Would appreciate some advice from folks in Calif who have had a re-roof job done recently.

Existing roof is 1500 sf including attached garage, common L-shape. Current roof is wood shake and need replacing. I got a quote, standard middle of the road asphalt re-roof, decent but not top dollar -- $15K. I nearly dropped by Pepsi. Will call others this week for estimates.

About 5 years ago, I was in NC and arranged for a re-roofing for a 2500 sf house, also single story, middle of the road 30-year asphalt -- $5K. I got 3 others estimates, all around $5K.

I have not priced out materials in Calif and NC, but am wondering if there are some weird codes in Calif that drive the costs up. Could be the difference in labor charges, but the fact is that the roofers here all use undocumented workers. I've got a photo of the house across the street with 15 workers on the roof at one time (1500 sf), plus others on the ground. They hardly had room to walk without bumping into each other.

Anyway, I'm looking at pricing materials brought in from out state if it's legal and possibly flying out a couple of guys from NC.