What is a fair office furniture and edge policy?
List what occupants remove, what the floor crew moves, what requires a specialist, and what stays. Light chairs and waste bins may be included; loaded files, safes, server racks, copiers, medical equipment, wired cubicles, and delicate furniture often need separate handling or exclusion. Never drag a loaded cabinet across fresh finish to keep a reset promise.
For items that remain, define the stop line and edge method. The crew should not flood finish under equipment, leave black buildup at baseboards, or promise an invisible blend beneath an immovable. Photograph pre-existing damage and use furniture feet or protective glides only after the stated cure interval.
How should an occupied office be phased?
Group rooms into zones that preserve entrances, restrooms, exits, accessible routes, security, and essential staff functions. Decide whether employees work remotely, relocate, or use completed zones. Lockable offices need authorized access without exposing confidential papers; facility staff should clear sensitive materials rather than handing them to the floor crew.
Work backward from the first employee arrival. A recoat can fit a shorter window than a full strip; burnishing can fit shorter still. A weekend may be cheaper than 5 fragmented night mobilizations even if the hourly premium is higher. Compare total labor, security, and reset—not only the after-hours line item.
What floor type problems are common in mixed offices?
An office may combine VCT corridors, LVT suites, ceramic restrooms, carpet, sealed concrete, and wood-look plank. A single wax everything proposal is a red flag. Map each substrate and assign compatible care. Modern LVT/LVP normally should not receive acrylic wax; glazed ceramic should not be coated as though it were VCT.
Transitions and thresholds collect finish, stripper, and dirty water if the crew treats the floor map as one surface. Protect carpet edges, door tracks, elevator sills, baseboards, and adjoining no-wax floors. The scope should say where chemistry stops and how rinse water is recovered near sensitive boundaries.
What does office floor care cost in July 2026?
National comparison bands remain $0.04–$0.08 for burnishing, $0.20–$0.40 for scrub-and-recoat, and $0.50–$1.50 per square foot for normal stripping and waxing. Office totals move upward per foot when room count, furniture, edges, security, access, multiple nights, and reset dominate production.
Ask for a measured zone schedule with open-area square feet, obstructed-area square feet, room count, included moves, exclusions, edge policy, mobilizations, coat system, HVAC, handback, and taxes. A $300–$400 job minimum can also dominate a small suite. The actual provider confirms every quote after walkthrough.
What should happen from walkthrough through handback?
The walkthrough maps every substrate and room, counts furniture categories, identifies secure or sensitive areas, confirms staff-clearing responsibilities, and creates a phase schedule. The floor crew we send works only in released zones, documents fixed-item boundaries, controls chemistry at transitions, and resets agreed furniture after the stated cure and facility approval.
The schedule must state the building release, latest start, expected coat intervals, HVAC setting, barricades, traffic classes, reset responsibilities, and named handback contacts. The provider confirms product instructions and actual conditions. If the agreed opening cannot be protected, the authorized choices are a smaller zone, different maintenance rung, added night, weekend, or postponement.
What if the floor reveals a different condition?
If the crew finds LVT mislabeled as VCT, hidden damage under a mat, loose tile, wet adhesive, an immovable that blocks the process, or a secure room not released, document and defer that zone. Do not improvise with a stronger chemical or coat around uncertainty. The provider prices the changed scope before proceeding.
Changes should be documented with the affected zone, photographs, proposed method, quantity, cost, schedule effect, and reason. The facility manager can approve, defer, reduce, or seek another opinion. A hidden condition is possible; it is not permission to expand the scope or apply finish over uncertainty without authorization.
How should you compare written proposals?
Compare usable area, rooms, substrates, open versus obstructed production, included furniture, excluded equipment, file and cubicle policy, edges, transitions, security, key access, phases, mobilizations, chemistry, coats, HVAC, cure, reset, taxes, and correction terms. Require the same floor map from every bidder.
Texas does not issue a state floor-care license, so verify the actual provider's business identity, relevant substrate experience, property-required insurance, product knowledge, references when available, payment terms, and responsibility for correction. Cleaning services are generally sales-taxable. The provider's measured written quote—not a national comparison band—is the price for the facility.