Any recommendations on Epoxy Garage Floor installers?

[earlyretirement]

I’ve gotten some great advice and recommendations in the past. When I did my hardwood flooring I got the vendor’s name here so I’m reaching out to all you pros.

Have any of you renovated to add nice Epoxy Flooring in your garage? I’m interested in doing this if any of you have any recommendations for providers.

Also, what did this run you more or less per sq. foot? Thanks in advance.

[SK in CV]

I paid just under $1000 for mine, standard 2 car garage size. I’m really happy with it. Cleans up very nicely with vinegar and water. If I think about it for awhile, maybe I can remember why, but a contractor friend stressed that it’s really important to make sure they include expansion joints (which I would think would be standard), and include stem walls. Apparently some installers skip the stem walls.

[earlyretirement]

Thanks SK in CV. I have a 3 car garage so I guess it would be a bit more but just in doing some due diligence it seems like prices are all over the place. I don’t know ANYTHING at all about epoxy flooring.

Is yours totally waterproof? For example, can you wash your car in the garage if you wanted?

[SK in CV]

I think you’re right about prices. I just ran into my neighbor and asked what he paid and he said $1500. His garage has to be really close to the identical size as mine.

I’ve never washed my car in the garage, too much cabinetry I wouldn’t want to get wet, but I do hose it out, and it pretty easily cleans up like new. So I’m sure that wouldn’t be a problem.

[earlyretirement]

Great. Thanks again. Yes, I ran into the same type of thing asking people what they paid. Seems like identical size garages people were paying vastly different prices per sq. foot.

Several warnings I’ve read said that many vendors will mark up the price per sq. foot in nicer communities.

It’s funny. I never cared before about the garage. But now that I bought a new EV car I’ve been washing the car myself. Prior to this I don’t think I hand washed a car since high school! LOL.

I’ll do some more research on AngiesList. Thanks.

[ljinvestor]

Spartaflex through Perkins Custom Coatings. I’ve used them twice and have been very satisfied.

[earlyretirement]

Great! Thanks. I’ll also give them a shout. I saw on AngiesList that there is Garage Envy but it seems like people all say the same thing that they don’t want to quote a price per sq. foot over the phone. They want to come out and give the presentation and “size you up”.

On another forum that I post a guy said he said them Coronado Speed Festival this weekend and they also were hesitant to give quotes. What’s up with that????

Oh well…I have a few places I will call and report back. I’m definitely having the work done. Just a matter of finding the best vendor. Thanks guys.

ljinvestor, might I ask what you paid price per sq. foot to add on the epoxy flooring? Thanks.

[njtosd]

We’re thinking about using laminate flooring from IKEA. It’s cheaper per square foot than epoxy and looks nicer. I don’t understand the appeal of the confetti look.

[SK in CV]

I measured my garage and checked a few sources and figured out I have a slightly larger than average 2 car garage. It’s 21×21 so about 440 sq ft. Works out that I paid $2.22 per sq ft. My neighbor must have paid closer to $3.40/ft. I’m sure there is someone out there that has paid much less than me, and probably someone who has paid >$4/ft.

There probably is a difference in the care taken in installation, but I suspect the actual assembly is identical no matter who is doing it. I was in kind of a rush when I was had it done, I wanted it finished before I moved in, so didn’t have the time to screw around with getting a lot of quotes. But it was also a very dead period for new construction so the contractors were probably hungry.

I think it’s like a lot of contracting work, vendors will charge whatever they think you’ll pay. So they want to size you up before they give you a number. I’d get quotes from a few and bargain with them. They’re entitled to make a reasonable profit, and that’s probably somewhere between $2.00 and $2.50/ft. Anything over that, they’re making good bling. And a bigger garage should probably be even less /ft. Marginal cost has to be minimal between a 400 and 800 sq ft garage.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=SK in CV]I measured my garage and checked a few sources and figured out I have a slightly larger than average 2 car garage. It’s 21×21 so about 440 sq ft. Works out that I paid $2.22 per sq ft. My neighbor must have paid closer to $3.40/ft. I’m sure there is someone out there that has paid much less than me, and probably someone who has paid >$4/ft.

There probably is a difference in the care taken in installation, but I suspect the actual assembly is identical no matter who is doing it. I was in kind of a rush when I was had it done, I wanted it finished before I moved in, so didn’t have the time to screw around with getting a lot of quotes. But it was also a very dead period for new construction so the contractors were probably hungry.

I think it’s like a lot of contracting work, vendors will charge whatever they think you’ll pay. So they want to size you up before they give you a number. I’d get quotes from a few and bargain with them. They’re entitled to make a reasonable profit, and that’s probably somewhere between $2.00 and $2.50/ft. Anything over that, they’re making good bling. And a bigger garage should probably be even less /ft. Marginal cost has to be minimal between a 400 and 800 sq ft garage.[/quote]

GREAT! Thanks. Yep, I have no problem with good vendors making a profit. Especially if they are responsive. I called Garage Envy this morning and they already have someone coming out today to give me a quote.

I called the other place listed above and they said the scheduler comes in at 2 PM and will call me to come out this week. So I’ll get these quotes and post back.

I definitely want to go with the Epoxy or that SpartaFlex looks great!! It looks like it’s higher quality, thicker has a 15 year warranty and the company actually looks like they have been around for 40 years so there is actually a chance on them being around if you have to use the warranty.

Thanks again guys for all the great advice.

