Sealcoat Specialties Inc. has been named the 2026 Seal & Stripe: Small Job Award winner, a title they’ve now taken two years in a row. This award recognizes the best combination sealcoating and striping project completed during the calendar year on pavements smaller than 200,000 square feet.
The winning project involved sealcoating, crack filling and restriping six parking lots across three K–12 school campuses for a local Wisconsin school district. While limited in overall square footage, the project stood out for its logistical complexity, tight deadline, and the perseverance required to deliver it on time.
For owner Cody Helstern, the recognition reflects both craftsmanship and legacy. Sealcoat Specialties traces its roots back to the 1960s, when Helstern’s grandfather began taking on small sealcoating jobs using little more than brushes and brooms. The business went full time in 1979, and Cody grew up working alongside his grandfather before purchasing the company in 2017. Since then, he has modernized operations while maintaining a reputation built on word-of-mouth and quality workmanship.
“I started working for him when I was 12, and eventually bought the company from him,” Cody said. “It was all word of mouth until I took over — no website, no Google page. But that’s what built the reputation we have today.”
Sealcoat Specialties currently focuses exclusively on sealcoating work, serving residential customers, but they hope to venture into more municipal and township clients for their area. Operating in northern Wisconsin means working within a short weather window — often just five reliable months — making planning, scheduling and execution critical.
“We thrive on word-of-mouth advertising because we do a great job and people pay attention,” Cody said. “And we care about who we’re doing work for. If a project is too far gone, I’ll tell someone it doesn’t make sense to throw money at a bandaid. I can make it pretty, but it’s going to cost them more down the road.”
Those weather and time constraints were evident from the start of the award-winning school district project. After receiving a request to submit a bid, the proposal moved slowly through multiple school board meetings, delaying approval and putting more pressure on the construction schedule. Once the project was awarded in mid-June, the crew at Sealcoat Specialties had less than six weeks to complete the work before the start of the new school year.
Weather quickly became the biggest obstacle. Persistent spring rain limited available workdays, while summer school sessions and athletic events further restricted site access. When a narrow window finally opened during the week leading up to the Fourth of July, the team mobilized quickly, knowing there would be little room for error.
The challenges didn’t stop there. Equipment failures, unexpected rain showers and material supply issues threatened to derail the schedule. With the nearest sealcoat supplier located nearly two hours away, maintaining enough material required constant coordination and last-minute adjustments. Cody recalled, “Every setback, we kept moving forward. We persevered. We had to repair hoses in the field, improvise when tools failed and adapt to constant changes in schedule.”
Despite the obstacles, the crew adapted on the fly, making field repairs, adjusting sequencing and working extended hours to stay on track. Line striping was carefully timed around pavement temperatures to ensure clean, durable results. Cody’s wife Alissa Helstern noted, “Honestly, our crew’s attention to detail is incredible. They’re hardworking, care about the work, and it shows. Customers notice that, and they call to tell us how happy they are with what our guys did.”
In total, the project included nearly one mile of edging and brushing, approximately 9,000 linear feet of 4-inch striping, 312 square feet of crosswalk bars, 15 directional arrows and 12 accessible parking spaces across the three campuses. The finished work exceeded expectations. After completion, the district’s director of buildings and grounds joked that he wanted to keep the lots closed through the Fourth of July weekend to keep them looking pristine. Cody laughed, “He didn’t want anything or anyone to ruin how good they looked.”
Judges cited the project’s consistency across multiple sites, the team’s ability to overcome repeated challenges, and the high level of workmanship achieved under pressure. “It turned out so beautiful in spite of it all,” Alissa said. “All the weather, scheduling and equipment issues — it still came out perfect.”
Cody credits the company’s success to its crew. While he now focuses primarily on sales and steps in only on larger projects, the day-to-day execution is handled by a tight-knit team known for its attention to detail and strong work ethic. “I mostly handle sales now, and 85–90% of the time it’s the crew doing everything,” he said. “I really want to recognize our guys. Without them, nothing would get done.”
As Sealcoat Specialties looks ahead, the company is exploring opportunities to expand into chip sealing for local township roads — a move that would fill a service gap often left to much larger contractors.
For now, the 2026 Seal & Stripe: Small Job Award underscores what has defined Sealcoat Specialties for decades: persistence, pride in workmanship and a commitment to doing the job right — even when the odds are stacked against it.
Click HERE to see a video of the project.
