Seal coat and tack coat are different jobs

The tack coat is buried. The US Federal Highway Administration's tack coat guide describes it as a sprayed application of asphalt binder on existing pavement before an overlay, or between new asphalt layers. Binder is the sticky asphalt that holds a mix together. Its job is to bond the layers into one. The same guide links poor bonding to slippage cracking and delamination, where the top layer slides or separates from the one below. Once the new layer is down, nobody sees the tack coat again.

The sealcoat, which is the same thing as a seal coat, is the opposite: the last thing applied and the only thing exposed. Zusashi Maintenance's sealing page says it restores a protective top layer that shields against water, UV and oil. This site's sealcoating cost guide notes that it is maintenance and does not fix structural problems, cracks or potholes. Its job is to protect a surface that is already sound.

The confusion is easy to see. A sealcoat crew sprays or squeegees a black liquid across asphalt, and a tack coat looks much the same going down. The similarity ends there. One is a step inside a larger construction job; the other is a purchase in its own right.

The City of Toronto's preliminary cost estimate for the Broadview Avenue Extension lists tack coat at $1.36 per square metre. The Region of Peel's 2022 cost estimate for the Arterial A2 and Coleraine Drive project in Brampton lists it at $0.55 per square metre. On the sealcoating side, Zusashi Maintenance quotes $0.20 to $0.40 per square foot in Mississauga, depending on lot condition, size and prep.

Those figures cannot be set side by side as printed. The tack coat prices are per square metre and the sealcoat price is per square foot. The first two come from public road estimates and the third from a contractor's own price page. One describes a step inside a build; the other is a finished service sold to a property owner. This site publishes no conversion between them.

The tack coat figure is most useful for scale. The Paving Company publishes $3 to $7 per square foot on average for an asphalt overlay, a new layer laid over the existing surface. Sure-Seal Pavement Maintenance puts cold milling (grinding off the old surface) at $0.75 to $1.25 per square foot when that step is needed. Toronto's estimate names its asphalt mixes HL-1 and HL-8, with HL-1 as the top layer. It lists HL-1 at $183.60 per tonne and HL-8, the layer beneath, at $142.80. Next to those lines, tack coat is a small item, which is why it tends to disappear into a bundled quote.

As of 17 September 2026, 96 of the 376 companies in the index are listed for sealcoating, 181 for asphalt paving and 92 for parking lot paving. None of the nine categories is resurfacing. The index does not record which companies do overlay work; the pricing for that sits in the resurfacing cost guide.

Sealcoating and paving companies are largely different groups. Of the 96 companies listed for sealcoating, 27 are listed for sealcoating alone and 23 are also listed for asphalt paving. A lot that needs an overlay is a call to a paving company, not a sealcoating-only firm; the 23 listed for both can quote either job. The full lists are on the sealcoating and asphalt paving category pages.

No listing records what materials a company uses, so tack coat use is a question for the written scope.

The two also differ in how they are sold. Sealcoating is sold as a product, with a coat count, a method and a per-square-foot rate. Integrity Asphalt, in Toronto and Mississauga, says it applies sealcoat using spray or squeegee techniques. Tack coat is sold only as a line inside a larger job, with a unit price in a municipal estimate.

The real question is whether the lot needs coating or resurfacing. The resurfacing guide sets the condition: an overlay only works over a structurally sound base. The granular base is the crushed-stone layer under the asphalt. If it has failed, or water has undermined the soil beneath it, the guide says the job moves to full-depth reconstruction. That rebuilds the layers underneath as well as the surface. That is scoped and priced differently from The Paving Company's $3 to $7 per square foot overlay.

Sealcoating sits at the other end of the same test. It suits a surface that is intact but ageing and greying in sun and air, and it does nothing for a surface that is breaking up. A sealcoat at $0.20 to $0.40 per square foot is a small fraction of the $3 to $7 overlay price. Owners can afford to buy it on a schedule rather than wait for an emergency.

Between those two states sits repair, priced in yet other units. Zusashi Maintenance quotes $100 to $500 per pothole, depending on size and depth, and $2 to $5 per square foot for asphalt patching. When patching would cover a large share of the lot, it is worth pricing an overlay alongside it. That is the point where tack coat becomes a line on someone's estimate.

A sealcoat quote on a lot that needs an overlay offers maintenance for a structural problem. The sealcoating guide is clear that a sealcoat does not fix cracks or potholes, and the asphalt repair guide prices those separately. Zusashi Maintenance quotes $1 to $3 per linear foot for hot-rubberized crack sealing (filling cracks with a heated rubber-based sealant) and $2 to $5 per square foot for patching. Sealing over unrepaired damage leaves the damage in place under a fresh-looking surface.

A resurfacing quote that never mentions tack coat is usually fine. At $1.36 per square metre in Toronto's estimate, it is small enough to fold into a per-square-foot overlay price. The line worth checking on a resurfacing bid is milling, at $0.75 to $1.25 per square foot from Sure-Seal. The resurfacing guide warns against paying for it twice: once inside a bundled price and again as an add-on.

Ontario's HST is 13%, and none of these published prices says whether HST is included. On a full overlay, that difference is worth more than the tack coat line.

The $3 to $7 overlay range is one contractor's price list, not a market survey, and The Paving Company's page does not separate commercial from residential work. The milling range is also a single contractor's figure. The tack coat and tonnage prices come from municipal road projects, so they show what inputs cost on a public job, not what a lot owner will be charged.

The resurfacing guide says so directly: only one per-square-foot overlay rate in it comes from a named GTA contractor's own page, and the rest are municipal unit prices. Cost-aggregator sites publish wider ranges, but this site does not carry them because none of those checked names an author or a method.

Sealcoat prices also hide differences in scope. Zusashi Maintenance's page lists a two-coat application and ties its $0.20 to $0.40 per square foot to lot condition, size and prep. Action Home Services, in Toronto and Richmond Hill, also applies two coats and says its asphalt sealing starts at $300 for a 750-square-foot area. Neither page spells out the prep behind its number, so get the coat count and the prep written into the bid.

How this page was checked: the counts come from this site's own listing records. The Pavement Desk, this site's editorial team, matched each price to its line in the Toronto and Peel estimates or the contractor's own page on 17 September 2026. Integrity Asphalt, The Paving Company and Sure-Seal (listed as Sure Seal Pavement Maintenance Inc.) are also in the index, and none of them pays for its position. The site is free to use, and its About page says it earns nothing today. A request sent through the quote form goes to one of the highest-scoring companies listed in the area. Corrections go through the contact page.