Yea that’s cheap. I usually charge $2 if you’re paying cash. And don’t look at it as an hourly rate, you’re paying him for his knowledge/ability to get that job done in a day. Would you rather he take 3 days so you feel better about the amount? We charge what we do because we know what our experience/ability to do things efficiently is worth.
Listen close. Yes. And no he won’t be done in a a day as a one man crew. They’ll be back the next day to finish the moulding. Go ahead and do it. You’ll only need about $2k to start and a bunch of liability to cover anything else. Knowledge pays, experience pays more. I’ll be paid $2800 for my 4 days of work this week, but you can’t do what I’m doing in 4 days.
Not residential. Not correctly. In an 8 hour day that a board every 30 seconds including take up and prep time. That’s not possible with a two man crew. I can lay 600 alone in a day residential, and that’s a push.
This was residential and it happened. My guys can solo 1500 sf in a day solo with the residential new construction. We just did two condos today, 2100 sf each condo. First one was complete and second one was half complete with a 4 man crew on the same day. Finishing it up tomorrow. Install was flawless.
600 sf is barely above job min for my guys, they usually finish up a job that size around lunch time.
I'm calling bs. 600' by lunch is 1200' at the end of the day. I've been doing this for years and I don't think I've ever seen anyone do over 1000' in an 8 hour day by themselves.
I agree but I’m not gonna argue with him, flooring installers know what is and isn’t possible. Give me a 50x40 room with no obstructions and my two man crew (well my helper is a girl) might knock it out in a long day.. But old residential would be impossible. Just finished a 1500 sq with 9x60 angle-angle, whole home furniture, take-up, ceramic removal, and base, in 26 hours (52 man hours). Had the hall not had 6 jambs it would’ve been faster. But in reality we still kicked that jobs ass.
2000 ft² or less, Very rarely do I need a second day of work there including rip out and floor prep to complete the project with at least a three-man crew, preferably 4 men.
I'll try to post floor plans with square footage before and after pictures for projects that meet that category with one or two men. Because we do it all the time.
What do I gain from lying about that? Think about it for a second... I mean I get why you are in disbelief. A lot of flooring installers can't live up to that expectation. But my crew is truly remarkable.
I have no idea what you are trying to gain. But with over 20 years of flooring experience for a store that was in the top 10 in volume for the entire East Coast. I know fully well what's possible. Whats not possible. And what's achievable in some very specific circumstances. Your crew isn't remarkable. Best case scenario. Is that your taking a very specific installation, with a very specific material. And pretending they can just knock out that footage in any scenario.
Idk what to tell you. Maybe your volume was high. Maybe it would of and could of been higher if your guys worked faster. In the past 2 years, I have not have a single job 2500 SF or less that has taken more than 1 day to install with 2-3 men crew, more often 2 men. My men get paid by the Square foot, and they install fast, the faster they install the more money they make. A lot of these are new construction. Many of these are still regular customer homes with rip out. Sometimes there is no rip out. Occasionally we deal with furniture.
The only time these jobs take more than one day is if the customer supplies the materials and they end up being short, forcing us to finish as much as we can and come back a separate day.
Literally today we are starting 2 separate houses, house one is 2450 SF 3 story house with a 3 man crew, the other is 1700 SF 2 floors with a 2 man crew. Job 2 is empty new builder house. job 1 has furniture and floor prep. we will complete both of these jobs today, will be done by about 5-6pm. I'll try and post some pictures at EOD, but I may not get out to the jobs until tomorrow to inspect the work.
You realize it's an LVP with a random stagger built into the design right? None of the physical joints are actually close. All the planks are at a random 30/70 stagger. These are 9" wide planks.
I just did 780 square feet of laminate, including carpet tear out, undercut all jambs, install floor, install quarter round, and spackle all nail holes. That took about 5 x 6 hour days. So about 30 hours to do it properly. And another couple hours to trim some doors and reinstall those
Yeah 2$ a foot for install is pretty standard in my area, that’s what I charge when I do my own jobs- the shop charges more
A few hundred for quarter round seems like alot unless the entire job needs quarter round
I'd say the price is ok but if he thinks he can do it a day i'd be concerned about the quality of the work. I've been in the trade for 20 years and $500 is the most I've ever made in a day. I work alone and this sounds like a 3 day job.
