DECRA vs TILCOR vs Westlake Royal: Comparing Stone Coated Steel Brands

When homeowners research stone coated steel roofing, three brand names come up repeatedly: DECRA, TILCOR, and Westlake Royal. All three are legitimate manufacturers with proven track records — and all three are products that our team at Lifetime Construction Builders installs regularly across Arkansas and Michigan. But they are not interchangeable. Each brand has distinct strengths, profile availability, warranty structures, and price points that make it the right choice for specific situations.

This post gives you a direct, contractor’s-eye comparison of all three brands based on our real-world installation experience. For background on stone coated steel technology and profiles, start with our complete guide to stone coated steel roofing.

Brand Origins and Manufacturing

DECRA

DECRA is the original stone coated steel manufacturer — the company that invented the product category in Australia in the 1950s under the Drexel Engineering Corporation. After decades of growth across Australia, New Zealand, and Europe, DECRA established North American manufacturing in California. The brand is now part of the Boral umbrella but operates with its own identity, warranty structure, and dealer network.

DECRA’s California manufacturing base provides logistical advantages for West Coast projects, but distribution has matured to cover the full continental US. Their product line spans four core profiles: Villa Tile, Tile, Shake XD, and Shingle XD.

TILCOR

TILCOR (formerly Gerard Roofing Technologies) originated in New Zealand and has been manufacturing stone coated steel for over 60 years. The New Zealand/Australian engineering heritage means TILCOR products were built to performance specifications that historically exceeded US minimum code requirements — the Southern Hemisphere’s cyclone-prone coastal regions demand higher wind and impact performance than most US building codes required when these standards were written.

TILCOR’s North American product line is defined by their Concealed Fastener (CF) system — the CF Shingle, CF Shake, and Bond Tile products use a locking panel design that hides all fasteners beneath the overlapping panels. This is TILCOR’s primary technical differentiator from the other brands.

Westlake Royal

Westlake Royal Building Products operates its stone coated steel line under the Unified Steel brand. Westlake Royal is a large US building products conglomerate with manufacturing and distribution infrastructure concentrated in the Midwest and South — which gives them cost and logistics advantages in markets like Arkansas and Michigan.

Their stone coated steel portfolio includes the Pine-Crest Shake, Granite-Ridge Shingle, Pacific Tile, Barrel Vault Tile, and Cottage Shingle — one of the widest profile selections of the three brands.

Profile Availability Comparison

Your choice of brand may be constrained by the profile you want. Here’s how the three brands map to the core profile types. For a detailed breakdown of profiles by home style, see our post on stone coated steel roofing profiles.

Tile Profiles

DECRA: Villa Tile (S-curve/barrel), Tile (low-profile flat)
TILCOR: Bond Tile (interlocking tile)
Westlake Royal: Pacific Tile (flat), Barrel Vault Tile (S-curve/barrel)

For dramatic Mediterranean or Spanish Colonial aesthetics, the DECRA Villa Tile and Westlake Royal Barrel Vault Tile both deliver strong S-curve profiles. TILCOR Bond Tile is more contemporary in profile, lending itself well to modern homes that want a tile aesthetic without the traditional curve depth.

Shake Profiles

DECRA: Shake XD (extra-deep shadow lines)
TILCOR: CF Shake (concealed fastener)
Westlake Royal: Pine-Crest Shake

The DECRA Shake XD’s “extra depth” embossing is the most realistic wood shake replication of the three. The TILCOR CF Shake’s concealed fastener advantage shows most clearly here — shake profiles have visible panel joints that benefit aesthetically from hidden fasteners. The Westlake Royal Pine-Crest Shake has been particularly popular in Michigan where the cedar shake aesthetic has strong regional roots.

