Side by side
| Factor | DIY kit | Professional install |
|---|---|---|
| Up-front cost | $200-$600 | $4,000-$6,000 |
| Surface preparation | Acid etch | Diamond grind to CSP 2-3 |
| Film thickness | 2-4 mils | 25-35 mils |
| Solids content | 40-50% | 100% |
| UV-stable topcoat | Usually none | Two coats polyaspartic |
| Moisture testing | None | Before quoting |
| Typical service life | 1-2 seasons | 15-20+ years |
| Cost per year of service | About $300 | About $300 |
Gold marks the stronger option for that factor. A tie is shown in neutral text.
A kit genuinely makes sense when
The floor is cosmetic and short-term: a shed, a rental you are about to hand back, or a house going on the market next month. There is also one DIY job worth doing properly, which is a penetrating densifier at around a dollar per square foot in materials. It stops a slab dusting, has no film to fail, and is very hard to get wrong.
Go professional when
You intend to keep the floor. The gap is not margin, it is film thickness, mechanical surface preparation and roughly $30,000 of grinding and dust-extraction equipment the kit assumes you do not have. Note the cost-per-year row: the two are close, but only one of them leaves you with a floor at the end.
The removal cost nobody prices in
Grinding a partially bonded failed film off a slab is slower and harder on tooling than grinding bare concrete, so removal adds $500-$1,500 on a two-car garage. That is on top of the professional quote you were comparing against in the first place, which makes the $400 experiment the more expensive route.
Not sure which applies to your slab?
The site visit includes a moisture reading and an honest look at the concrete, then a written fixed price. We will tell you when the cheaper option is the right one.