DIY or professional
Do it yourself, or have it applied?
We sell the product either way. So here is the honest picture, including when doing it yourself is perfectly reasonable.
What the product costs
A 19 L (5 gal) pail covers 1,000 to 1,200 sq ft in two coats. The math always allows one pail beyond the bare minimum: running out halfway across a roof is the worst outcome there is.
| Area | Pails | Product |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | 2 | $1,198 |
| 1,500 sq ft | 3 | $1,797 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 3 | $1,797 |
| 3,000 sq ft | 4 | $2,396 |
599 $ per pail on its own. The price comes down with the quantity ordered. That is product only.
What actually changes
Can it be applied without professional equipment?
Yes, technically. A pump sprayer or a roller works. But the result is meaningfully worse: uneven film thickness, poorer penetration into the material, and it burns more product to cover the same area. We apply with an industrial high-pressure airless, which is what produces an even, controlled coat.
How long does it take?
Our crew does a typical roof in 1 to 2 hours, two coats, in one visit. On your own, without the equipment and the practice, plan on your weekend, and a second one if the weather turns.
What conditions does it need?
10 °C and up, with some flexibility. You need a rain-free window and a clean, dry surface. Preparation matters as much as application: that is where most self-applied jobs go wrong.
What about safety?
It is a roof. Our crews go up with the equipment and the habit, and the company is insured for the work. A homeowner who falls off their own roof has none of that.
The most concrete difference: the warranty
Applied by our crew, the treatment is warranted on water-repellent performance and UV resistance: 15 years if the roof is under 10 years old, 10 years if it is older. Transferable if you sell the property.
Applied by you, there is no warranty. Not a reduced one: none. We cannot warrant an application we did not perform and never saw.
It is the only line in the comparison you cannot make up for later. The rest is time and quality of result.
What actually goes wrong
These are not hypotheticals. This is what we see on the roofs we get called back to.
- Uneven, uncontrolled application: too much product in one place, too little in another. The thin spots fail first, and they do not show right away.
- Poor penetration into the material. The product sits on the surface instead of working into the pores of the shingle, which is where the protection actually happens.
- Problem areas missed, usually the least accessible ones, so usually the ones that needed it most.
- Moss or algae still present, sealed IN under the coating. This is the worst case: the growth keeps working underneath, and the only fix is to strip it all off.
- The wrong product for the surface. A coating built for a roof does not behave like a concrete sealer.
When doing it yourself is the right call
We will say so plainly, even though we would make more the other way.
- A shed, a garden building, a detached garage.
- A deck, a patio, a low wall: on the ground, safe, and a redo costs nothing but product.
- A small area you can reach from the ground.
- When you already own the equipment and know how to spray.
When it is worth calling us
- A two-storey shingle roof, or a steep pitch.
- When you want the warranty. It does not exist otherwise: 15 years if the roof is under 10 years old, 10 years if it is older.
- When there is moss or algae: it has to come off first, not get sealed under.
- When the area is large and an even coat is what decides the result.
What determines the price of an application
We do not publish a rate: two roofs of the same size do not bill the same. Here is honestly what moves a quote.
- The real measured surface area, not the building footprint.
- Pitch and number of storeys: they change access, time and safety.
- Access to the property and the roof, and where equipment can be set up.
- The condition of the surface: the preparation required is not the same everywhere.
- Moss or vegetation, which has to be removed first.
- The surface type: shingle, metal, masonry, wood, concrete.
The simplest step: get it measured
The estimator gives you the area and the pail count in about a minute. If you want a quote for application, the request starts from the same place.