Put two quotes for the same Collingwood garage side by side and the top one can be more than double the bottom one. Both say “epoxy garage floor with flake, grey.” Both include a warranty. Neither one is lying to you.
The whole difference sits in what nobody wrote down. Eight lines make it visible, and you do not need to know anything about resin to check them — you need to know which words should be on the page.
The eight lines that matter
1. Preparation method — and a profile
Look for the words diamond grind and a CSP number (Concrete Surface Profile, an ICRI scale from 1 to 9). A thin-film system wants CSP 2 to 3.
If it says “acid etch,” “surface preparation,” “clean and prep,” or nothing at all, ask directly. A power-trowelled residential slab has a hard, closed surface, and acid does not open it meaningfully. This is the single most common cause of coating failure, it is invisible in the finished floor, and it is why diamond grinding and surface prep is most of what you are paying for.
Ask: “Are you diamond grinding, and to what profile?”
2. A slab moisture reading
The quote should reference an actual test — calcium chloride (ASTM F1869) or in-slab RH (ASTM F2170) — with a result.
No test means nobody knows whether the floor can hold a coating. On a Wasaga Beach slab on sand, or anything poured before about 1980, that is not a detail. Whether your slab can take a coating explains what the number means.
Ask: “What did the slab test at, and is a mitigating primer needed?”
3. The product, by name
“Epoxy” is a category, like garage floor paint, not a product. The quote should name the manufacturer and system, and state how many coats and what film thickness.
This matters for a reason beyond quality: it is what makes the warranty enforceable. You cannot claim against a system nobody wrote down.
Ask: “Which system, and how many coats?”
4. Flake broadcast rate
If the floor has flake, it is either broadcast to rejection — thrown until the surface will not take any more, then scraped back and top-coated — or it is scattered lightly to a partial coverage.
Full rejection uses several times more flake and an extra day. It is also the difference between a floor that hides wear and one that shows every scuff of the base coat between the chips.
Ask: “Full rejection or partial broadcast?”
5. Control joints
The saw-cut lines in the slab are movement joints and they are still moving. The quote should say they are filled with a flexible polyurea and treated as joints.
Filling them rigid and coating straight over is the standard shortcut. The joint reappears as a crack in the coating, usually within two seasons, and it will follow the line exactly.
Ask: “How are the control joints handled?”
6. Anti-slip
In a region where every floor is wet with meltwater and salt from November to March, this is a safety specification. It should name an aggregate and a grade.
It matters most on rental property. A glossy chalet garage floor in The Blue Mountains at Craigleith, ski boots, and meltwater is a liability question, not a comfort one.
Ask: “What anti-slip additive, and at what grade?”
7. Cure and return to service
Two separate numbers: when you can walk on it, and when you can park on it. Foot traffic is about 24 hours on either system. Vehicles are the number to check, because the advertised figure and the data sheet figure disagree.
The published sheets for common garage polyaspartics give vehicle traffic at 3 to 7 days — Deco-Crete’s Polyaspartic 90 says 7 days, Onyx Polyaspartic 87 says 3 days to a week. Epoxy is five to seven days. The “one-day install” the category is sold on describes the install, not the parking.
If a quote promises next-day vehicle traffic on either chemistry, ask which product it is and what its sheet says. Something is wrong with either the product or the promise.
Ask: “When can I put the car back, and does the data sheet agree with you?”
8. What the warranty actually covers
This is where long numbers do the most work for the least substance. A meaningful warranty:
- names the system installed,
- names the slab moisture reading it was issued against,
- covers delamination and loss of bond, not merely manufacturing defects in the resin,
- states what voids it,
- and is transferable if you sell.
A 25-year warranty that excludes delamination excludes the only failure that happens. Read that clause specifically.
Ask: “Does this cover the coating letting go, and is it transferable?”
The quick comparison table
Put two quotes side by side on these rows. Almost every large price gap is explained here, and the cost guide gives the ranges each row should land in.
| Line | Weak quote | Real specification |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation | “Prep and clean” / acid etch | Diamond grind to CSP 2–3, dust collected |
| Moisture | Not mentioned | Tested, result stated, primer if needed |
| Product | “Epoxy” | Named system, coats and film thickness |
| Flake | “With flake” | Broadcast to rejection, scraped, top-coated |
| Joints | Not mentioned | Flexible polyurea, honoured |
| Anti-slip | Not mentioned | Named aggregate and grade |
| Warranty | “25 years” | Covers delamination, names the system, transferable |
Three things that should make you pause
A firm price without a site visit. Nobody can price a floor they have not seen and not tested. A phone quote is a range at best.
Pressure to sign today. Discount-expires-tonight is a sales technique, not a scheduling constraint. Legitimate scheduling pressure in this region is real but it runs the other way — the shoulder weeks in April and November genuinely book out months ahead, and a contractor who is busy will tell you a date, not a deadline.
A quote that will not put the preparation method in writing. If they grind, they will happily say so. It is the expensive part and it is what they are proud of.
And one thing in your favour
Ask to see a floor they did four or five years ago, in this area, ideally an unheated one.
New floors all look excellent — that is rather the point of them. The ones prepared properly still look excellent after five winters of brine. The ones that were not have started letting go at the door. It is the cheapest test available to you, it takes an afternoon, and nobody who does this work well will struggle to find you an address.