Home > Articles > Polished Concrete Floors Cost
Polished concrete floors are the perfect solution for many different residential and commercial environments, easy to clean and maintain with inherent anti slip properties. Plus real concrete installs create a unique contemporary look with more of a seamless look than a concrete effect tile floor.
Interest in our services since lockdown was eased is increasing hugely in Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Oakham Rutland and Stamford.
Durable, slip resistant and each one a unique industrial look, it’s no wonder that the trend for polished floors and decorative concrete flooring options show no signs of slowing down and is frequently specified as a flooring option for both new build properties and on existing floor renovations.
Underfloor heating encased within the floor structure, additional comfort from the heat produced by the warm water.
CARRcrete have dedicated an unbelievable amount of man hours specifically working to minimise our costs so that we are able to stay one step ahead for our clients. Indeed, we believe that is why we have become the top polished concrete flooring specialist in the UK.
This article covers several factors that contribute to the average cost of your polished concrete floor costs.
One of the most common questions we receive from our clients is ‘how much does a polished concrete floor cost?’ People want to know if our creations are expensive, and how much our work will set them back; of course this is completely understandable to us.
The only short answer we can give you regarding what the polished concrete floor is going to be for your family or company, is that it won’t cost more than any other premium flooring solution and is comparable to quality ceramic tile, natural stone or comparable luxury materials.
None these flooring options however offer the real industrial look and low maintenance properties that most polished concrete floors offer.
There is a wealth of information below that should help to make the right decision for you.
You can expect to pay between £30 - £50 per m2 dependant on finish selected.
If you only need us to engage in diamond grinding and polishing of existing or newly laid concrete floors in a new build property or residential refurbishment project; you can expect to pay between £30 - £50 per square metre (m2) dependant on finish selected.
InfinityFloor Cream: £30 - £40 per m2
InfinityFloor Salt:Pepper: £35 - £45 per m2
InfinityFloor Stone: £40 - £50 per m2
MicroFloor & MicroWall: £80 - £100 per m2
**Smaller projects may be subject to our minimum pricing schedule.
We always price each project on an individual basis there are other considerations to make before finalising our quotation, the most important being geographical location (so we know how much travel time is involved), floor size, number of rooms included and condition of the concrete substrate. Our polished concrete floors are always priced to this criteria.
Please note that these prices do not include the laying polished concrete flooring themselves as we do not currently offer this as a service.
Quality of the concrete floor (to grind/polish)
Are floor repairs necessary (cracks, holes, breakages)
Type of polished concrete finish required (cream, salt & pepper, stone)
Size of concrete floor to be polished
Number of rooms/concrete flooring (lots of edging)
Geographic location (expensive food and accommodation)
Fixtures and fittings (for concrete overlay projects)
Is the existing floor in situ a newly laid concrete or has it been there for a while? Was the concrete surface worked with power floats during installation or left rough and uneven, or a hand trowel finish? The quality of polished concrete floors can be largely predetermined by the quality of the concrete substrate.
In instances where the concrete floor has been laid months or even years ago it’s almost certain that we’ll have to grind the concrete to remove surface staining and renew the surface before polishing.
The condition here will need to be assessed as extra coarse grinding can require a lot of time and effort.
Are signs of damage and/or cracking? Or air pockets or unevenness? All things we will take under review and may affect the floor cost.
Repairs relating to slab cracking, missing stones, and large holes can all take time to complete, but without them the concrete finish and polished concrete simply doesn't look fully finished.
Repairs relating to slab cracking, missing stones, and large holes can all take time to complete, but without them the concrete surface and polished concrete simply doesn't look fully finished or to a good condition. Soft floors need chemical densifiers added, which increases material and time costs as chemical densifiers are expensive and require time to react and dry before further a grit level can begin.
The same goes if our team members have to remove bolts and other such items from the surface (usually commercial or industrial floors) before they can start work. Unfortunately if bolts are not removed they have the potential to damage our diamond polishing tools, often this damage can ruin the surface of the diamond polishing tools and effect the refinement of the concrete slab.
That takes time away from the primary process of polished concrete flooring and thus affects the polished concrete flooring cost.
At CARRcrete, we offer a range of different finishes to ensure our polished concrete floors suit every potential requirement, environment and slab. However, as you can probably imagine, some finishes take more time and involve more work than others to complete.
Our InfinityFloor Cream polished concrete floor finish doesn’t involve any grinding of the surface as it’s been subject to careful smoothing with a power trowel machines to the finished floor.
This procedure naturally doesn’t take as long as others and is priced more cost effectively per square foot as a result. Unfortunately most new polished concrete floor installed for this finish are simply not installed to a high enough degree of finish; often leaving the poured concrete requiring some kind of grind. Without this remedial refinement the final surface will be rough and/or textured and not aesthetically pleasing.
Exposed aggregate polished concrete floors such as our InfinityFloor Stone (this looks similar to the terrazzo floors of old) take a lot of more time because of the amount of grinding involved in order to reveal the stones; ideal for existing concrete.
