Cost & hiring
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.
How installers price
Most flooring installers price per square foot of floor, with separate charges for preparation, removal, stairs, trim and moving furniture, and a minimum charge for small jobs, often $300 to $500. Carpet is often priced per square yard and stairs per step. A few price by the day. Whatever the unit, the figure has to cover the installer’s time and the business behind it.
Typical ranges
| Floor | Installation labour per sq ft | About sq ft per crew-day |
|---|---|---|
| Carpet with pad | $0.50–1.50 | 900 |
| Sheet vinyl | $1.00–2.50 | 600 |
| Vinyl plank, click | $1.50–3.50 | 650 |
| Laminate | $1.50–3.50 | 650 |
| Cork | $2.00–5.00 | 400 |
| Engineered wood | $3.00–6.00 | 450 |
| Solid hardwood, nailed | $4.00–8.00 | 350 |
| Porcelain or ceramic tile | $5.00–12.00 | 150 |
| Natural stone | $7.00–15.00 | 110 |
These are national ranges for an average US area, drawn from published cost surveys and installer price lists, and they are the figures this site’s cost calculators use. They are for installation only; the floor, the supplies and the removal of the old floor are separate.
What moves the price
Preparation. A sound, flat floor costs nothing extra. Patching and sanding high spots adds $0.50 to $1.50 per sq ft; leveling compound over part of the floor $1.50 to $3; new underlayment or subfloor panels $2 to $4. Prep is the commonest surprise in a quote, because it is often found only when the old floor comes up.
Pattern. Diagonal and herringbone layouts take longer and waste more; expect a quarter to a half more labour.
Region. Labour in a high-cost metro area can be 30% above the national figure, and in rural areas 15% below it.
Stairs. Each step is priced separately: a carpeted step is quick, a hardwood or vinyl step with a nosing is slow.
Size. Small jobs cost more per square foot because travel, setup and clean-up are spread over less floor.
Three jobs worked through
Laminate, tile and hardwood
- 600 sq ft of laminate on a sound floor: 600 × $1.50 to $3.50 = $900 to $2,100, about 0.9 crew-days
- 180 sq ft of tile with light prep: $990 to $2,430, $5.50 to $13.50 per sq ft, about 1.2 crew-days, plus a second day for grout
- 500 sq ft of nailed hardwood with light prep in a high-cost area: $2,925 to $6,175, about 1.4 crew-days
The installer labour cost calculator works out the range for any floor, prep, layout and region. The tile installation cost calculator covers tile jobs with their extras.
Why the hourly figure looks high
Divide a quote by the hours a crew spends and the result often looks like $80 to $200 an hour per person. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median wage of flooring installers and tile and stone setters at about $25 an hour (May 2024). The difference is the business: insurance, a vehicle, tools, travel time, days between jobs, warranty callbacks, and a profit. A quote two to three times the installer’s wage per hour is normal, not a sign of overcharging.
Comparing quotes
Ask each installer to quote the same things, in writing:
- The area, and how it was measured. It should be the floor, not the floor plus waste.
- Removal and disposal of the old floor, if needed.
- Preparation, and what happens if more is found.
- Trim: removing and refitting baseboards, new shoe moulding, transitions.
- Moving furniture and appliances.
- Who supplies the floor, underlayment, adhesive and trim.
- The warranty on the work.
A cheap quote that leaves out removal and trim is often the most expensive in the end.
Timing and deposits
Good installers are often booked weeks ahead, and the floor itself may need ordering and acclimating before the start date. A deposit of 10 to 50% is common when the installer supplies the material; paying the balance on completion, after a walk-through of the finished floor, protects you. Check that the installer is licensed where your state requires it and carries liability insurance, and ask for the material’s lot number on the invoice so spare boxes match.
Doing it yourself
For click vinyl plank and laminate, the labour saving is real and the skills are within reach of a careful first-timer. For tile, nailed hardwood and carpet stretching, the tools, time and risk of a poor result are much greater. The DIY versus pro calculator compares the saving with your time and the tools you would buy or rent: for 600 sq ft of laminate, doing it yourself saves about $640, a break-even of about $59 an hour of your time. The installation time calculator estimates the days.
For contractors
Contractors and flooring stores can put any of this site’s calculators on their own website for customers to use, free, from the embed page.
The rest of the budget
Labour is one line. The floor, underlayment, trim, removal and prep make up the rest, and the flooring cost estimator adds them together. The removal and disposal guide covers the old floor, the refinishing guide the alternative to replacing a wood floor, and the comparison of wood floors the installed costs over a floor’s life.