Shingle Profiles

DECRA: Shingle XD
TILCOR: CF Shingle Concealed Fastener
Westlake Royal: Granite-Ridge Shingle, Cottage Shingle

Westlake Royal has the broadest shingle offering — both a standard architectural shingle size (Granite-Ridge) and a smaller-format traditional Cottage Shingle suited for colonial and Cape Cod homes. TILCOR CF Shingle’s concealed fastener system provides the cleanest installation for shingle profiles. DECRA Shingle XD balances proven granule adhesion technology with competitive pricing within the DECRA line.

Performance Specifications

All three brands achieve the top-tier performance ratings that make stone coated steel worth the premium investment. For a full breakdown of what these ratings mean for AR and MI homeowners, see our post on stone coated steel wind and hail ratings.

Shared Performance Credentials

Fire rating: Class A (all three brands, all profiles)
Impact rating: UL 2218 Class 4 (all three brands)
Wind uplift: 120+ mph for all three brands; specific ratings vary by product and installation method

Where TILCOR Stands Apart

TILCOR CF systems, engineered to Southern Hemisphere cyclone standards, historically carry some of the highest per-fastener pull-out strength ratings in the category. The concealed fastener design also eliminates the fastener-seal failure mode that is the most common source of water intrusion in exposed-fastener stone coated steel installations over a 20-30 year period. For homeowners in Arkansas or Michigan who prioritize long-term weather tightness as their primary concern, TILCOR CF products are worth the premium.

Warranty Comparison

DECRA

DECRA offers a limited lifetime transferable warranty on their products. The warranty covers manufacturing defects, granule adhesion, and structural integrity for the life of the original installation. Transferability is an important value-add at the time of home sale — a home buyer can verify the roof warranty transfers at no charge.

TILCOR

TILCOR also provides a limited lifetime transferable warranty on their North American products. One detail worth noting: warranty terms for concealed fastener systems are often more straightforward to honor because there are fewer potential failure points to dispute. When a fastener seal fails on an exposed-fastener system, the warranty claim often involves a back-and-forth about whether the failure was installation error vs. product defect.

Westlake Royal

Westlake Royal’s Unified Steel products carry a limited lifetime product warranty with transferability provisions. The warranty is competitive with DECRA and TILCOR. Westlake Royal’s US-based manufacturing and distribution infrastructure means warranty service requests are handled domestically, which can simplify the claims process.

Price Comparison

Material cost differences between the three brands typically fall within a 10-20% range for comparable profiles. Here is a general tier guide as of 2025-2026 for the Arkansas and Michigan markets:

DECRA: Premium tier — typically the highest material cost per square, reflecting brand premium and California manufacturing overhead
TILCOR: Premium-to-mid tier — CF systems command a slight premium for the concealed fastener design; competitive with DECRA on a per-performance basis
Westlake Royal: Mid-to-premium tier — typically the most accessible price point of the three, with competitive performance and strong regional distribution reducing freight cost in the Midwest and South

Overall installed cost for all three brands falls within the $10-18 per square foot range depending on profile, home complexity, and market labor rates. Get a project-specific quote from our team for current pricing in your area.

Which Brand Should You Choose?

Our recommendation guide based on installation experience:

Choose DECRA when: brand recognition matters (resale, HOA approvals), you want the deepest shake replication (Shake XD), or you prefer the longest-established North American manufacturer
Choose TILCOR when: long-term weather-tightness is the top priority, you want concealed fasteners for aesthetic or performance reasons, or you are in a high-wind zone where the CF system’s uplift performance provides additional margin
Choose Westlake Royal when: budget is a primary factor within the stone coated steel category, you want the widest profile selection, or you are in Arkansas or Michigan where their distribution network reduces material lead times

All three are installed to a high standard by our licensed crew. If you have a specific profile, aesthetic, or performance priority, call us at (501) 307-1440 to discuss which product makes the most sense for your project. Our stone coated steel roofing service includes product consultations with physical samples — you can see and feel the difference between profiles before committing.

Also relevant: our comparison of stone coated steel vs. standing seam metal for homeowners also considering the other major metal roofing category, and our metal roofing services page for the full picture of what we offer in both product families.