Calculators
Flooring cost calculators
Materials, labour, removal and disposal, per-square-foot comparisons and whole-house budgets.
Flooring quotes arrive as a single number per square foot, and that number hides four different things: the material, the installer's labour, the prep and supplies (underlayment, adhesive, transitions, leveling) and the removal of what was there before. Two quotes that differ by $2 a square foot may differ only in whether the second includes tearing out the old carpet. The calculators in this group pull those parts apart so a quote can be compared like with like.
The defaults are ranges, not promises. They come from published cost surveys and from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data for flooring installers, tile setters and carpet installers, with the year named in each assumption table, and they vary by a factor of two between regions and jobs. Enter the quote you actually have and the calculators tell you where it sits in the range; enter nothing and they give you a bracket to budget with before you start calling installers.
9 calculators
Flooring Cost Estimator
A low-to-high budget for a new floor: material, supplies, labour, removal, trim and tax, by region.
Flooring Installer Labor Cost Calculator
What installation labour costs by material, prep, pattern, region and stairs, and the crew-days behind it.
Flooring Removal & Disposal Cost Calculator
The cost to tear out an old floor and haul it away, the hours to do it yourself, and the debris weight.
Flooring Cost per Square Foot Calculator
A quote turned into a price per square foot and set against the typical range for the same scope.
DIY vs Pro Flooring Calculator
What doing the floor yourself saves after tools, extra waste and the value of your time.
Flooring Installation Time Calculator
Hours and days to remove, prep and lay a floor by material and crew, with the curing waits.
Whole-House Flooring Budget
A room-by-room flooring budget for a house, with stairs, removal and a contingency.
Tile Installation Cost Calculator
An installed tile floor priced from the tile, setting materials, backer, heating and labour by tile size.
Hardwood Flooring Cost Calculator
An installed hardwood floor priced by species, grade, installation method and on-site finishing.
Guides for this topic
Removing an old floor: cost, time, debris and what to watch for
Taking up the old floor is the dirty, heavy part of every flooring job. Carpet comes up in an afternoon; tile set in mortar takes days and weighs a ton. Here is what to expect for each.
Refinishing a hardwood floor: grits, sandpaper, time and finish
A worn wood floor can look new again for a fraction of the cost of replacing it. The job is mostly sanding, and the sanding is mostly arithmetic: area, grits, abrasive life and time.
What flooring installers charge, and how to read a quote
Labour is often as much as the floor itself. Here are the usual ranges per square foot for each floor, what moves them, and the questions that make two quotes comparable.
Questions people ask
- What does it cost to install LVP per square foot?
- Labour alone for click-together luxury vinyl plank typically runs $1.50 to $3.50 per sq ft in published surveys, with the plank itself adding $2 to $6. With 10% waste and the underlayment or pad, an installed floor typically comes to about $3.80 to $10.60 per sq ft before removal of the old floor, so a 400 sq ft room is roughly $1,500 to $4,200. Glue-down and stairs cost more.
- How much does tile installation cost?
- Tile is the most labour-intensive floor: setting labour usually runs $5 to $12 per sq ft depending on tile size, pattern and the prep, with large-format tile, mosaics and diagonal or herringbone layouts at the top. Add the tile ($2 to $15 per sq ft), thinset, grout and board, and an installed tile floor is commonly $10 to $25 per sq ft.
- What does a hardwood floor cost installed?
- Prefinished select oak costs about $5 to $9 per sq ft for the wood and $4 to $8 for nailing it down; site-finished adds sanding and three coats, usually $2 to $4 more. Engineered wood is similar in material but cheaper to lay when it floats. A 500 sq ft living room in prefinished select oak is typically $4,900 to $9,300 with waste and supplies.
- What does it cost to remove old flooring?
- Pulling up carpet and pad costs about $0.50 to $1.50 per sq ft including disposal; tile and glued-down vinyl or hardwood run $2 to $5 per sq ft because of the labour. A dumpster for a whole house adds $300 to $600. Resilient flooring from before the mid-1980s may contain asbestos and should be tested before anyone disturbs it; see the EPA guidance.
- How much do I save by installing flooring myself?
- You save the labour, which is roughly a third to a half of an installed price for click flooring and more for tile, less the tool rental, the extra waste a first-timer produces and the value of your weekends. On a 400 sq ft LVP floor that is typically $800 to $1,400 of labour saved, less about $120 of tools and extra waste, for 15 or more hours of work by a first-timer. The DIY vs pro calculator puts your own numbers in.
More calculators on our other sites
Roofings Calculator
Shingles, pitch, rafters, metal panels, gutters, ventilation and what a new roof costs.
The Woven Garden
Garden and yard calculators for mulch, soil, gravel, sod, pavers, fences and decks.