HOW MUCH...
Will It Cost to Refinish My Hardwood Floors?
We get this question quite a lot and it’s a pretty important one to ask.
The size of investment can be a huge factor in deciding whether to get your floors restored or not and hey… no-one wants to spend any more than they have to right? I sure don’t and I’m sure you don’t either.
The thing is, it’s not really an easy question to answer because there are so many factors involved in pricing out a hardwood restoration... and they differ for almost every client and floor. To give a one-size-fits-all square foot price would be impossible.
I know of many other businesses that will happily offer their square foot prices over the phone but then inflate
it later on when they see the floor in person and realize it needed more attention.
We’d rather give you an accurate price from the get-go so you know exactly where you stand and what you’re getting for your investment.
There are many factors involved in pricing out a hardwood restoration...
In the next few paragraphs I’ll give you a good run down of all the factors involved in pricing out a hardwood floor restoration and share some important things you need to take into consideration when looking at pricing.
But before we start...
Before we talk numbers though, I want to be very up front with you and say that we're not going to be the lowest bidder for your project. There are many flooring “companies” out there that are willing to do work at the lowest price possible without any regards to service, quality and longevity. We’re not one of them. We love what we do and doing it properly takes skill, time and quality products – all things that cost a little bit more money.
We’re not going to be the lowest bidder for your project...
It’s also important that you know we have a minimum charge of $1,000 in order to cover our basic business expenses. Usually the “small” jobs end up being just as much work as a bigger job and the set-up and amount of times we need to return for finish coats on every job is the same regardless of its size. We want to be upfront and honest with you from the get-go so you know what to expect from us.
If someone wants to have their floors quickly refinished to sub-par standards for the lowest price without any regard for quality, well, it’s probably best they look elsewhere.
As already mentioned, there’s no shortage of this level of work available, it’s just not what we’re comfortable offering. They will have no trouble getting estimates offering to refinish their floors for maybe half of what we may charge. But common sense tells us that ‘we usually get what we pay for’ in life.
WHAT FACTORS
determine the price of a floor restoration?
These are some of the main factors we need to take into consideration:
- The present condition of the floor and how difficult it will be to remove the finish.
- Has the floor been waxed regularly for many years?
- Is there proper staging and power available?
- Can the work be done during the day? Is it a retail setting requiring night work?
- How even is the floor? Does it need extensive leveling. Can it sustain leveling?
- What about access to the area?
- Is the layout or the floorplan wide open or convoluted with numerous hallways and closets?
- Are there repairs needed?
All of these will influence the final price.
On top of that, we must then query the homeowner and determine:
- What is your lifestyle?
- Do you have large dogs?
- Are there active children in the home?
- Would you be sensitive to odors or chemicals that are inherent in some types of finishes?
- What quality of finishes would you prefer to apply to preserve your floors?
- Do you have the habit of taking your shoes off in the home or do you keep them on?
- Do you wish to keep the floor in its natural state or stain it
- How do you want your floor to look and perform 10 to 20 years from now?
- Do you wish to avail yourselves of our 100% dustless option?
As you can see, no client will ever have the same needs and that’s why its impossible to provide a one-size-fits-all price over the phone. (We’ll be more than happy to discuss these things and more when we come over for your free estimate.)
Investment or Cost?
Someone that shops around only focusing on the “lowest” price will be doing themselves and their valuable hardwood floors a great disservice. That would be like shopping around for the cheapest hair stylist in town. Would you take a chance like that – not knowing what they’ll do or what product they’ll use? The effects of a bad hair cut or treatment can last a long time.
Restoring your hardwood floors is a longtime investment...
It’s the same with your valuable floors... only your floors will never be able to "grow back". You'll be stuck with the effects of a cheap restoration job forever.
Professionally restoring your hardwood floors is a longtime investment and the decision should be based on more than just trying to find the “cheapest” price to pay and wish for the best.
Think about this… your hardwood floors are an integral part of your home complementing virtually all aspects of your living space. Is there any other element in your home that you have more physical contact with and ask to withstand constant abuse every day?
