The craftsmanship required to work with delicate, costly materials and achieve a beautiful, classic roof gives slate and shakes lasting cachet in the custom home market. But with today's increasing focus on green building as well as on low-maintenance homes, interest is growing in alternative roofing products—especially those that can realistically capture the texture, color variation, and rooftop appearance of natural materials while delivering better performance.

The small but growing category of synthetic roofing products offers an alternative to custom builders who prefer not to use resources that are not rapidly renewable—or that are not renewable at all—but want to incorporate the look of slate or shakes into clients' homes. Even for those who are more interested in durability and longevity than in environmental friendliness, synthetic roofs can be a good choice.

Many synthetic products convincingly replicate the look of cedar shakes or slate shingles and also deliver key performance benefits. Advanced materials and manufacturing technologies give the products better resistance to weathering, greater durability, and longer lifespans than real slate or cedar, according to manufacturers. “You emulate the natural material, but get performance and longer life over the natural product,” says Charlotte, N.C.-based custom builder Jay Robinette.

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