Floor Sanding Cost Calculator
Price a sand and polish on existing timber floorboards, including how much extra you pay for cupped or paint-covered boards, water-based versus solvent coatings, and stair treads.
Measure only the timber you want coated. Skip wet areas and anything already tiled.
Adhesive and paint chew through abrasive belts far faster than bare timber.
Ask how many millimetres of wear layer are left before you commit. Solid strip flooring can usually take four to six full sands over its life, but an engineered board with a 3mm veneer may only have one left in it.
Water based coatings are touch dry in two to three hours and let you walk on the floor the next day. Solvent coatings need three to five days of ventilation and the fumes make the house genuinely unpleasant to live in.
💰 Ways to save
- Clear the house completely before the crew arrives, including light fittings within reach, curtains, doors off hinges and skirting quad if it is being replaced. Sanders commonly charge $60 to $85 an hour for furniture shifting, and a single morning of moving your things is $300 to $500 you could have kept.
- Sand every timber room in one visit rather than doing the lounge now and the bedrooms next year. Set up, containment, edger hire and travel are close to fixed at $400 to $700 per mobilisation, so a second trip repeats that cost for the same square metre rate, and matching a two year old coating batch is nearly impossible anyway.
- Drop from three coats to two only in low traffic bedrooms, never in a hallway, kitchen or living space. The third coat is about $8 to $12 per square metre but it is what carries the abrasion, and putting it back later means a full re-sand rather than a simple recoat.
- If the floor is structurally fine and only looks tired, ask about a buff and recoat instead of a full sand. It runs roughly $18 to $28 per square metre against $38 to $55 for a full cut back, it takes one day instead of three, and it preserves board thickness for a real sand later on.
or from $24/week over 5 years , indicative finance
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## What floor sanding actually costs in Australia in 2026
Pricing reviewed: June 2026.
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Pricing reviewed June 2026. Indicative Australian costs, not a quote.
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Understanding floor sanding costs in Australia
What floor sanding actually costs in Australia in 2026
The going rate for a straightforward sand and polish on solid timber sits between $38 and $55 per square metre nationally, with metro Sydney and Melbourne clustering around $45 to $60 and regional operators quoting $32 to $45. A typical 100 square metre single storey house therefore lands between $3,800 and $5,500 for three coats of polyurethane. Smaller jobs do not scale down proportionally: a 25 square metre single room is rarely under $1,200 because the setup, dust containment and edging time barely change.
Almost every quote you receive will be structured as a rate per square metre with a minimum job charge attached, usually $900 to $1,400. That minimum exists because the crew still has to cart in a drum sander, an edger, a rotary buffer and a dust extraction unit for a room that takes four hours. If you are only doing one bedroom, expect to pay well above the headline rate on a per metre basis.
How board condition changes the number
Condition is the single biggest swing factor after area. A previously coated floor with light wear needs one cut back and three coats, and quotes near the bottom of the range. A floor that has been under carpet with tack strips, staples and glue residue can add 20 to 45 per cent because the crew burns through abrasive belts at three times the normal rate and has to hand scrape adhesive out of board joints.
Cupping is the one to watch. When boards have absorbed moisture and lifted at the edges, flattening them takes multiple passes at increasing grits and removes far more timber than a routine sand. Sanders will often quote a range rather than a fixed price on cupped floors because they cannot see how deep the distortion goes until the first pass is done. Get that contingency stated in writing as a dollar cap rather than an open ended hourly rate.
Painted floors deserve their own conversation. Anything painted before 1980 in Australia has a real chance of lead in the coating. Managing that properly means containment, HEPA extraction and controlled waste disposal, which adds $600 to $1,500 to a mid sized job. A quote that does not mention it has not priced it.
Coating systems and what you get for the money
Solvent based polyurethane remains the cheapest per litre and builds the hardest film, which is why it still dominates rental and investment property work. The trade off is a strong amber tint that deepens over the years, three to five days of aggressive fumes, and a coating that yellows noticeably over blackbutt or Tasmanian oak.
