Trying to buy flooring

[e0820]

So I am trying to get Laminate flooring for 3 rooms and a hallway which is somewhere around 600sq feet and 85 yards of carpet for 3 rooms.

I had Luna come out and suspected it was a sub contractor. He started around $11000 for Shaw brand and settled around $3800. However he wanted a commitment and deposit from me 10 minutes after he gave me the price. I hadnt seen the actual product I was buying, I didnt know thickness/density/AC rating. When I said I needed more time he left without a card or handshake just a, sorry we couldnt do business.

Next I had Empire come out, again I suspected a sub contractor. His price was more in the $9000 range and didnt budge.

Going off of Home Depots pricing (I didnt get a quote, just guessing from what I see in stores), Pergo should be like $49 for 20 sq feet which means I pay about $1800 and then at the most $1000 labor to install. Carpet is $97 whole house install and about $3 a sq foot (85*$9) $862 = 2662. So I am guessing around $2800 for everything.

Am I being unrealistic on my $2800 calculation?

I cant do this myself, 1- I suck at measuring, 2- I cant visualize any improvement projects and it doesnt make sense to me.

[TIm]

Re: Trying to buy flooring

So I am trying to get Laminate flooring for 3 rooms and a hallway which is somewhere around 600sq feet and 85 yards of carpet for 3 rooms.

I had Luna come out and suspected it was a sub contractor. He started around $11000 for Shaw brand and settled around $3800. However he wanted a commitment and deposit from me 10 minutes after he gave me the price. I hadnt seen the actual product I was buying, I didnt know thickness/density/AC rating. When I said I needed more time he left without a card or handshake just a, sorry we couldnt do business.

Next I had Empire come out, again I suspected a sub contractor. His price was more in the $9000 range and didnt budge.

Going off of Home Depots pricing (I didnt get a quote, just guessing from what I see in stores), Pergo should be like $49 for 20 sq feet which means I pay about $1800 and then at the most $1000 labor to install. Carpet is $97 whole house install and about $3 a sq foot (85*$9) $862 = 2662. So I am guessing around $2800 for everything.

Am I being unrealistic on my $2800 calculation?

I cant do this myself, 1- I suck at measuring, 2- I cant visualize any improvement projects and it doesnt make sense to me.

Can you give me some more details on your areas? Ie: what is your subfloor, Do you have to have Rip up existing flooring, In their quotes, did they quote in some sort of underlayment/Floor Patch, Did they quote matching or paint grade 1/4 round labor?? Things of that nature. For the carpet portion 97.00 whole house labor ias BASIC LABOR... And on our calculation you have for basic things are wrong.. You should be at 3,000 alone for laminate with no options... Then for 892 SqFt of carpet Basic around 2762 so for both with no option is almost 6 G's

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Trying to buy flooring

Laying carpet and flooring is a highly specialized trade, not many know how to do it, therefore you going to pay out the arse for labor. That being said, you not going to find anybody to lay floor or carpet for 3 rooms under $3,000.

So you being WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY unrealistic.

My brother in law does flooring and carpeting. Labor is charged by the square foot. And no way in hell he would do 600sq ft for under $3,000.

For 1sq ft, labor is from $10 to $20, depending on the condition of your sub flooring and the type of carpet or floor they have to lay on top of it.

[elgreazy1]

Re: Trying to buy flooring

You can always do it yourself. I wasn't the most handy person in the world when I did mine but once you start doing things yourself you would be surprised at what you can accomplish. Sure it may not turn out great the first time, but you learn and then improve over time. Now I can do flooring like it's a breeze, but having the right equipment (which you can rent at a Home Depot or Lowe's) helps a lot while reading up and watching online tutorials helps a ton.

As for cheap flooring, check out your local Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill, etc for super cheap prices and for cheap new product don't knock looking at IKEA. That's where I got my flooring from on my last house.

And again, I have to stress: TOOLS OF THE TRADE!

[Watson]

Re: Trying to buy flooring

yea, we just decided to lay porcelain tiles in our kitchen, and it is way, way harder than you think or than it looks.

they're professionals for a reason.

