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Buyer's guide

Seven red flags in an epoxy quote.

Most bad floors were predictable before the deposit was paid. The evidence is on the quote itself, if you know which lines to read.

• 1. Acid etching listed as the prep. Acid can't cut sealers, curing compounds, or oil, and it leaves residue in the pores that works against the bond. The concrete-repair institute's profile standard ICRI 310.2R is a mechanical one, and coating manufacturers spec mechanical prep under modern resinous floors. Etch-and-coat floors commonly start peeling within a year. Mechanical prep, diamond grinding, is the answer you want to see.
• 2. "Everything in one day" on an epoxy system. Real one-day floors exist, and they're all-polyaspartic chemistry with its own trade-offs. An epoxy base quoted for one day means cure windows are getting skipped, and the floor pays for the shortcut later.
• 3. A basement quote that never mentions moisture. Below-grade concrete holds ground moisture, and moisture pushing up under a nearly vapor-proof coating blisters it. A basement quote that never brings up dampness, or what changes if the slab runs damp, is a quote for a future peeling floor.
• 4. No total thickness in writing. "Epoxy" covers everything from 3-mil paint to 40-mil systems. A quote that won't commit to a mil build is usually hiding a thin one. Ask for the number and the named products.
• 5. The mid-job moisture "discovery." A contractor who finds moisture after your slab is ground open, then quotes mitigation while his crew stands in your garage, engineered that moment. Fair contractors address moisture at the quote, when you can still say no.
• 6. No license number, no insurance, no written estimate. In Pennsylvania the HIC number belongs on the paper. Ours is PA HIC #128520, and it's on every page of this site. Pressure tactics ("this price expires tonight") belong on the same pile: a real quote survives a week of thinking.
• 7. A bid far under everyone else's. Materials cost what they cost. A number that undercuts every other bidder is usually one thin coat of consumer-grade product over minimal prep. You'll buy the floor twice: once now, once when it's torn back off for the real one.

A fair quote reads like a spec: what gets ground, how moisture is handled, what goes down, how thick, and who stands behind it in writing.