I was talking to a friend yesterday who is in the construction industry and he said he's working on a new house in a suburb of Toledo that will have a roof costing $470,000. Yes, that's four hundred and seventy thousand dollars for the roof -- alone, not the entire house.

Definitely NOT the house I'm talking about

I've been pondering that number ever since. Here I was stressing out a few years ago when I had to fork over a few thousand to have new shingles put on my roof. This ultra-wealthy homeowner probably spends that much money on a mailbox. The guy's roof, by the way, will be made of hand-cut slate shingles.
Toledo housing prices are extremely low compared to, say, California or New York, and you literally can buy a whole mansion here for $470,000.
Or, you can buy a roof.
This kind of money-is-no-object spending rattles my brain.
While it's true that you could feed a lot of hungry people, or house a few homeless families for that kind of money and still have enough left over to put a regular shingle roof on your very impressive home, I'm not judging the guy.
Who knows, maybe he gives 90 percent of his money to charity. Or maybe he volunteers at the homeless shelter and donates to all kinds of charities. He could be the most giving person on earth, but has a pressing need to have slate over his head. I really don't know.
Still, the number keeps bouncing around in my head. Something just doesn't add up, so to speak.
Meanwhile, I hope my friend makes a hefty profit on the construction job.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
June 2, 2006