What actually decides the cost of a floor.
We do not publish a price per square foot, and here is the honest reason: the number is decided by things nobody can see from a floor plan. What we can do is tell you exactly what those things are, so you can read any quote — ours or anyone else's — and know what is in it.
A price per square foot tells you almost nothing.
Two buildings the same size can be a long way apart on price, and the difference is almost never the product. It is the state of the slab, what the moisture test says, and how much of the building we can have at once. A contractor who gives you a rate over the phone is either quoting a best case they will revise on site, or has built enough contingency into it to cover the worst — and you have no way of telling which.
So instead of a number you would have to distrust, here is the list of what moves it. Read any quote against these six things and you will know what you are comparing.
Six things, in roughly the order they matter.
- 01
What the slab is actually like
This is the single biggest variable and the one nobody can quote over the phone. A sound, flat, uncontaminated slab needs grinding and nothing else. One with spalling, failed joints, old adhesive or a previous coating that has to come off carries hours of preparation before any product is opened. Two buildings the same size can be a long way apart on this alone.
- 02
What the moisture test says
Moisture moving up through a slab is the most common cause of a coating failing, and it is invisible until it is tested. A reading that comes back high means a vapour barrier primer, which is a real cost. A reading that comes back fine means it is not. We test before we quote rather than pricing in a contingency for something that may not be there.
- 03
Which system the space genuinely needs
A dry storage area and a wet processing room are not the same floor and should not be priced as one. Urethane cement costs more than epoxy and is the only correct answer in a food production area; in a warehouse aisle it would be money wasted. Part of the assessment is telling you where a cheaper system is genuinely enough.
- 04
When we can get in, and for how long
Working nights, weekends or a shutdown window is normal for us and we do not treat it as a surcharge. But a job broken into six short windows takes more mobilisations than the same job over one weekend, and mobilisation is real time. The more of the building you can release at once, the better the number tends to be.
- 05
Access, containment and what else is going on
A ground-floor bay with a roller door is a different proposition from a third-floor room reached through an occupied corridor. Containment, negative air, protecting equipment that cannot be moved, and working around other trades all take time, and all of it is visible at a walk-through and none of it from a floor plan.
- 06
Detailing — coving, drains, thresholds and marking
The open floor is the fast part. Coved bases, falls to drain, trench and threshold details and line marking are where the hours go, and they are also what separates a floor that passes inspection from one that does not. A quote that looks low next to another one is often a quote with less detailing in it, which is worth asking about.
If one quote is much cheaper, find out which of these it left out.
What a complete quote contains
- A named surface preparation method and profile, not just "prepared"
- A moisture test, and what the system does if the reading comes back high
- Joint and crack repair priced as its own line rather than assumed
- The system named specifically, with its build thickness
- Coving, drain details, thresholds and line marking itemised
- The hours each area is out of service, in writing
What a cheap one has left out
- Acid etching instead of grinding or shot blasting
- No moisture test, or one priced as an optional extra
- Joints coated over rather than cut out and filled
- "Epoxy" with no thickness, no product and no profile named
- A cure time that matches the data sheet rather than your building
- Urethane cement quoted as epoxy in a food or beverage area
Four stages, and you know when you get the space back.
Site assessment
We walk the building, test the slab for moisture and dew point, review chemical exposure and agree the shutdown window. You get a written scope, not a number on a card.
On site, no obligationPreparation
Diamond grinding or shot blasting to profile, crack and joint repair, and HEPA extraction so the rest of the building stays open.
Dust contained · CSP 2–3Installation
Base coat, broadcast and topcoat, phased by bay or zone. Overnight and weekend work where production cannot stop.
Phased by zoneReturn to service
Foot traffic the following morning, vehicles and racking the day after. Cold slabs cure slower and we tell you the real number.
10–14 hrs foot · 24–48 hrs loadWhat people ask about cost.
Can you not give me a rough idea at all?
Why do other contractors publish prices?
Do you charge for the assessment?
Is financing available?
Get a real number for your floor.
An hour on site and you get a written scope with the system, the preparation and the phasing in it — a figure you can actually rely on, and one you can compare line by line against anyone else's.