Tamko of GAF 30yr asphalt shingle, their prices are around $20-$30. What am I missing and what questions do I need to ask of the roofing supply place?

I believe you are looking at prices per bundle online at the big box stores.

I'm hoping you have a decent list of materials for the job. Make sure to include:
nails(1 box per 15 sq)
drip edge
Ice & water shield
Felt paper or titanium underlayment
shingles
Hip and ridge shingles
step flashing
counter flashing for chimney
ridge vent

I wonder how many shingle price increases we have had since this original post.
The last one was 4/7/09. It seems like two months is the longest period of time with a new price increase for a year and a half.