Quoted per square metre, so the number you're given depends entirely on being measured properly.
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 prices. 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.
$40 to $70 a square metre for sand and polish, which covers the sanding plus coats. Sydney runs above the national average.
A three-bedroom home of around 110m² lands between $4,400 and $7,500. A two-bedroom apartment around 70m² is $2,800 to $4,900 before any acoustic work. A single room runs $800 to $1,400 — small jobs carry proportionally more setup.
Acoustic underlay supplied and laid is $25 to $60 a square metre, and a field acoustic test report is $400 to $1,200 where a by-law requires one.
These are genuine costs specific to apartment work, and they're the ones most often missing from a first quote. If you're in strata and the quote doesn't mention acoustic underlay, the quote is incomplete.
Board replacement, $100 to $220 each. An extra coat, $9 to $15 a metre. Stain, on top.
Get these itemised. A cheap headline rate with the extras discovered afterwards is the most common way these jobs blow out.
A **recoat** at $20 to $35 a metre instead of a full sand, if the timber is sound — and in an apartment it also avoids the approval process.
And doing the whole floor at once rather than room by room: the setup cost is spread and the finish matches, which it won't if you stage it over years.
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.
Read more →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 →Tell us the suburb and the floor area and we'll get it to the right person.
Call 0468 165 354