Sanding is irreversible. A floor has a finite number of them in it, and a lot of Sydney's floors have already spent most of theirs.
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 floor sanding. 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.
Three passes with progressively finer abrasive, taking the floor back past the old finish and any surface damage to clean timber. Edges and corners are done separately with a smaller machine, which is why they take disproportionate time.
Then the coats go on — usually three. The sanding is the skilled part; the coating is where patience shows.
A solid hardwood board typically allows three to five full sands across its life. A century-old baltic pine floor in a terrace may have had three of those already, which changes the conversation entirely.
Engineered boards are different again — the wear layer may allow one light sand, or none. Establishing which of the three you have is the first question on any Sydney floor, not an afterthought.
If the finish is worn but the timber underneath is sound, a **recoat** does the job for roughly half the price and spends none of the floor's remaining thickness.
If you're in a strata building and changing from carpet, the approval comes first — before anyone books a sander. Owners who reverse that order are the ones who end up pulling a new floor back up.
Area, condition and coats. Sydney jobs are typically quoted at $40 to $70 a square metre, so a three-bedroom home lands around $4,400 to $7,500 and a two-bedroom apartment around $2,800 to $4,900.
Acoustic underlay in a unit, and board replacement anywhere, are separate lines. Make sure they're in the quote rather than discovered later.
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.
Getting owners corporation approval before the floor goes in — in the right order.
Read more →Meeting the noise rating your by-law sets — and proving it.
Read more →The softwood under most inner-Sydney terraces, and why it's treated differently.
Read more →The finish itself — water-based or solvent, and how many coats.
Read more →Tell us the suburb and the floor area and we'll get it to the right person.
Call 0468 165 354