Grinding is time-consuming, labour intensive and uses a greater amount of tooling that polishing options do, exposed aggregate finishes are still highly popular. Salt:Pepper has the least amount of grinding.
We usually start with a basic per square metre/square foot price and then look at the other factors mentioned here.
It’s not going to be a surprise to you that your polished concrete floor cost will depend on the size of the area to be worked. We usually start with a basic per square metre/square foot price and then look at the other factors mentioned here.
Don’t worry if you’ve taken your measurements in square foot (sq ft), we can work with that too! The larger the floor area; the lower the cost will be and it is always less expensive to polish one large room rather than multiple small rooms.
Much of the grinding machinery used for polished flooring is very large and heavy, so larger more open areas will always be more attractive to concrete flooring contractors.
As I’m sure you can appreciate, large areas of poured concrete that are well laid and smooth will create a superior polished concrete floor, than a rough tamped finish. Concrete flooring is heavily dependant on the quality of the installation, no two polished concrete floors will ever be identical.
Taking into consideration the size of the polished concrete flooring project to be worked as mentioned above, we also need to know how many rooms are included with any area given. Numerous rooms are often inefficient in that our workers need to continually move their equipment into the optimum position and adjust the power cables as necessary.
Each room will also require edging, and that can take time depending on the size and shape of the space. Going from 1 room to 2 increases the amount of edges from 4 to 8 so you can imagine that edging alone can add days to large polished concrete flooring projects.
If you use partition walls, it could make sense to remove them before we begin work on your floor so that our team only has to focus on one huge area rather than lots of small ones although we appreciate that this is not always possible.
To increase the hardness of the concrete we need to use chemical hardeners to create a chemical reaction that strengthens the floor surface enough to work with.
I bet you didn’t realise that there was such a thing as soft polished concrete floors! Often a standard concrete slab can be well below the strength required for a polished finish to our high standards. Strength is more to do with water to cement ratio than how much steel mesh is used.
Whenever we’re asked to work on an existing concrete floor, it’s one of the first things that we need to check before finalising any quotation as soft concrete is far more abrasive to our tools than harder concrete and always requires more attention; for example when filling surface voids.
Usually softness of the concrete is down to adding too much water to the mix during installation. We have however encountered floors becoming softer through the underfloor heating being commissioning incorrectly.
To increase the hardness of the concrete floor we need to use chemical densifiers to create a chemical reaction that strengthens the floor surface enough to work with. The process of adding chemcial densifiers is labour intensive and time consuming.
A soft concrete slab inherently contains more air pockets and less dense than a strong well compacted slab, this affects the performance of your underfloor heating and may retain heat more than it should. Strong dense concrete is a good conductor, a slab full of air is not quite as effective.
The less strength in your poured concrete, the less glossy finish you can achieve in the finished look and less easy to clean. More chemical densifier application means your should expect to pay more per m2. An existing concrete floor can often be quite expensive to work with.
The postcode in which you reside could also play a role in determining the cost of your polished concrete flooring solution. We need to take travel time into consideration, and this could increase costs particularly if your premises are over 4 hours away.
Unlike many of our competitors, we don’t add charges to cover food and accommodation costs but some bustling cities do charge a premium for these basic needs and we may need to factor this in on occasion, particularly when working on site with a larger team.
When we flip it and ask about the business costs, then yes, it can cost a small fortune when polishing concrete especially if incorrect tools and equipment are used. Professionals have to learn the most popular techniques and then invest in lots of expensive equipment, tools, machinery and consumables.
Unlike many of the other companies bidding for your money, we develop and design our own custom machinery and diamond tooling based on our needs and requirements, so when we say our InfinityFloor concrete flooring system is unique we really do mean it.
It’s wise to consider the costs involved with looking after your concrete once you’ve had your floor polished and invested time and money in it; you’ll be pleased to know that polished concrete is low maintenance flooring.
It’s wise to consider the costs involved with looking after your concrete surface once you’ve had your floor polished and invested time and money in it; you’ll be pleased to know that polished concrete is low maintenance flooring and highly resistant to foot traffic. So yes they're definitely worth it.
We recommend having a dust mop that you use daily and then damp mopping weekly to protect your finished floor against stains and additional coatings of sealer are usually not required.
It really is no more hard work to look after than other decorative options such as vinyl and tile. No special polishing equipment is needed although for special occasions you can high speed burnish your floor to revive or increase the gloss level. We will talk you through this while on site.
It’s worth checking that the company you choose owns their equipment. Some firms will increase their prices by adding rental costs to your bill. We don’t believe this to be acceptable, and so you should always look elsewhere if someone tries to do this.
Any good contractor should also provide you with a low maintenance guide and details on how to commission you underfloor heating, so damage is not done to either the slab or the sealed finish.
If you’re now ready to get the ball rolling and receive a free quote or estimate for your polished concrete flooring project you just need to make contact with our team.
We will gather as much information as we require to make the calculations and then provide you with an accurate price for the polished concrete floors of your choice. If you have any questions about anything, we are only a telephone call or email away!
Be sure to read our guide to polished concrete here.
