Hi all,

Just retired from the Air Force and starting a flooring business. I really want to focus on screen and recoats for now and have a 900 sq ft job lined up. Which floor machine would you guys recommend for buff and recoats?

I have my eye on the Clarke CFP Pro 20HD.

Also, doing the screen and recoat job for $600. Is that a fair price?

Any advice is much appreciated!

Depends on lots of factors to make the price. The number sounds fair, however you may end up needing two coats of finish for one reason or another. The first coat takes lots of work, but if you need to coat twice, better add for that, like twice the cost of finish and another day's work, whether it would take a day or not. You need to figure two days, in case. If you foo need two coats, a second coat will mean not going to another job that day.
You should also spend some time making a sample spot to see if there is good adhesion, waiting for the spot to dry and test, before coating the whole floor.
It's a lot to charge for cleaning, scuffing and coating, but getting adhesion issues may mean having to sand to bare wood and refinishing, whether you know how to do it or will need to pay someone to get you out of a spot.

Thanks for the info Pete. We agreed to one coat. If another is needed we'll adjust the price.

I'm trying to get my pricing right. Is $1.00 per sq ft a fair price for a screen and recoat with one coat of oil base poly?

And yes, my biggest fear is adhesion failure. If I scrub the heck out of the floor with mineral spirits I should be good right?

A dollar a square foot is too cheap to charge, considering all the responsibility that you assume for your work. If it costs you a certain amount for your labor and materials, you must double it, if you want to stay in business. You have other costs that need to be covered, too. It's a lot of work just to get the floor clean and rinsed. Then you will need to scuff to create a dull surface for better adhesion.
You will have more success if you use an alcohol based cleaner to get up acrylics.
Floor polishes are usually acrylics. I think it takes up all the water soluble dirt, too.
Many floor mechanics will not re-coat, they would rather refinish, so you will probably have an open market, as far as finding work.
A dollar a square foot for an extra coat of finish at the end of a re-finish sounds more in line, where you are coating an uncured floor which will stick easily, not for a coat over an old floor.
If this type of job was easy, an unexperienced homeowner could do it with the long term success that a floor finish needs to have.