Epoxy flooring cost calculator

Epoxy floor contractors price by the square foot of floor, and the guides agree on the range more than on most jobs. Bob Vila, This Old House and Today's Homeowner all put professional epoxy at $3 to $12 a square foot installed. Fixr's figure is higher, $10 to $15, for a full epoxy system on a garage. Taking the middle of the lows, the middle of the highs and the middle of the midpoints gives $3 to $12, with $7.50 as the typical price.

Garage sizes come from This Old House. Real garages vary; measure yours. For comparison, Bob Vila puts a one-car garage at $720 to $2,900, and Today's Homeowner puts a 1,000 sq ft basement at $2,800 to $11,500 and a 700 sq ft three-car garage at $2,200 to $9,500.

Labor is the bigger share. Bob Vila and Today's Homeowner both put it at $4 to $7 a square foot. Materials depend on the epoxy: This Old House lists water-based at $30 to $50 a gallon, solvent-based at $40 to $55 and 100% solids at $45 to $150.

• Solid color epoxy. The standard garage floor: a primer, a colored base coat and often a clear top. Decorative vinyl flakes broadcast into the wet base hide dust and add grip; This Old House prices them at about $10 a bag.
• Metallic epoxy. Pigments swirled into the coating for a marbled, three-dimensional look. Bob Vila and This Old House put it at $5 to $12 a square foot on top of the base. It takes a skilled hand and is mostly chosen for showrooms, basements and finished garages.
• Polyaspartic. A related coating that cures in hours instead of days and resists yellowing in sunlight. Fixr puts it at $5 to $10 a square foot installed. Many one-day garage floor companies use it as the topcoat or the whole system.
• Water-based vs 100% solids. Water-based epoxy is cheap, easy and low-odor but thin. Solvent-based is tougher. Solid epoxy builds the thickest, hardest film and is what most pros use, at the top of the material price range.

Almost every peeling garage floor was a prep problem. Epoxy bonds to rough, clean, dry concrete. A smooth troweled slab, oil stains or moisture coming up through the concrete will push it off within a season or two, often in the tire tracks first.

• Grinding or shot blasting. Opens the surface so the coating can grip. Today's Homeowner puts it at $2 to $5 a square foot and Bob Vila at $1 to $5. The calculator averages them. Ask whether a quote includes it; many good installers build it into their rate.
• Acid etching. The cheap alternative found in DIY kits. It cleans, but it does not profile the surface as well as grinding.
• Crack and pit repair. Bob Vila puts patching at $25 to $250 a repair. Today's Homeowner puts larger concrete repairs at $6 to $14 a square foot of the damaged area.
• Resurfacing. A badly worn slab may need a new skim of concrete first, $3 to $5 a square foot according to This Old House.
• Moisture. A slab on damp ground needs a moisture-blocking primer. Tape a square of plastic to the floor for a day; if the concrete underneath is darker or the plastic fogs, tell your installer.

Two garages of the same size can be quoted far apart. These are the reasons.

• Size. Small floors cost more per square foot, because the grinder, the crew and the trips are the same for a one-car garage as for a three-car one. Large basements and shops sit toward the low end of the per-foot range.
• The slab. New, sound concrete needs only grinding. Old, oil-soaked, cracked or spalled concrete needs degreasing, patching and sometimes resurfacing before any coating goes down.
• The system. One coat of a thin product is cheap. A primer, a thick 100% solids base, a full flake broadcast and a clear polyaspartic top is three or four times the material and an extra day.
• Finish and color. Full flake coverage, quartz, custom colors and metallic finishes add material and skill.
• What is in the garage. Bob Vila lists moving and storing your belongings during the job as an added cost to plan for. Clearing the garage yourself saves crew time.
• Where you live. Labor rates follow local wages. Bob Vila's city figures show the spread for a typical garage floor:

The calculator handles location the same way, by scaling only the labor share of the price to your state's construction wages when you enter a ZIP. Today's Homeowner's room table uses one flat $7.50 a square foot, which matches our typical rate: $4,320 for a 24 × 24 ft garage, $6,750 for a 30 × 30 ft basement and $1,080 for a 12 × 12 ft room.

A homeowner wants a solid-color flake epoxy floor in a 2-car garage of about 360 sq ft. The slab is sound but smooth, so it needs grinding.

• Coating. 360 sq ft × $3 / $7.50 / $12 = $1,080 / $2,700 / $4,320.
• Grinding. 360 sq ft × $1.50 / $3.25 / $5 = $540 / $1,170 / $1,800.
• Total. $1,620 to $6,120, with $3,870 typical at the US average, about $10.75 a square foot all in.

Bob Vila's national average for an epoxy garage floor is $2,441, with most between $1,595 and $3,337, so this example sits toward the upper middle because grinding is priced separately. Skip the grinding line, if the installer includes it in the rate, and the typical drops to $2,700. Add a clear topcoat and it rises by about $360. Enter a ZIP to scale the labor share to your state.

This Old House puts DIY epoxy at $2 to $5 a square foot, $720 to $1,800 for a typical 2-car garage. A kit saves money but usually means a thin water-based product over an etched floor, which is fine for a light-use garage and disappointing under hot tires.

If you do it yourself, rent a floor grinder with a vacuum rather than relying on etching alone, buy a 100% solids product rather than the thinnest kit, and plan the job for mild, dry weather. Cold slows the cure and humidity can cloud the finish. Mix only what you can spread in the time on the label, and work from the back wall toward the door so you never have to cross wet floor.

A professional floor costs more because of the grinder, the thicker coating and the crew's experience with pot life. Epoxy starts hardening as soon as it is mixed. A crew that can lay a full garage before it sets gets an even floor; a first-timer working alone often gets lap marks.

• Measure the real floor. Garages are rarely the size people say. Measure, and note steps, drains and stem walls you will coat.
• Price prep on its own line. Grinding, crack repair, oil stain treatment and moisture primer are the difference between your floor and a box-store kit. Show them.
• Price systems, not gallons. Offer a good, better and best: solid color, flake, and polyaspartic or metallic, each with its warranty.
• Set a minimum. A one-car garage still takes a grinder, a crew and two or three visits.
• Mind the margin. Our profit margin calculator shows the price that keeps it after materials and labor.

The "Save as an estimate" button above turns the coating, prep and repairs into lines. Send it from Koira and the customer can approve it and pay a deposit on their phone.