Water based polyurethane costs roughly 10 to 20 per cent more to apply, dries clear, holds the natural colour of the timber, and lets you back into the house the next day. Most residential sanding in capital cities has shifted to water based for exactly that reason. Two pack water based systems are dearer again at around $55 to $70 per square metre installed, but they are the toughest domestic finish available.
Hard wax oil sits at a similar price to premium water based, around $50 to $65 per square metre. It penetrates rather than sitting on top, so scratches can be spot repaired with a rag and a tin instead of a full recoat. The catch is maintenance: traffic lanes want re-oiling every two to four years, and if you sell the house the next owner may not keep it up.
Stairs, gap filling and the extras that blow budgets
Stairs are priced separately and they are expensive. A standard flight of about 13 treads and risers runs $800 to $1,200 because every surface is hand sanded, the nosings need detail work, and the whole flight has to be coated in a sequence that leaves you a way up and down. Two flights or a landing return commonly reaches $1,600 to $2,200.
Gap filling adds roughly $6 to $10 per square metre and is genuinely worth it in older homes where wide gaps let draughts and dust through. Board replacement is quoted per board, usually $60 to $120 each installed, and the real cost is sourcing matching stock. Old Baltic pine and hardwood widths are not made any more, so a reclaimed board plus fitting can hit $150.
Timeline and living arrangements
A 100 square metre sand and polish takes three working days. Day one is the cut back and edging, day two is the first two coats, day three is the final coat. With water based product you can walk on it in socks after 24 hours, put light furniture back after three days, and lay rugs after 14 days once the coating has fully cross linked.
With solvent based coatings, plan to be out of the house for four to six days. The fumes are not merely unpleasant, they are a genuine problem for anyone with asthma or young children. Factor accommodation into the comparison if a cheaper solvent quote pushes you into a hotel for three nights.
Getting comparable quotes
Insist that every quote states the number of coats, the specific product name and the grit sequence. Three coats of a named commercial grade water based polyurethane is a different job to two coats of a builders grade product, yet both get written as sand and polish. Also confirm dust extraction is included, because the difference between a machine with proper extraction and one without is a week of cleaning fine timber dust out of your wardrobes.
Finally, ask for the site address of a floor the sander finished more than two years ago rather than a photo taken the day of completion. Every fresh floor looks superb. What separates a good operator from a cheap one only shows up once the coating has had a couple of summers of foot traffic.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to sand and polish 100 square metres of timber floor?
Between $3,800 and $5,500 for three coats of polyurethane in most Australian capital cities, which works out at $38 to $55 per square metre. Regional operators often quote $32 to $45 per square metre, and a two pack water based system pushes the same floor to $5,500 to $7,000.
Is there a minimum charge for floor sanding?
Yes, almost always $900 to $1,400. A single 20 square metre bedroom still requires the full kit of drum sander, edger, buffer and dust extraction, so the minimum covers mobilisation. Doing four rooms in one visit rather than one room at a time is the cheapest way to buy sanding.
How many times can a timber floor be sanded?
Solid strip flooring with a 12mm to 19mm wear layer above the tongue takes four to six full sands, each removing roughly 1mm to 1.5mm. Engineered boards depend entirely on veneer thickness: a 6mm veneer allows two or three sands, while a 2mm to 3mm veneer allows one at most, or none if it has already been done.
What does it cost to sand stairs?
Around $800 to $1,200 for a standard flight of about 13 treads and risers, because every face is hand sanded and detail cut. Two flights or a flight with a landing return typically comes in at $1,600 to $2,200. Stairs are always quoted on top of the square metre floor rate, never included in it.
Can I sand my own floors to save money?
Machine hire runs about $90 to $150 a day for a drum sander plus $60 to $90 for an edger, and abrasives for 100 square metres add $250 to $400, so a DIY sand costs $700 to $1,100 in materials and hire. The risk is real though: a drum sander left stationary for two seconds cuts a dish into the board that only a professional re-sand can remove.
Should I choose water based or solvent based polyurethane?
Water based costs about 10 to 20 per cent more, dries clear rather than amber, and lets you back in the house within 24 hours. Solvent based is cheaper and builds a slightly harder film but needs four to six days of ventilation and yellows over time. For an owner occupied home the water based premium of roughly $400 to $700 on a 100 square metre floor is usually worth paying.
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