BATON ROUGE - With hurricane season right around the corner, the cost of replacing a roof is going up, and roofing companies say waiting could make it worse.

Across the country, the cost of a new roof can range from tens of thousands of dollars for an average home, with prices climbing higher depending on size, materials, and labor.

Cory, Coxe the co-owner of LifeTime Roofing, says shingle companies increase pricing every quarter.

"There's no way around it. And the price of shingles, I've been doing this for a while, it's never gone down. It always goes up, and it sounds like a sales pitch, but the cheapest time to do your roof is today, because it's only going to get more expensive from this point on," he said.

Coxe says a full replacement isn't always the only option. He says routine inspections and small repairs can extend the life of a roof and help some homeowners avoid major costs later.

"And what that does is, for starting as low as $20 a month, you can have four quarterly inspections, everything documented and sent to your e-mail. And what that helps you do is it lets you know your roof's current condition. And most of the problems that we actually find can be solved with a tube of silicone or something very, very inexpensive," Coxe said.