Most people choose a floor sander before they have chosen a finish, and it is the wrong order. In an apartment it is also the choice that decides how many days the place is unlivable.
No obligation. Takes 30 seconds.
Floor Sanding and Polishing Sydney connects Sydney and greater Sydney property owners with qualified, connects Sydney property owners with licensed local floor sanders for coatings & finishes. Tell us the rough floor area and whether you're in a house or an apartment and we'll match it to a licensed contractor covering your suburb. Firm per-square-metre price after an inspection.
The default in Australian homes now. It goes on clear and stays clear, so the timber keeps its natural colour rather than ambering. Low odour, and it dries fast enough that a floor can take all its coats in a day — which in an apartment with restricted building access hours is worth more than it sounds. Modern two-pack water-based products are as hard-wearing as solvent. It shows every flaw in the preparation, because there is no amber tint to hide behind.
Cheaper, very durable, and it ambers the timber warmly, which some people want. The real cost is time and smell: twenty-four to forty-eight hours between coats and a home nobody can live in while it cures. In a unit that also means the smell reaches the corridor and your neighbours, which is a conversation worth having first. It also keeps ambering for years, so a repair patched in later will not match.
These soak into the timber rather than forming a film. The floor feels like timber rather than plastic, and the real advantage is repairability — a worn patch is cleaned and re-oiled in place with no need to sand the room. The trade-off is maintenance: an oiled floor wants re-oiling every year or two in traffic areas.
Matt, satin, semi-gloss and gloss. Gloss shows every scratch, every crumb and every bit of dust, and it is the single most regretted choice in this trade. Satin is the safe answer. Matt reads as modern and hides the most, though marks show up as shiny patches rather than dull ones.
Bona, Loba, Sikkens, Intergrain, Wattyl and Feast Watson are the names that come up most in Sydney. There is no bad product among them, only products suited to different jobs. What matters more than the brand is whether the system is used as the manufacturer specifies — the right primer, the right number of coats and the right time between them. Ask which system is quoted and how many coats, and get it in writing.
Sydney.
Where this job typically sits. Access is usually a bigger cost driver than size.
| Job | Indicative price | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Sand and polish, per square metre | $40 – $70 /m² | Sydney rates run above the national average. Covers sanding plus coats. |
| Typical 3-bedroom home (~110m²) | $4,400 – $7,500 | Whole floor, sanded and finished. Condition drives the range. |
| Typical 2-bedroom apartment (~70m²) | $2,800 – $4,900 | Before any acoustic underlay, which is a separate line. |
| Single room (~15m²) | $800 – $1,400 | Small jobs carry proportionally more setup. |
| Acoustic underlay, supplied and laid | $25 – $60 /m² | Strata work. The test report matters as much as the product. |
| Acoustic test report | $400 – $1,200 | Field testing to demonstrate compliance where a by-law requires it. |
| Board replacement | $100 – $220 per board | Baltic pine and old hardwood profiles are both hard to match. |
| Extra coat of finish | $9 – $15 /m² | Three coats is standard; a high-traffic hallway may want four. |
| Parquetry restoration | $80 – $130 /m² | Slower and more skilled than strip flooring. |
| Recoat only (no full sand) | $20 – $35 /m² | Where the finish is worn but the timber is sound. Far cheaper. |
Prices are indicative only and usually quoted per square metre. What a floor costs depends on its condition, the timber, how many coats it needs and whether boards have to be replaced. In a strata building, acoustic underlay and testing add to it. You get a firm price after an inspection.
The core job — taking a tired timber floor back to bare wood.
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Getting owners corporation approval before the floor goes in — in the right order.
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Meeting the noise rating your by-law sets — and proving it.
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The softwood under most inner-Sydney terraces, and why it's treated differently.
Read more →Tell us the suburb and the floor area and we'll get it to the right person.
Call 0468 165 354