How Much Should One Extra Coat of Poly Cost When Refinishing a Floor?
We are in the similar situation, our contract with GC calls for 1 coat sealer + 2 coats finish for new floors and existing oak floors to be sanded and refinished. I found out that my contractor uses absco oil modified finish and that to add third coat he wants 75 cents/ sq foot. Can anyone offer advice on absco (is it comparible to Bona Traffic mentioned above or inferior) and if the third coat is advisable (in hi traffic – living/dininig/family rooms and in lower traffic bedrooms/office)? Thank you.
yk
in Flooring 12 years and 7 months ago
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8 replies
11231 | 12 years and 9 months ago
We have learned that our contractor only intends to do two coats of water-based poly on our newly-stained floor. My understanding is that three coats is more standard (correct?). They want 75 cents/square foot to do the third coat of poly (not including the cost of the poly itself), which seems high to me. I am wondering what is considreed reasonable for this type of work? Thank you.
stevecym | 12 years and 9 months ago
I would say four coats for water base as it does not build like oil. I mean this is the std with water base and I think before he sold you the job he should have spec’d how many coats. Sometimes we even screen a coat out and put another on just because we do not like the way one looks. 75 cents? so if you have a thousand sq foot apartment he wants $750? If he puts a coat on in the morning and another in the afternoon, the floor needs no screening and no dusting. it is two hours work tops and material is two gallons. If he has a guy standing around while he is doing this, i can see billing you for that as there is nothing else for him to do, but 750 is a lot. If a customer was decent to me and wanted another coat and I had put 3 or 4 on, I would charge them no more than 500, maybe 550. I can see charging 75 cents a foot to stain as that requires work. I can also see charging 75 cents/ft if the area was small – like 200 sq ft. and if it needed screening, I could see 65 cents sq foot. I can tell you what you may be able to pull on him. First off, check the container of poly. if it says 4 coats, then he should not have written a quote to do the work without planning to follow the manufacturers directions. Point this out to him and that if the floor is worn in 3 years, you will call him back and expect him to replace floor. Also, when we do jobs we are supposed to follow industry guidelines which we usually only deviate from when we have a compelling reason (not to save us money or time but to do something usually during restoration work to make the end result more suitable to the customer’s taste). If you check, the NWFMA (national wood floor manufacturers asscociation) may have stds on how much finish should be put on a wood floor. If they issue something like this or if the poly manufacturer issues instructions and we do not follow them, then the responsibility is on us, the contractor. You have a lot of leverage here and I would use it. Steve http://brownstoner.staging.wpengine.com/tinkerswagon
pigthree | 12 years and 9 months ago
floor guys do not need a liscense
Carlos | 12 years and 9 months ago
As Tinkers Wagon mentioned the contractor should have specified in the contract or estimate the amount of coats they would have provided. My company exclusively uses the Bona Traffic® brand of **wood floor finish** for ALL of our projects. Bona Traffic® is the latest generation of waterborne polyurethanes, it provides unsurpassed durability in a wood floor finish. If you read the specifications sheet for Bona Traffic® it says: Apply 2 coats of Bona Traffic® – adding a third coat is recommended in heavy-traffic areas. We always do 3 coats regardless for all our projects. Also the norm for newly stained floors is 3 coats (at the minimum). The price seems excessive, price should be around 35 – 40 cents/square foot. Ultimately the contractor should do the right thing and just do the third coat. Have him guarentee the floor will not wear within 3 years as Tinker mentioned (in writing) or just tell him you’ll give him a negative review online. Carlos Salazar
stevecym | 12 years and 9 months ago
OP: I am dying to know more about this. May I ask, what did the contractor charge you to do this per sq. ft.? The reason I want to know is this sounds like the situation where a contractor comes in low to get a job, does less than a better contractor would have done and then tries to recoup money when the customer asks to have it done right. As a legitimate and very honest contractor, I become quite appalled when i suspect someone is playing this game. As a contractor, I have on many occassions lost jobs to people who underbid – sometimes knowing that they have to cut corners to produce at that price – only to get a call back from the customer months or even weeks later telling me that they should have listened to me and gone with my higher price. This practice is disturbing to legitimate contractors as we often lose jobs trying to compete with contractors who play this game. I did not say what I just said in my first response because as I was writing that response, I was thinking “maybe my prices are low”. But Carlos confirmed that I was right where I should be (and all he does is floors, I do other things). Another note: I said four coats. Apparantly the Bona requires minimum of two. Be sure to check that out on the container. Four coats would be for something like Verathane or some of the other mid range urethanes. The Bona is top shelf, maybe a two part mix with makes it stronger and on account of that it may not require more coats. Steve
trolltoll | 12 years and 9 months ago
Water-based poly is for punks. Use oil.
dnk | 12 years and 9 months ago
For what it’s worth, I’ve hired Carlos Salazar to sand and refinish the floors in my house and (just last week) in the apartment that I am selling. He did an excellent job on both projects. And Steve from tinkerswagon always gives good responses on this forum. So it sounds like you are getting solid advice.
Carlos | 12 years and 9 months ago
Hi David – Carlos here, thanks for the kind words. It was our pleasure **refinishing** your **wood floors** in your home and the apartment – good luck on the sale! To continue the thread I would suggest that anyone that is seeking to **hire a floor refinisher** asks for the name or brand of finish they use. It’s best you make sure the contractor is using a good safe professional grade product like **Bona Traffic®** which is GreenGuard certified. Once you know the name of the product you can easily do a “Google” search to find specifications. This will tell give you an idea of the required coats.