Secondly, your hardwood floors are very valuable and would cost a lot of money to replace. Most likely much more than you think. An average sized home may have floors valued at $10,000 to $15,000 plus when factoring in materials and labor. We’re talking about hardwood floors similar to what you have in your own home, possibly anywhere from 10 to 100+ years old.
Many times in older homes, replacement is simply not an option.
These floors really need to be handled with care.
You don't want them ending up like the floors in the photo below...
This Naperville homeowner ended up with very unfortunate results after hiring a lower priced, unskilled floor guy.
What to look out for...
Your biggest concern should be the quality of the workmanship and the quality of the products applied to preserve and protect your hardwood floors. If you try to cut corners on price, it will directly affect the quality of finishes used and quality of workmanship.
There are 5 other extremely important factors that you should consider as well when choosing a company. They can be found in our free consumer PDF guide ‘The 5 Questions You Must Ask.’ (found here). I strongly recommend you read it before making a final decision on who to work with.
Determine who offers the most overall value – not just the lowest price.
I recommend as you gather other quotes, determine who offers the most overall value – not just the lowest price.
We offer very competitive rates in relation to ‘comparable’ fellow floor refinishing professionals. If the other quotes you have are nowhere near ours pricewise, it is very likely that you have not come across other comparable professionals.
Even though we’d love to be, we’re not the only ones in Naperville and the western Chicago suburbs that can deliver a quality product exceeding industry standards. I can think of a handful of businesses that will take care of your floors like we do and they too charge a little more to assure their clients get the best outcome and quality they expect.
We strongly feel that in regard to many other “refinishers”, a low ball cheap quote is their way of telling you what they feel they and the quality of their service are worth. It is also their way of telling you what they think your floor deserves. We strongly believe you and your floors deserve more.
Have you ever made the wrong choice before?
I’m sure you’ve had previous experiences with a variety of tradesmen over the years. How did those projects turn out? Did you ever take a chance with the “low-baller” and regret it after the fact? We’ve all been there.
Restoring hardwood floors is a big job. It’s very invasive on your home and life. How many times would you really want to do this? In fact many put off the sorely needed job of having the hardwood floors refinished for this very reason.
Don’t you agree it’s better to invest a little more now and have peace of mind knowing they’ll be done properly the first time? Does it make sense to cut corners, only to have to spend a lot more later on to have them re-done, or having to live with sub-quality work?
Imagine having “bad areas” in your floor and being constantly reminded you decided to save a few dollars every time you walked past them.
A badly done restoration will continue to haunt you long after you’ve forgotten about how much you paid for the work.
Our goal is to refinish only once any given setting. When you have your floors refinished by us you would have no need to see us again for at least another twenty years if at all. We only use the best finish systems available.
A bad restoration will continue to haunt you long after you’ve forgotten about how much you paid.
We go above and beyond all others to ensure your floors come out top notch, look absolutely beautiful and are extremely long-lasting and durable.
To our clients, that’s where the value is.
In Conclusion...
I suggest you gather more than one quote from established businesses. Interview them using the questions found in your free consumer guide that you can find here. As you interview each business, seek out competence, expertise and someone you feel you can trust to be in your home and do a high quality job.
Appreciate that true value and quality always equals a little higher initial investment… but you’re your investment will pay for itself and more in the long-run as you enjoy your restored floors for many years into the future.
If your dream is to have your floors beautifully transformed in the most hassle free way possible and at a level of quality that will leave you smiling with satisfaction every time you glance down at them, then contact us today and we will see if we are a good match to work together.
I’ll come over and personally evaluate your floors and give you an exact price that will be more reasonable then you may think you would have to pay for top quality work, products and service.
I’m looking forward to meeting you in person.
Tadas Sadunas
HAPPY CLIENT feedback
These guys know what they're doing. We asked for another quote before Tadas and the guy kept saying: This is going to be too difficult. The price difference was 200 or 300 dollars less. Best to pay a bit more knowing that the result will be great. Highly recommended!Carolina H. | Aurora, IL
