When the roof stays put, work moves faster

By Jesse Sanchez. 

Silicone restoration replaces tear-offs, helping crews work faster, keeping buildings operational and delivering warrantied efficiency. 

On this CoatingsTalk, host Megan Ellsworth brought two industry professionals to the table who live in the details: Eric Thompson of Henry® and Cody Wilson, president of Unicoat Industrial Roofing, to discuss the importance of optimizing jobsite timelines. They know the story well, having watched crews lose time in the same places, again and again. 

Roof restoration is growing because it answers two questions most owners are already asking, Eric said: replace or restore. Cody put it more plainly, explaining thatwhen a silicone restoration replaces a tear-off, the material cost drops, the labor time shrinks and the building below keeps operating like normal. 

The math is simple, but the job is not 

Cody said material prices are often fixed enough that labor becomes the real lever. If a crew finishes faster, the schedule opens up. If the schedule opens up, margins rise. He added that coatings work can also be a relief valve for crews that have spent months on tear-offs. “Your prep work is where your labor savings are really going to kick in,” he explained. 

That prep, in Henry’s ProGrade 988 system, is shaped around fewer steps. Both Eric and Cody returned to the same idea: fabricless detailing. Chip brush, pail, move forward. Less cutting, less three-course work at every penetration, less time spent manufacturing leak points on the roof. 

What changes when silicone behaves like a system 

Eric described ProGrade 988 as a full system, with compatible mastics and tube goods meant to keep contractors from improvising. He highlighted a butter-grade flashing material for penetrations and seams and a self-leveling pitch pocket sealer that can encapsulate fasteners without the slow ritual of tooling each one by hand. 

Weather, too, becomes a workflow issue. Cody said silicone’s rain-safe performance matters in places where storms can arrive mid-afternoon and steal entire days. Eric described watching a downpour hit fresh coating and realizing the crew would not be recoating, not cleaning a mess off the building, not losing the afternoon to regret. 

The warranty is not the ending, it is the relationship 

Warranties came up the way maintenance always does, as something that sounds optional until it is not. Eric said silicone restorations can carry 10-, 15- and 20-year options, with clear paths to renew and extend roof life without adding another layer. Cody noted that labor-and-material coverage is often what keeps restoration competitive when owners are weighing it against a full re-roof. 

He shared, “If Unicoat installs a 20-year warranty, it only makes sense that they are on it for 20 years, doing the maintenance, cleaning the roof, making sure you're taking care of the small details.” 

Both emphasized that a warranty works best when the installer stays close to the roof through a maintenance agreement, because the contractor who knows the system and has been walking it over time, is the one most likely to keep it performing as intended. 

The roof has to be clean, dry and honest 

Moisture is the line restoration cannot cross. Eric said any coating system is only as good as the substrate beneath it, and silicone in particular requires dry conditions to bond properly. Moisture trapped below can become blisters later, turning a savings job into a call nobody wants. 

Cody’s advice to contractors considering silicone was steady: start with the manufacturer, get trained and do not treat roofing coatings like paint from a shelf. 

Listen to the podcast or Watch the conversation to learn more about Henry’s silicone restoration systems!