What budget fits a grocery store back room floor near Ottawa?

Published 2025-2026 contractor ranges put a commercial-grade epoxy system at about $8 to $15 per square foot installed, with lighter commercial systems from about $5 per square foot. A polyaspartic or polyurea system runs about $6 to $15 per square foot. For a grocery back room, the condition of the slab and the demands of the space will move the number within those ranges.

Several factors affect where your quote lands:

• Slab condition and the amount of prep work needed, including crack and joint repair
• Whether old adhesive, tile or a previous coating must be removed before the new system goes down
• Moisture test results and whether a moisture-tolerant primer is required
• Anti-slip aggregate broadcast into the finish coat
• Cove base linear footage along the walls
• Job size, and whether the work must happen after hours or in phases to keep the store running

Food Premises Rules Worth Knowing

O. Reg. 493/17 (Food Premises), s.7(1)(c), requires that floors in rooms where food is handled, stored, packaged or sold be tight, smooth and non-absorbent, and s.7(1)(g) requires them to be kept clean and in good repair. A seamless resinous floor with an integral cove base is one way to meet those requirements; the regulation does not name it as the only way. Ottawa Public Health enforces this regulation and asks to be notified when a food premises is being significantly renovated. Whether re-coating an existing back room floor counts as a significant renovation is a question OPH has not answered on its public pages, so ask OPH before booking the work.

Standard surface prep, when it is not already included in a quote, runs about $1 to $3 per square foot extra. Heavy resurfacing of damaged concrete costs more, and we found too few published prices to give a range for moisture-mitigation primers, cove base or anti-slip texture. Check whether each of those items is in the quote or priced separately.

Before the contractor starts, obtain a WSIB clearance certificate and confirm they carry liability insurance. Under WSIB policy 14-02-19, a business that hires a contractor for construction work must have a clearance in place before work begins; the householder exemption does not apply to a business. Ask the contractor for the product data sheets and safety data sheets for every product they plan to use, and read Section 2 of each SDS for hazard information.

Before you sign, ask the contractor what moisture test results they need from your slab, and what they will do if the slab reads above the limit on their chosen product's data sheet.