Cool roof company in France: a PrimaTherm® applicator from Lille to Marseille

A cool roof company, not a network of applicators

The cool roof market in France is shared between manufacturers, distributors and networks of applicators. Hélios has chosen a simple model: a single company applies, checks and guarantees. The people who study your roof are the people who climb onto it. This continuity explains the trust of players with high standards — aerospace with Airbus in Marignane and Le Bourget, rail with SNCF in Lyon, industry with production sites in operation, multi-technical maintenance with national contractors working for their own clients.

A certified system, applied the same way everywhere

Wherever your building is, the system is the same: PrimaTherm® in four layers — PH169 primer, PH107 reflective base coat in two passes, PH107TCL anti-soiling topcoat — 95 % solar reflectance, emissivity 0.89, SRI 120 certified to ASTM standards, Broof(t3) fire rating. And the protocol is the same: preparation by medium-pressure cleaning, 12–35 °C weather window, coverage rates checked zone by zone, infrared measurements at handover, as-built file. See the PrimaTherm® reflective coating and how we work.

The method without lifting equipment: the key to national coverage

On an airport site, a maintenance depot or a shopping centre, booking a crane or closing a road is often impossible. Our method does without them: 150 to 200 L drums and airless pumps stay on the ground, only the hoses (up to 80 m) go up to the roof. It also means that no heavy plant needs to be hired locally: the team travels with what it needs, from Lille to Marseille.

Where we work

• Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, our base: Lyon, Saint-Étienne, Grenoble, Annecy, Chambéry, Valence, Clermont-Ferrand and every département in the region.
• South and Mediterranean (French climate zone H3, the most exposed): Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Toulon, Nice, Avignon, Montpellier, Perpignan.
• South-West and West: Toulouse, Bordeaux, Biarritz, Nantes.
• North, East and Île-de-France: Paris, Lille, Rouen, Strasbourg, Nancy, Metz, Dijon, Besançon.

The full list, with the local climate and the nearest reference for each city, is on the where we work page (in French).

What changes from one region to another

• The climate zone (French climate zones H1 north and east, H2 west and Rhône valley, H3 Mediterranean coast): it determines the intensity of summer radiation, the expected reduction in air conditioning (15–25 % in H1, 20–30 % in H2, 25–40 % in H3) and the kWh cumac of CEE sheet BAT-EN-112 (160, 170 or 270 per m², under conditions).
• The application window: April to October in the south, May to September in the north; we schedule Mediterranean sites from spring onwards.
• Local incentives: the French Green Fund (Fonds Vert) for local authorities, regional schemes (for example the subsidies available in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region), climate plans of the metropolitan areas. MaPrimeRénov’ does not cover cool roofs, anywhere.
• The building stock: logistics in the North and Île-de-France, industry in the Rhône valley, air-conditioned tertiary buildings in the metropolitan areas, agriculture and food industry in the West — each sector has its page.

How we organise an intervention far from head office

A site 500 km away is not prepared like a site 30 km away, but it is carried out with the same protocol. Here, in practical terms, is what we put in place for a site in Île-de-France, in the North or on the Mediterranean coast.

1. Remote study first. Measurement from satellite imagery, identification of the roof type from your plans or photos, analysis of consumption if you send it to us. You receive an answer within 48 h without anyone having travelled: we do not charge for an exploratory visit.
2. Grouped technical visits. We group visits by region to shorten lead times: a tour of the North or Provence allows several roofs to be qualified in the same week, with adhesion tests on doubtful surfaces.
3. Weather window and accommodation. The works are scheduled in a window of fine weather (12 to 35 °C, humidity below 80 %), the team is accommodated near the site so that the layers follow one another without losing a day between the primer, the two base-coat passes and the topcoat.
4. Equipment travels with us. Airless pumps, 80 m hoses, rollers and brushes travel with the team; the 150 to 200 L drums are delivered directly to the site by the manufacturer. No local hire, no crane.
5. Handover on site. Infrared measurements, thickness checks, photos, delivery of the as-built file and of the ten-year insurance certificate before the team leaves.

Real lead times by distance

These lead times are subject to the weather window: April to October in the South, May to September in the North and East. A 3,000 m² roof is treated in about a week; large areas are phased zone by zone so that operations are never blocked.

Why a national applicator rather than a local tradesman

The question is legitimate: why bring a team from the Lyon area rather than a painter from your town? Because a cool roof is not a paint but a system, and its performance depends on three things that an occasional applicator does not master:

• the product: PrimaTherm® is sold to applicators trained in the manufacturer’s protocol, with coverage rates to be respected to the litre (primer 6 or 10 m²/L depending on the roof type, base coat 2 m²/L in two passes, topcoat 10 m²/L);
• the checks: each 60 to 100 m² zone is reconciled with the quantities consumed, the film thickness is checked, and handover is done with an infrared thermometer, treated zone against control zone;
• the guarantee: our ten-year (décennale) insurance covers the application, and the manufacturer’s system guarantee applies because the protocol has been followed.

Our certifications and how we work pages detail these points; our checklist for choosing a cool roof contractor (in French) lets you compare.

French-speaking Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and overseas France

The same team and the same method cross the border. Geneva is about 150 km from our head office and Lausanne 220 km: we work in French-speaking Switzerland, in Geneva and Lausanne, taking cantonal authorisation procedures into account. In Belgium, in Brussels, Liège and Charleroi, the team is accommodated on site and groups several sites per campaign, often together with Luxembourg and Lorraine. The CEE certificates and the tertiary-sector decree are French schemes: outside France, we look at cantonal or regional incentives during the study.

In the French overseas départements, in Réunion, Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana, the roof is the building’s first source of heat twelve months a year. The team travels there, the products are shipped by container, and the sites are grouped by campaign during the dry season. The French tertiary-sector decree applies there; CEE sheet BAT-EN-112, however, only concerns mainland France.

What we turn down, everywhere in France

A serious applicator is also recognised by what it declines. We do not treat asbestos-cement (buildings built before 1997), PVC membranes less than 10 years old, non-cohesive or damp surfaces, or roofs whose waterproofing is at the end of its life: in the latter case, the right answer is a replacement, possibly followed by a cool roof, and we tell you so from the study stage. Nor do we publish a price per m² for professional buildings on this page: the cost depends on the area, the roof type, the preparation, the access and the incentives, and it only exists in the proposal sent after the study — see the cool roof profitability page.

Homeowners and small areas

For a house, a garage or an area under 500 m², sending a team is not the most economical solution. Our PrimaTherm® online shop (in French) delivers the coating throughout mainland France, with a quantity calculator per m², the technical data sheets and a roller application guide. For a residential building under co-ownership, ask for the study: the reduced 10 % VAT on French homes over two years old applies to supply and application.

What never changes

The certified values, the protocol, the thickness checks, the infrared measurement, the as-built file, the ten-year guarantee, and an answer to your study request within 48 h. Our projects and customer testimonials (in French) show what this gives on demanding sites.