Floor Care · Cost Guide
It is the first question every facility manager asks, and the honest answer is a range, because the same service can cost very different amounts depending on your floor. Here is the real range, exactly what moves it, and a worked example so you can budget with confidence.
| Driver | Lower cost | Higher cost |
|---|---|---|
| Condition | Recently maintained, light build | Yellowed, heavy buildup, neglected |
| Size | Large, open floors | Small or broken-up rooms |
| Access | Empty, easy to reach | Heavy furniture, tight spaces |
| Schedule | Normal hours, flexible | Overnight, weekend, occupied |
| Coats | Standard build | High-traffic, extra coats |
Say you have 10,000 sq ft of VCT. At the low end ($0.50/sq ft) that is about $5,000; at the high end ($3.00/sq ft), about $30,000. Where you land depends on the drivers above. A clean, open, regularly maintained floor sits near the bottom; a neglected, furniture-heavy floor needing six coats sits near the top.
| Scenario (10,000 sq ft VCT) | Rough rate | Ballpark |
|---|---|---|
| Maintained, open, standard build | about $0.50 to $1.00 | $5,000 to $10,000 |
| Average condition and access | about $1.00 to $1.75 | $10,000 to $17,500 |
| Neglected, furniture, extra coats | about $1.75 to $3.00 | $17,500 to $30,000 |
These are illustrative ranges, not a quote. Your floor gets priced on assessment.
The cheapest protection is usually not a full strip. A scrub-and-recoat at roughly $0.20 to $0.90 per sq ft refreshes a sound finish for far less, and burnishing costs less still. The expensive full strip is needed only when the finish has actually failed.
The facilities that spend the least are not the ones that skip service, they are the ones on a maintenance program. Recoating and burnishing before the finish fails keeps full strips years apart instead of annual, so the yearly total drops even though service happens more often.
Related: cost calculator, strip and wax service, scrub and recoat, and how many coats.
Commercial strip and wax typically runs $0.50 to $3.00 per square foot. The low end is large, good-condition floors with easy access; the high end is small, heavily built-up, or hard-to-access areas needing many coats.
Because four things move the price a lot: the floor's condition, the size of the job, access and furniture, and how many coats it needs. A neglected 2,000 sq ft room and a clean 40,000 sq ft warehouse are very different jobs per foot.
Much. A scrub-and-recoat runs roughly $0.20 to $0.90 per square foot because it skips the stripping and rebuilds only the top layer. Doing it on a cadence is how you keep full strips years apart.
Generally yes. Mobilization and setup are spread over more area, so large open floors usually price lower per foot than small, broken-up rooms.
It can. Moving and replacing furniture, working around occupancy, and overnight or weekend scheduling all add labor, which shows up in the price.
A full strip usually rebuilds with a sealer plus four to five coats, more in high-traffic lanes. More coats mean more material and labor but a more durable floor. See how many coats.
We can give a ballpark range, but an accurate number needs the square footage, floor type, and condition, ideally a quick look or a photo. Then we put it in writing.
Maintain instead of rescue. Recoating and burnishing on a program keeps the finish from failing, so you pay for far fewer full strips. That lowers cost per year even though you are paying more often.
Tell us your facility, floor types, and square footage. We'll scope the work and send a written quote. Not sure what you have? Send a photo and we'll tell you.