I'm thinking of getting the 19" Cimex CR48DF and getting into Marble grinding. My biggest concern in pricing. How much can I expect to charge per sq ft? You guys that use this stuff, how much do you charge?

Mr. Amazing
www.amazingcc.com

I'm sure Dave will chime in soon since he is the marble guy(rick's bro).

Grinding will vary in your area i would do a market analysis(aka call around) and see what people are charging. Than figure out what your costs of being in business are so you know what to charge for this service. That will also depend on your chems, pads, diamonds, etc. The cimex grinder is a great machine, you will need 9 sets of each grit, so to me that means your initial cost of doing business might be either higher by the sq footage or you might just take a hit for the first few jobs. A planetario is 3 sets of each grit.

Most guys typically see $900-$1500 a day for this type of work. Not all charge by the sqft but by what it will take. Grinding typically in the $5 average range.

Its cool that you "want to get into marble grinding" but have you have ever done it before? Whose floor will you learn on?
Just because one company charges x amount of dollars doesn't necessarily mean you have to charge that amount,too many factors go into that.

Hi Mr Amazing

As for how much to charge; how much can you grind in a day & how much do you need/want to make in a day? I know the answer two both of those questions for my company but I cant help you out to much with that respect. In a days time Ive made from $0-$17,000.00; the latter doesnt happen nearly as often as Id like though.

Patrick brings up an important point about training. He pretty much oversees the carpet side of his company and his wife oversees the stone side. I know this because she came through our stone class a few years ago. Weather you attend our class or someone elses Id really recommend it. There are so many things that youll come out way ahead on with regards to technique as well as many other areas. It will be well worth it.

A few things that youll want to take into consideration is what are you grinding as in what type of stone. Different ones will respond differently and take more or less time. Do you want a Low Hone, Mid Hone, High Hone or Polished appearance? Will you be filling the floor when the holes open up or will you be leaving it unfilled? Why are you grinding it? Is it just wear and tear youre trying to remove or are you removing lippage or just adjusting the appearance of the floor to suite the home owner? Will you be sealing it when youre done? If so; water based or solvent based sealer and why? How much prep work will be involved, what are the surrounding areas like? (These are just a few of the questions youll need to consider.) I looked at a job today that was only about 450 sq ft and gave them a price of about $5,500.00. It was travertine and with lippage as much a ¼ of an inch. Her response was; Thats more than we paid to have it installed. No doubt thats true, that could be clearly seen in the poor installation job. If she had paid what she should have for the installation (about $3,400.00) she wouldnt have needed me to fix her floor. She also said; I can rip this out and replace it for less than that. Rely?

Demo - $4 per sq ft
Repairing & Prepping the Sub Floor - $?
New Flooring material - $2-6 per sq ft
Setting Material - $1-5 per sq ft
Setting Labor - $4-8
Extreme Noise & Dirt - $?
Damage done to Cabinets & Trim - $?
Being without a kitchen for how long - $?

As for the CR48DF, I own two of them and think theyre very good. Not only do we do stone with them but all so terrazzo, polish concrete, clean T&G, remove mastic, paint & thin set with as well as just about anything else. Theyre great machines.

I hope this helps you some and gives you a few things to think about. If I can help you out any further please dont hesitate to get in touch with me.


David Gelinas
Marbleguy

That's the sort of response I was looking for. Thank you.

Mr. Amazing
www.amazingcc.com