[earlyretirement]

So I just spent several hours with Garage Envy and I have to say they are REALLY responsive. I just called them earlier today and they had someone at my house by 2 PM right on time. Jan that came out was really nice and was here for 2.5 hours. She took measurements and showed tons of samples. They do it all.

I had NO idea people spent this much money on their garages! She showed me a sample of her portfolio and some of these guys in RSF have spent $60,000 pimping out their garages!

I originally just wanted to get the epoxy flooring and some cabinets but by the time she left I was asking her for work benches, cabinets, storage, custom bicycle racks for 4 bikes, and other things.

They have this program where you can pretty much just see what you want and they can add it on the computer. It’s like the custom cabinet program we used when we did our closets. This stuff ain’t cheap! By the time she was done it was like $15k in stuff.

But definitely they are NOT the place to get epoxy flooring. The price per sq. foot they charge is WAY too much. It’s clear to me they specialize and make their money in all the other stuff they do. The flooring has to be low margin for them and they must purposely mark it way up.

Just doing due diligence I could already tell approximate costs. Their price for their lowest end epoxy flooring was $4.50 per sq. feet. And their highest end one (which is the one I liked) was a whopping $9 per sq. feet. No way I’m spending that kind of money as my garage is 800 sq. ft. She said that price includes the labor, installation/materials and sales tax.

No way it should cost that much. Plus the rub is their warranty on the flooring is only 1 year. On the Perkin’s website it says their warranty is a whopping 15 years. I called her out on that and she told me that Perkins is VERY good and that they have quality products and do a great job. She wasn’t going to lie which I respected and she even said they will definitely beat her on price.

She even said that she wasn’t going to include a budget and that there wasn’t ANY way they could come close to Perkins on the price. I asked her why in the world their warranty is only 1 year??? I told her if they have quality products and quality installation there is NO reason it should only be 1 year. She said they’ve had “issues” in the past. Long story short she said to go with Perkins and they would do a great job and the best in SD.

Perkin’s never called me back today so they don’t sound as hungry for the business like Garage Envy is. Hopefully they call tomorrow as I already know what I want. Garage Envy seems like a really high end outfit. They had slick brochures that looked expensive. They also do Jay Leno’s garage. There were a lot of promotional pieces with Jay Leno in them with photos of his garage.

I’ll still give Garage Envy a chance but I have California Closets coming out this week to quote on the job as well. But for those of you looking for Epoxy flooring it sounds like Perkins is where it’s at.

Thanks again SK for the great comments. And thanks ljinvestor for that referral on Perkins. It helped seeing the website and reading a bit about it before Garage Envy came out and seeing about that warranty difference. Now, if I can get them to call me back for a quote I’m gold.

[quote=njtosd]We’re thinking about using laminate flooring from IKEA. It’s cheaper per square foot than epoxy and looks nicer. I don’t understand the appeal of the confetti look.[/quote]

The confetti look I agree I didn’t think I’d like but looking at photos it looks nice with the right set of custom cabinets. Wow, I didn’t realize what a selection of stuff they sell. I’ve never seen anyone pimp out their garage like some of this stuff I’ve seen. To be honest, I’m not the type that spends much time in the garage before.

The REALLY gorgeous flooring is the Quartz or Metallic epoxy solid finishes that are shiny. Wow they are gorgeous. She showed me a few photos and it looks like a showroom floor. But no way I could justify that kind of price for garage flooring!

She also showed me tons of people that get this interlocking tiles type flooring. Looked a bit strange to me and seems like dust/debris would go through the cracks. Didn’t seem to make sense to me as it was the same price as the Epoxy.

I guess the only possible advantage would be if you spilled something corrosive in an area you can just change out one tile but it reminded me of a gymnasium! LOL.

[earlyretirement]

Just an update. Paul from Perkins Custom Coatings called me back just now. He really took the time to answer a lot of questions. He wouldn’t give a price per sq. foot but he did give me an estimate based on the size of my garage. Interesting that he DID ask where I lived first. LOL.

Anyway, he was really helpful. He said that the chip/flake spartaflex would be around $2,500 to $2,800 for my size garage. He said he still needed to see it first. He said the Metallic epoxy that I REALLY liked would be around $4,000 to $4,500. He said that the metallic epoxy just in materials alone would be $2,800 to $3,000 and another $1,000 to $1,500 to install it.

He is coming out tomorrow to give a formal quote. I’m glad they called back today. They sound like they do really high end stuff.

[earlyretirement]

So Paul from Perkins Flooring – http://www.perkinscustomcoatings.com just left. Man, these guys are on the ball and super super professional.

He came out and measured and gave me a formal quote. Showed me tons of samples (which were much better and higher quality than the ones I saw yesterday). I signed a contract on the spot. GORGEOUS material this Spartaflex. The quality was head and shoulders better than what I saw. Thicker and looked much nicer and smoother than the normal Epoxy samples I’ve seen.

$3,050 for parts and labor and installation including the stem walls. They have been doing this a long time. Paul is a real professional. They are scheduled out about a month or so. Signed the contract and looking forward to it.

Anyone looking for Epoxy flooring should check these guys out. A BIG THANKS to ljinvestor for the referral!

PS. The lady that came out yesterday gave me an inaccurate measurement. Paul said it was only about 725 sq. feet. Yeah, this Spartaflex seems more expensive than some Epoxy quoting but it’s still less than the quote yesterday and the quality is head and shoulders better.

[Hobie]

Since they have a 15yr warrantee they probably are already prepping well, but be sure they grind ( lightly) the concrete and you might consider some kind of slip additive. ie: No slip when wet. If they include a clear coat as well you are getting a good value.

[Hobie]

dup

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