How to bid commercial epoxy flooring jobs

Bidding a commercial epoxy floor means pricing to a written specification instead of a homeowner’s wish list. Read the resinous flooring section and the general requirements, list every submittal, test and mockup they ask for, check for prevailing wage, bonds and insurance requirements, plan the phases around the building’s operations, then build the price from your own production rates. Commercial work rewards the contractor who reads all of the paperwork.

This guide assumes you can already install the system. If you’re still pricing garages, start with how to price epoxy flooring.

How a commercial bid comes together

Most commercial floors reach you through a general contractor, a public agency’s bid portal or a facility manager. The bid documents are the drawings (the finish schedule shows which floor system goes where, often by a tag like RES-1), the project manual with the specifications, a bid form and any addenda. There may be a pre-bid meeting or site walk.

1. Get the full set. Drawings, every specification section that touches your work, and all addenda. An addendum you missed can change the system.
2. Walk the site if it exists. How to measure a floor for an epoxy estimate covers what to record.
3. Ask questions in writing before the deadline for requests for information. Answers come back as addenda, and they bind every bidder.
4. Price it, including the alternates and unit prices the bid form asks for.
5. Submit on time on the required form. Subcontractor bids to general contractors are usually due hours before the general’s own deadline, and late bids are thrown out.

Read the spec before you price

Resinous floors usually sit in section 09 67 23, resinous flooring; quartz systems sometimes get their own section, 09 67 26, quartz flooring. Division 01 sets the general rules: submittal procedures, substitutions, payment, closeout and warranties. Concrete sections matter too, because a curing compound or a sealer in the concrete spec becomes your removal problem.

Pull these out of the flooring section before you price anything:

• The system: the basis-of-design product, thickness, texture, finish and whether substitutions are allowed, and how to request one.
• Cove base height, radius and termination, and joint treatment.
• Moisture testing: how many tests (one per 1,000 sq ft, at least three per area is common), the limits, and who pays for mitigation if a test fails.
• Surface preparation. If the spec still calls for acid etching and the manufacturer requires mechanical prep, ask in writing.
• Installer qualifications: manufacturer approval, years of experience, number of similar projects.
• Mockups: size (anything from 16 sq ft to an 8 by 8 ft area or more), location, lighting, and whether the mockup can stay as part of the floor.
• Field quality control: thickness checks or cores, adhesion tests, slip-resistance testing.
• Environmental limits, lighting during application, and how long the area stays closed afterward.
• Warranty length and who gives it, the manufacturer, the installer or both.
• VOC and emissions limits, and any green-building paperwork.

Submittals and qualifications

Before you order material, you send submittals for approval: product data sheets and SDS for every product, color charts, then verification samples (often 6 or 12 inches square on a rigid backing, made by you), the manufacturer’s letter certifying you as an approved installer, a list of similar projects, warranty forms and, at closeout, maintenance data. Rejected submittals come back for resubmission, which costs days.

Installer qualifications decide whether you can bid at all. Specs commonly ask for written approval from the manufacturer, three to five years on similar systems and a list of comparable projects; some ask for ten. Get approved by the manufacturers whose systems show up in your local specs before you chase the bids. A quartz broadcast floor with an integral cove base is a common commercial spec and a good place to build references.

All of this is unpaid office time and sample material. Count it.

Prevailing wage and certified payroll

Construction that is federally funded or assisted and over $2,000, painting and decorating included, falls under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts. Contractors and subcontractors must pay at least the wages and fringe benefits in the wage determination attached to the contract, file certified payrolls every week with a signed statement of compliance, and keep the records for three years after the job. The prime contractor answers for its subcontractors’ compliance, so expect to be checked.

Many states have their own prevailing wage laws for state and local public work, with their own thresholds and rates. Ask which work classification covers resinous flooring on the project; it isn’t always obvious, and the rates differ. Then use the prevailing rate plus fringe as your labor rate in the price.

Bonds, insurance and getting paid

• Bid bonds. Public bids commonly require a bid bond, often 5–10% of the bid on state and local work and at least 20% (capped at $3 million) on federal bids. It guarantees you’ll sign the contract and provide the other bonds if you win.
• Performance and payment bonds. Federal construction contracts over $150,000 require both, each for the full contract amount, and states have similar laws for their own work. General contractors sometimes require them from subcontractors. Premiums commonly run about 1–3% of the contract, higher for small and new contractors. Line up a surety agent early; approval takes financial statements and a track record.
• Your protection on public jobs. You usually can’t put a lien on public property, so the prime contractor’s payment bond is your security. On a federal job, if your contract is with a subcontractor rather than the prime, you must give the prime written notice within 90 days of your last day of work to claim on the bond, and sue within a year. State deadlines differ.
• Insurance. General contractors commonly require $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate in general liability, a completed-operations aggregate, auto and workers’ compensation, often an umbrella, and endorsements: additional insured for ongoing and completed operations, primary and non-contributory, and a waiver of subrogation. A certificate alone doesn’t do it; the endorsements have to be on the policy. Epoxy flooring business insurance covers the policies.
• Payment terms. Expect a schedule of values, monthly pay applications, payment 30–60 days later or when the general contractor gets paid, and retainage of 5–10% held until completion. Many states cap retainage on public work.

Scheduling around operations

Commercial floors are rarely empty. A restaurant, a clinic or a plant has to keep running, so the work gets split into phases, often at night or over weekends, and every phase is its own setup, protection, cure and cleanup. On new construction, you’re coordinating with the other trades, and the HVAC usually has to run before moisture tests and installation.

Plan for:

• Dust containment with plastic barriers and HEPA extraction, and odor control in occupied buildings.
• Cure time before each area goes back into service; faster-curing systems shorten the closure but change the price.
• Access: loading docks, elevators, badges, parking and site safety orientations.
• Protection of the finished floor while other trades finish, if the spec makes it your job.

Pricing a large floor

Large open floors grind and coat faster per square foot than a garage, but commercial jobs carry costs a garage never sees. Price the field area from your measured production rates, price the detail work (edges, columns, drains, cove, transitions) separately, then add:

Use the bid form’s unit prices to protect yourself: moisture mitigation per square foot, crack repair per linear foot and cove per linear foot let the price follow what the slab turns out to need. List your qualifications and exclusions plainly, such as mitigation only if tests exceed the limits, HVAC running during installation, and no removal of existing coatings unless specified, and carry them into your scope of work.

Commercial prices per square foot can look lower than garage prices, and commercial epoxy flooring cost per square foot shows the ranges by system. Build your number from your costs first, then compare. The job pricing calculator handles material, crew days, visits, overhead and margin, and the estimate template lays out the line items.

Start with the right first job

Start with a light commercial floor through a general contractor you already know, such as a restaurant kitchen or a showroom, before a public bid with bonds and certified payroll. The Epoxy Playbook pairs recorded hands-on installation training you can replay with the business side, including pricing, quoting and selling the job.