Why two quotes for the same garage differ by thousands.
Almost never the coating, and almost always the preparation. Grinding your slab back to bare concrete is the slow, dusty, expensive part that you cannot see once the floor is down, which makes it the first thing taken out to win on price. Four questions separate the two quotes in front of you faster than the numbers on them do.
Free, no obligation, and nothing to sign. We answer the same day, weekends included.
Where the Money Actually Goes
On a typical residential floor our grinding and repair take substantially longer than putting the coating down. That is the work you are paying for.
Preparation is most of the hours
We diamond grind, cut and fill the cracks, patch the pits and take off whatever was there before. None of it shows in your finished floor, and all of it decides whether we leave you a floor that is still bonded in five years.
The coating itself is a smaller line than you think
Material costs differ between systems, and on a garage-sized floor the gap between us and the next contractor is rarely the tins we buy. It is the days we spend.
What was on your slab before changes everything
A bare sound slab grinds and coats. One with old paint, a failed kit, tile adhesive or a sealer on it has to have all of that taken off first, and removal is slow. This is the single biggest reason two honest quotes differ.
What a Low Bid Usually Left Out
A quote well under the others is usually a quote for less preparation, and the coating on top can be identical.
Etching instead of grinding
Acid etching and pressure washing do not open your concrete the way a diamond grinder does. A coating bonded to the surface film rather than to the concrete lifts, and it lifts in sheets rather than patches.
No moisture plan
If nothing in the quote says what happens when your slab tests wet, then either it was not tested or the answer is that you carry it.
A thinner build than the job needs
Thickness is what carries impact. On a floor that takes dropped tools or wheels, a thin coat is a cheaper quote and a shorter life.
Why Two Honest Quotes Can Still Differ
Not every gap is somebody cutting corners, and it is worth knowing the difference before you assume the worst.
Contractors read slabs differently
Two people standing on your concrete can reasonably disagree about how much repair it needs. That is a conversation worth having with both of us rather than a reason to pick the lower number.
Higher is not automatically worse
A thicker system, a mitigation layer, or a fast-cure top coat because you cannot lose the days. Whoever quoted it should be able to explain the difference to you line by line.
Size moves the rate
Our rate falls as your floor gets bigger, because mobilisation and setup barely change. Two quotes measuring different areas are not comparable at all.
The Four Questions, and What the Answers Tell You
Ask all of us the same four. They separate contractors faster than price does.
How will you prepare the slab?
You want to hear grinding or shot blasting, which is what we do. If a quote does not say, that is the line most likely to have been cut out of it.
What happens if it tests wet?
You want a plan and a note of who carries the cost. Better agreed with you in writing before than argued after.
How thick is the system, layer by layer?
Primer, body, broadcast, top coat, which is how we write ours. A quote that names a product family and nothing else is not telling you what you are buying.
What is the top coat?
It is the layer that takes your traffic and the one we renew later. If your space has daylight, you want to hear from all of us that it is UV stable.
Why the two who cannot answer are the two to worry about
A contractor who answers all four clearly is describing a floor. One who answers none is describing a price.
Preparation is the line that moves
Ask us and everyone else the same four questions. The answers separate contractors faster than the totals on the quotes do.
Get my free quoteQuestions people ask
Is the lowest quote always the worst one?
No, and it is worth finding out what it left out. Ask the four questions above and compare what is included rather than the totals.
Why will you not price it over the phone?
Because the slab decides most of it and nobody can read a slab down a phone line. Brad looks at yours and gives you the number himself.
Why does your quote follow a visit?
Because nobody can price preparation from a photograph, and preparation is most of the job.
Can you match a lower quote?
Ask Brad. What we will not do is match it by taking out the grinding, because that is the part holding your floor down.
What if I have already had a floor fail?
Tell us what happened and we will look at why. A previous failure usually says something useful about the slab.
Ready to stop looking at that floor?
Tell us roughly what you have and we'll come and look at it. The quote is free, there's nothing to sign, and you'll know what your floor costs before you commit to anything.
Get Your Free Quote Call or Text (203) 496-6386