Dry Ice Blasting Cost
How much does dry ice blasting cost and is it more expensive than other media blasting solutions?
Dry ice cleaning is a dynamic media blasting service with often inconsistent pricing throughout the industry. Some contractors charge by the day with costs between $2,500 – $4,500 others charging by the sqft. with a range of $3-$5 per sqft. This price variation is caused by several elements that we will cover below. The biggest considerations in why pricing varies is in part due to dry ice media availability, blasting equipment used and job complexity.
Quantity of Dry Ice and Contracts
For nearly all dry ice blasting contractors, Merritt Industrial included, ice is produced and procured by a gas supply company. An important part of your selection process in finding the right blasting contractor is to ensure the contractor has access to the amount of dry ice media needed to complete your project. Once you’ve confirmed you contractor has access to fresh, pelletized dry ice, be sure to confirm they can obtain the amount needed for your project. Over the years we have seen many situations where a contractor miscalculated the amount of dry ice needed for project completion thus leading to higher project costs and prolonged, even incomplete completion times.
Dry Ice Pricing
The amount a contractor pays per lb of blasting ice will greatly impact the overall proposal. Depending on their contracted rates/agreements dry ice per lb for an established industrial dry ice blasting contractor can vary between .60 -$1.20 per lb plus transport and container charges. Merritt Industrial has agreements with three different ice manufactures to guarantee material coverage for current and proposed projects. In choosing Merritt Industrial contractors you’re selecting a partner with built-in redundancy to ensure your project is executed as originally agreed.
Dry Ice Blasting Equipment Used
The amount of dry ice a contractor will use during a project will vary significantly based on their air delivery system and ice blasting equipment. Surprisingly, the dry ice blasting machine manufacturing market isn’t as big as one may suspect. While a few vendors do offer blasting equipment, the mainstay name in the production of dry ice blasting machines is ColdJet based in Loveland, Ohio. Merritt Industrial exclusively runs ColdJet blasting machines, but more importantly, we operate several different styles of dry ice blasting machines from ColdJet.
View the Cold Jet Dry Ice Blasting machines used at Merritt Industrial.
This is extremely important as it allows us to deploy the right dry ice blasting equipment for the different cleaning needs, but it also allows us extreme flexibility in ice consumption and we pass that savings to our client. A standard commercial machine can run up to 5-7lbs of dry ice per minute and in the hands of inexperienced technicians can quickly upend a budget causing a contractor to seek additional compensation for ice after they’ve procured your job. We believe in getting it right the first time and make sure we’re using the right configuration for the job.
Job Complexity and Location:
The number of use cases for dry ice blasting is seemingly endless and that can create a dangerous situation for inexperienced, but ambitious service providers. We recommend getting up to 3 different quotes when seeking a dry ice blasting contractor. In doing so you will likely better understand the scale and opportunity of the cleaning you’re requesting. This is also important you measure the experience of each submitting party to see how they would approach your project.
As an industrial contractor, each jobsite environment is different and proposes its own unique challenges. In many cases difficult access or prolonged setup or moving of scaffolding may be necessary thus adding additional time and expense to you project. Your firm may need emergency services that require a contractor to leave their localized service area or jobsite to service your needs or perhaps your cleaning falls outside normal business hours. You want a contractor that can forecast these challenges, considers them when building their estimate and walks you through why their pricing may be higher or lower when compared to other submissions.