You called three companies about your garage floor in Colorado Springs and got three numbers that are nowhere near each other. One of them is half the others. That one is tempting.
The spread is real, and it is not companies picking numbers out of the air. Garage floor quotes vary because the work varies, and most of what varies is under the floor rather than on top of it.
Here is what moves a quote, in rough order of how much.
1. What the slab needs before anything goes on it
This is the biggest variable and the least visible one.
Concrete has to be mechanically opened before a coating will hold. Done properly that means diamond grinding the whole floor, which takes equipment, dust collection, and hours. The cheap alternative is acid etching: pour a wash down, rinse it, call it prep. It is a fraction of the labor and it does not open the concrete anywhere near enough.
That single decision explains most of the gap between a low quote and a real one. It is also why some floors peel in sheets after one summer, which the why garage floor coatings peel post goes into.
Then there is repair. Cracks, pits, and spalled areas have to be filled and ground flush before the base coat. A slab in good shape needs little. A slab that has taken fifteen Colorado winters of mag chloride needs a lot. Two garages the same size can be different jobs.
2. Square footage, but not the way you think
Bigger floors cost more, but not proportionally. A three-car garage is not three times a one-car garage, because mobilization, setup, grinding equipment, and cure time are much the same either way.
What does scale is material and the broadcast. More floor means more base coat, more flake, more topcoat.
The thing people forget to mention when they call: RV bays, bump-outs, and the strip behind the cars. Measure the whole slab, not the parking footprint.
3. How much flake goes down
A full broadcast means flake is thrown until the floor is covered wall to wall, then the excess is scraped back and the topcoat goes over. A light broadcast scatters flake for the look without full coverage.
Full costs more in material and in labor. It also builds a thicker, more forgiving floor and hides repairs better. Light broadcast reads more like a colored floor with flecks in it.
Neither is wrong. They are different floors and they quote differently, so make sure you are comparing the same one.
4. Edge and cove detail
The line where the floor meets the wall is where a lot of the finish quality lives, and where a lot of the labor goes.
Running the coating up the stem wall a few inches, or putting in a proper cove, means hand work that a roller cannot do. It looks better, it cleans better, and it costs more than stopping the coating at the wall. Ask any quote which one it assumes.
5. What is in the garage now
A floor has to be clear wall to wall before work starts, including shelving that sits on the slab. If the crew is moving your things, that is time on the quote. If you empty it yourself, it is not.
An old coating changes things too. A failed epoxy has to come off before the new floor goes down, and grinding off an old coating is slower than grinding bare concrete.
6. Moisture, if it shows up
A moisture test should be on every interior floor quote. Most slabs pass and it changes nothing.
When one does not pass, the fix is a moisture-tolerant primer or a different build, and that adds to the job. It is worth every bit of it, because coating over a live vapor drive gives you a floor that lifts from underneath no matter how good the product was.
Why we quote after looking, not over the phone
We could give you a number on the phone. It would be a guess, and the guess would be wrong in one of two directions.
Quote high and you go elsewhere for no reason. Quote low and either we eat the difference or we come back with a bigger number after you have already committed, which is the thing everybody hates.
So we come out, look at the slab, check it for moisture, measure the whole floor, and tell you what it needs. The estimate is free and there is no pressure attached to it. If the honest answer is that your floor is fine and you should spend the money elsewhere, we will say that too.
What to ask every company that quotes you
Four questions sort the quotes out fast.
Are you grinding or etching? If the answer is etching, or if it is vague, you have found the reason that quote is lower.
Are you testing the slab for moisture? Should be yes on any interior floor.
Full broadcast or light? Changes both the look and the number.
What happens at the walls? Cove, run-up, or stop at the edge.
Two quotes that answer those four the same way are comparable. Two that do not are not, whatever the numbers say.
See what is included on our epoxy garage floor coating in Colorado Springs page, and the epoxy vs polyaspartic post for what each layer is doing.
FAQ
Why will you not give me a number over the phone?
Because the biggest variables are things we cannot see over the phone: the condition of the slab, whether it holds moisture, what is on it now, and how much repair it needs. A phone number is a guess, and a guess that turns into a different number later is worse than no number. The on-site estimate is free and takes one visit.
Is a cheaper quote always worse prep?
Not always, but it is the first place to look. Grinding is the single most expensive part of doing it right and the easiest to skip invisibly. Ask the question directly. A company that grinds will tell you plainly, because it is what they are charging for.
Does a bigger garage cost proportionally more?
No. Setup, equipment and cure time are much the same whatever the size, so a three-car garage is not three times a one-car. Material and broadcast scale with the floor, the rest does not.
Do I need to empty the garage myself?
The floor has to be clear wall to wall, including shelving on the slab. You can do it or we can, and which one changes the quote. We will tell you at the estimate what needs to move and for how long.
Does a kit from a hardware store cost less in the end?
The materials cost less. Whether the floor does depends on whether it lasts. A kit goes on at a fraction of the thickness of a professional build, over concrete that was etched rather than ground, which is the combination that peels under hot tires. Redoing a failed floor means grinding the old one off first, which is more work than starting from bare concrete.
Want a real number for your garage? Elite Concrete Coatings gives free on-site estimates across Colorado Springs and the Front Range, and we tell you what the slab needs before we quote it. Call 719-639-0643 or request an estimate.
Want a straight answer about your concrete?
We'll come out, look at it, and tell you what it needs. Free, written, no pressure.
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