[e0820]

Re: Trying to buy flooring

Can you give me some more details on your areas? Ie: what is your subfloor, Do you have to have Rip up existing flooring, In their quotes, did they quote in some sort of underlayment/Floor Patch, Did they quote matching or paint grade 1/4 round labor?? Things of that nature. For the carpet portion 97.00 whole house labor ias BASIC LABOR... And on our calculation you have for basic things are wrong.. You should be at 3,000 alone for laminate with no options... Then for 892 SqFt of carpet Basic around 2762 so for both with no option is almost 6 G's

Subfloor is plywood. There is carpet their now, I can pull that and the tack strips up. Underlayment was 1/2" from one and 1/8" from other. Niether showed me anything, they said the quarter round was included. I dont get your numbers, I would need 600 sq feet for laminate and 85 yards of carpet for all three rooms. A box of laminate is 20sq feet, wouldnt that be around 30+ boxes?

[TIm]

Re: Trying to buy flooring

Subfloor is plywood. There is carpet their now, I can pull that and the tack strips up. Underlayment was 1/2" from one and 1/8" from other. Niether showed me anything, they said the quarter round was included. I dont get your numbers, I would need 600 sq feet for laminate and 85 yards of carpet for all three rooms. A box of laminate is 20sq feet, wouldnt that be around 30+ boxes?

Laminate 600SqFt 30Bx's @ 49.00 box= 1,470
Labor Laminate 600SqFt @ 1.90SqFt= 1140
Underlayment "Moisture Barrier" 6 rolls @ 14.98 roll= 89.88
Add 200.00 for 1/4 rd
TOTAL=2,899.00

Carpet 801 SqFt x 3.00 Sqft for carpet and pad= 2,403.00
Basic Labor "At our Store" 97.00 Whole house.
Total= 2,500

Both Together= 5,399.00

Now keep in mind if you do your own rip up and haul, That you don't pull up tack strip in carpet areas.. They can re use existing tack.. depending on condition of floor there may be addt'l floor prep charge at time of install

[TIm]

Re: Trying to buy flooring

Laying carpet and flooring is a highly specialized trade, not many know how to do it, therefore you going to pay out the arse for labor. That being said, you not going to find anybody to lay floor or carpet for 3 rooms under $3,000.

So you being WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY unrealistic.

My brother in law does flooring and carpeting. Labor is charged by the square foot. And no way in hell he would do 600sq ft for under $3,000.

For 1sq ft, labor is from $10 to $20, depending on the condition of your sub flooring and the type of carpet or floor they have to lay on top of it.

You are right in a sense.. However, at the Box Stores IE LOWES,Home Depot, They charge 97.00 whole house to the customer whether it be 1 room or 20 residential... Of course Rip up/Haul, Furniture, appliances are additional charges. Yes we pay the installer "Up the Arse" lol but customer doesn't pay much at all.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Trying to buy flooring

I would add one more thing. If you decide to rip the carpet up yourself, take pictures of the before and after. Once you get the carpet up, take pictures of the padding, once you rip that up, take picture of the tack boards and subflooring.

Reason being, that way whoever you decide to lay stuff down for you, they can't lie and say you damage this or that and now we have to replace this and charge you some out of this world price to fix something they really don't need to fix.

[TIm]

Re: Trying to buy flooring

I would add one more thing. If you decide to rip the carpet up yourself, take pictures of the before and after. Once you get the carpet up, take pictures of the padding, once you rip that up, take picture of the tack boards and subflooring.

Reason being, that way whoever you decide to lay stuff down for you, they can't lie and say you damage this or that and now we have to replace this and charge you some out of this world price to fix something they really don't need to fix.

Good point

[cardsfan2222]

Re: Trying to buy flooring

We carpeted about 1000 square feet of our house and put laminate on 300 or so square feet a couple of years ago, and spent about $3,000 total if I remember correctly. The labor portion was only about $1,000, but we ripped up the carpet and tile ourselves.

[e0820]

Re: Trying to buy flooring

We carpeted about 1000 square feet of our house and put laminate on 300 or so square feet a couple of years ago, and spent about $3,000 total if I remember correctly. The labor portion was only about $1,000, but we ripped up the carpet and tile ourselves.

That seems more like it. Do you know how much the laminate was per sq foot?

I did a measure myself and I would need 480sq ft laminate flooring 150sq feet. I already ripped carpet from 2 of the rooms, strips and all the staples from the padding. I dont mind ripping the rest out or moving furniture.

[cardsfan2222]

Re: Trying to buy flooring

I really don't remember. I want to say it was in the 2-2.50 range, but I don't remember for sure