Cost guide — 2026 planning figures
Coating a commercial roof in South Florida plans at $1.75–$4.75 per square foot installed depending on system and preparation — versus $9–$15 for tear-off and replacement. Use the calculator below for a planning range for your building.
System chemistry. Acrylic elastomerics cost least per square foot and suit drained roofs. Silicone costs more and is the specification where water ponds. Urethane prices at the top and earns it in traffic and impact zones around rooftop equipment.
Preparation found by the scan. Wet insulation replacement, detail rebuilding, rust treatment on metal, and drain corrections are real scope with real cost. A quote without a scan behind it is guessing at this entire category — and the guess is priced either too high to win or too low to finish honestly.
Thickness and warranty term. A 10-year system and a 20-year system from the same manufacturer are different amounts of material on your roof. Compare specified dry-film thickness alongside price, or you are comparing a system against a paint job.
Access and building operations. High-rise access, hospital or school scheduling, night work, and phased sections all carry cost. They also carry value — an occupied building that never closes is worth money, and it belongs in the comparison against a tear-off's disruption.
| Factor | Restoration coating | Tear-off + replacement |
|---|---|---|
| Planning cost | $1.75–$4.75 / sq ft | $9–$15 / sq ft |
| Building occupation | Occupied throughout | Major disruption, deck exposed |
| Warranty terms available | 10–20 year manufacturer systems | 10–30 year manufacturer systems |
| Landfill stream | None — existing roof retained | Full tear-off disposal |
| Best for | Sound deck, limited wet insulation | Failed deck, widespread saturation |
Neither column wins in general — your roof's scan data picks the column. Read the companion guide on coating vs. replacement for the decision framework, or start with the restoration service page.
Installed planning ranges: elastomeric acrylic $1.75–$3.00 per square foot, silicone $2.75–$4.25, urethane $3.00–$4.75 — before unusual preparation. Full restoration with wet-area replacement plans at $2.50–$4.75. Your moisture scan and detail condition decide where in the range your building lands.
Quotes differ on scope, not just product: thickness specified, detail reinforcement included or skipped, wet insulation replaced or buried, and warranty term registered. Two bids $1.50 apart per square foot are usually describing two different jobs. Compare scope lines — scan, prep, mils, warranty — before comparing totals.
Full low-slope replacement commonly plans at $9–$15 per square foot installed in South Florida, plus disposal, deck repair allowances, and the operational cost of an occupied building under construction. That is the comparison that makes restoration — at roughly a third to a half — the first option to evaluate on any sound roof.
Yes — mobilization, setup, and detail work spread across more area on large roofs, so per-square-foot pricing generally improves with size, while small roofs with many penetrations price higher per foot. The calculator's ranges assume typical commercial scale; very small or highly detailed roofs need a site-specific scope.
A scan prevents the two expensive errors: coating a roof that is too wet (money spent sealing in failure) and replacing a roof that was mostly dry (capital spent years early). On any roof over about 10,000 square feet, scan cost is small against either mistake, and the map remains useful to every future bidder.
Large roofs and multi-building portfolios are commonly phased by section or building across fiscal years, with the worst sections first and each phase independently warranted where the system design allows. Phasing belongs in the proposal — sections, sequence, and warranty treatment stated in writing.
Owners commonly treat restoration coating as a maintenance expense deductible in the year performed rather than a capitalized improvement. Treatment depends on your facts and current tax rules — confirm with your CPA, and keep scope documentation, which is what supports the classification.