Commercial roofing
Commercial metal roofing and restoration coatings
Restore a metal roof that is still structurally sound, and replace the one that is not — with a straight answer about which you have.
- How it is priced
- Per square foot for coating; per square for panel replacement
- Timeline
- Set in your written estimate, after the walk-through
- Who performs it
- NRBS crews, self-performed
The assessment comes before the recommendation
A commercial metal roof is either a restoration candidate or a replacement, and which one it is should be established by walking it rather than by what the contractor sells.
| Panels | Surface rust is treatable. Perforation and structural corrosion are not. |
|---|---|
| Fasteners | Backed out across the field means the panel-to-purlin connection is failing. A coating does nothing for that. |
| Seams | Split or opened seams need mechanical repair before any coating, not instead of it. |
| Deck and structure | Interior staining and a soft deck mean water has already been getting in for a while. |
| Drainage | Ponding areas determine the chemistry — and sometimes determine that coating is the wrong answer. |
Where the answers are good, restoration is genuinely excellent value: a fraction of replacement cost, applied quickly, minimal disruption to the building's occupants, and it resets the maintenance clock.
Where they are not, we will say the roof needs replacement. That is a bigger number and a less comfortable conversation, and it is still the right recommendation — a coating over a failing metal roof postpones the decision by one budget cycle and makes it more expensive when it arrives.
Chemistry, and what each is for
| Acrylic | Elastomeric | Silicone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service life | 5–10 years | 7–12 years | 10–15 years |
| Relative cost | Lowest | Middle | Highest |
| Standing water | Does not tolerate it — needs positive drainage | Tolerates limited ponding | Handles ponding; this is why it exists |
| Best fit | Dry climate, well-drained pitched metal, shorter hold period | General purpose on a sound pitched metal roof | Low slope, imperfect drainage, or a long hold |
A single service-life number with no chemistry attached is a marketing figure, not a specification.
Service life
- Acrylic
- 5–10 years
- Elastomeric
- 7–12 years
- Silicone
- 10–15 years
Relative cost
- Acrylic
- Lowest
- Elastomeric
- Middle
- Silicone
- Highest
Standing water
- Acrylic
- Does not tolerate it — needs positive drainage
- Elastomeric
- Tolerates limited ponding
- Silicone
- Handles ponding; this is why it exists
Best fit
- Acrylic
- Dry climate, well-drained pitched metal, shorter hold period
- Elastomeric
- General purpose on a sound pitched metal roof
- Silicone
- Low slope, imperfect drainage, or a long hold
Preparation and applied thickness
Restoration failures are almost never coating failures. They are two things.
Preparation. A coating over a surface that was not washed, over rust that was not treated, or over seams and fasteners that were never detailed, will fail at exactly those points — regardless of which product went on top.
Applied thickness. Coatings are specified in dry mils, and a coat applied at half the specified thickness looks identical on the day of completion and lasts roughly a third as long. It is the most commonly short-changed item in this scope precisely because nobody can see it. We record applied thickness as part of the close-out documentation rather than asking you to take it on trust.
For the manufactured-home equivalent of this scope, see metal roof recoat.
Also in commercial roofing
Specification
What we install, and to what standard.
Full specification
- Restoration
- Wash, rust treatment, seam and fastener detailing, then a coating system
- Coating chemistries
- Acrylic 5–10 yr, elastomeric 7–12 yr, silicone 10–15 yr
- Fastener assessment
- Backed-out fasteners across the field indicate a connection problem coating cannot fix
- Replacement trigger
- Perforation, structural corrosion, or a deck that has already failed
Not in the scope
- Anything not written in the scope. Extra work found on site is raised as a written change order before it is done.
- Restoration
- Wash, rust treatment, seam and fastener detailing, then a coating system
- Coating chemistries
- Acrylic 5–10 yr, elastomeric 7–12 yr, silicone 10–15 yr
- Fastener assessment
- Backed-out fasteners across the field indicate a connection problem coating cannot fix
- Replacement trigger
- Perforation, structural corrosion, or a deck that has already failed
Not in the scope
- Anything not written in the scope. Extra work found on site is raised as a written change order before it is done.
How the job runs
Walk-through
We walk the units or the roof, or work from the walk sheet you already have.
Written scope
A written scope and price before any work starts, priced as shown above.
The work
Our own crews do it, to the written scope. Anything extra is a written change order first.
Final walk-through
We walk it again with you and close out anything on the punch list.
Step one is your scope, as it already exists.
Request a bidPricing a whole community? Request a park-wide quote.
Common questions
W-9, written safety programme and certificates of insurance (GL and workers’ comp): being prepared. What is published so far is on vendor credentials.
Usually specified alongside
- Commercial roofing overviewThe same crews, the same reporting and the same vendor file — applied to the commercial assets sitting in the same portfolio as your communities.
- Metal roof recoatExtend a sound metal roof with the right coating chemistry — and be told plainly when the roof underneath is past coating.
- Maintenance programsScheduled inspection and minor repair on the roofs that are still sound, which is the only thing that keeps a replacement list short.
Where we perform metal & recoat
Self-performed crews based in Houston. Each city page carries local housing context.