Short answer: dustless blasting in the Bay Area starts at about $3 per square foot, and larger projects are priced at $2,500 per crew day. Concrete grind & seal starts at $2 per square foot. Those are our published rates, and most projects land close to them. What follows is what makes a job land above or below the baseline, so you can sanity-check any quote you get — ours included.
The baseline numbers
| Work | Typical starting price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Wet abrasive (dustless) blasting | $3 / sq ft | Paint, rust, coatings on concrete, steel, brick, wood |
| Concrete grind & seal | $2 / sq ft | Remove coatings, flatten, clear sealer |
| Polished concrete | Quoted per project | Grit sequence and sheen drive price |
| Crew day rate | $2,500 / day | Self-contained rig, 2-person crew, media included |
| Estimate | Free | Most priced by phone the same day |
A crew day covers roughly 800–1,500 sq ft of blasting depending on the coating, so the day rate and the per-foot rate converge on larger jobs. We quote whichever is lower for you.
Six things that move the price
1. What's on the surface. One coat of latex on concrete is fast. Four coats of elastomeric over a bad primer is slow. Epoxy and urethane floor systems are slower still because they're designed to resist exactly what we're doing. Tell us what you know about the coating history — it's the biggest variable.
2. The substrate. Steel and concrete take aggressive media at full pressure. Brick, soft stone and wood need softer media and lower pressure, which means more passes and more time. The same square footage on a brick wall can cost 50–100% more than on a concrete wall.
3. Access and setup. Our rigs are self-contained — air, water and power ride on the truck — so the only thing we need is parking within hose reach (roughly 150 ft). Interior floors on upper levels, work inside occupied buildings, and sites that need containment all add setup time.
4. Square footage. Small jobs carry a minimum because the rig has to mobilize either way. Above about 500 sq ft the per-foot rate drops toward the day-rate equivalent.
5. Finish requirement. "Make it clean enough to repaint" and "blast to SSPC-SP10 near-white for a tank lining" are different jobs on the same steel. If you have a coating spec, send it; we'll prep to it and document it.
6. Disposal. Spent media and slurry from ordinary paint is non-hazardous and included. Lead paint, or coatings over asbestos-containing mastic, require containment and licensed disposal, quoted separately.
Examples from recent work
- Two-car garage floor, painted, Oakland. 440 sq ft, one coat of garage-floor paint over concrete. Blasted and ready for epoxy in half a day. Priced at the per-foot rate.
- Steel trailer, San Leandro. 20-ft flatbed, rusted, old paint. Blasted to bare metal with rust inhibitor, one crew day.
- Painted brick storefront, San Francisco. 300 sq ft of face brick under two coats of latex. Soft media, low pressure, test patch first. Priced higher per foot than concrete — and we declined a neighboring wall under silicone paint because it couldn't be done without damaging the brick.
- Warehouse floor grind & seal, Hayward. 6,000 sq ft, old adhesive and paint lines. Two crew days of grinding, one of sealing.
Dustless blasting vs. the alternatives on cost
Pressure washing is cheaper per foot and usually doesn't remove sound paint — it removes what's already failing and leaves the rest. Chemical stripping is cheap in materials and expensive in labor, dwell time and disposal. Grinding removes coatings on floors but can't do walls, steel or anything shaped. Dustless blasting sits in the middle: faster than chemicals, more complete than washing, and the only option for most vertical and shaped surfaces.
How to get an accurate quote fast
Send or tell us three things: the surface (concrete, steel, brick, wood), the approximate square footage, and what's on it (a photo helps). Most projects we can price over the phone the same day. If we need to see it, we're usually on site within 24 hours. There's no deposit on most jobs, and commercial clients are set up on net-30 terms.
Call (628) 222-4876 or use the instant quote form — we're open seven days, 6 AM to 8 PM.