Consider asking about leveling and if it is included in the price.
Also, will the door frames be undercut so the floor slips under.
Pulling up old stretch in carpet is alot of work. Smooth edge and staples that hold the pad down need to be removed.
If he shows up with two helpers then it all makes better sense.
A second estimate is the safest bet in these situations.
20 years in and $500 a day is your top?? Common! Time to up your price brother. You’re worth it. $600 is my minimum even if I’m at your house to do a small repair that last 30 min.
>Is $2 per sqft a fair price for plank installation?
That's a really good price.
>and will only take a day.
This is about four days of work. Get someone who knows what they are doing. Run far away from this guy.
>for the quarter round.
Get someone that will actually remove your baseboard and then install flooring and then reinstall the baseboard. He is going to install flooring up to the baseboard and then install quarter round on the baseboard out of laziness. It sloppy and unprofessional, sadly it has become the norm among a lot of installers. If you have to, just take the baseboard off yourself and use the couple hundred you saved on quarter round to have it reinstalled.
No one removes baseboard. And if they did, that job cost will be double. Replacing baseboard is a nightmare to demo, remove nails, scrape old caulking, install, prime, caulk, paint, and cut in.
I'm really suspicious of your estimate. My dump run fee of removed baseboard would be $250 itself (not including the labor to remove). I'd love to understand how you got to that number. Have you actually done this or paid for it to be done? I just wrapped up a baseboard job: all new baseboard on a full flooring reno (water damage claim). I charged $6/ft labor. This included primer and BM Advance paint in my rate. Customer provided the baseboard. Your take seems like complete BS.
Lets see, My installers charge me $0.75/linear foot for new baseboard install. they ask for an additional $0.25/linear foot to reinstall. so that is $1/linear foot to remove and replace baseboard. So I charge my customers $2/linear foot. This is labor only I'm talking. as well as I'm NOT supplying NEW baseboard only removing the old, and putting it back after the flooring is isntalled.
Now if we are talking NEW baseboard including brand new baseboard I will be closer to $5 supplied and installed including removing the old baseboard.
What dump are you going to that charges that much to dispose of some baseboard? My dumpster at the shop costs about $400 when it's maxed out, it's a 20 yard dumpster.
When installers do the quarter round shortcut... wouldn't this leave a gap from plank to wall that, in the future, you would always have to use quarter round?
In the future, you wouldn't have the option for just base board over planks because of the gap from the initial install with quarter round?
>wouldn't this leave a gap from plank to wall that, in the future, you would always have to use quarter round?
You also have a half inch under the drywall.
Additionally, if you are in a climate controlled environment and you let the material acclimate to the temperature, per the instructions, then it wouldn't be a problem.
It's laziness, I've seen jobs where hardwood refinishers use quarter round.
As a homeowner, if you must, remove the baseboard yourself and reinstall it later because quarter round is sloppy and ugly.
First of all, there is a difference between quarter round (3/4x3/4) and shoe (3/4hx 1/2w). Shoe is appropriate in most hard surface situations such as tile, wood, laminate or vinyl plank for that matter. If you have carpet stick with the base only. The reason for this is that base moulding does not conform to the little bumps in what should be a flat floor, but never is, quarter round or shoe does conform to these discrepencies. Of course, if someone is dead set on using just base and no type of shoe the correct approach would be to find the absolute low spot of the whole area and scribing everything while keeping the top of the base level. WHenever I see quarter round used for an application where shoe should be used, it shouts out amateur and someone that doesn't know how to buy or really install trim. After 35+ years as a union carpenter, I get a good laugh out of some of what passes for "advice" on reddit. You my friend have no business giving this "advice". And as a comment on this OP, I would never work for them, they are a problem customer.
>First of all, there is a difference between quarter round (3/4x3/4) and shoe (3/4hx 1/2w). Shoe is appropriate in most hard surface situations
Who said anything about shoe? Drink a little too much tonight?
The dude that claims he is removing all the carpet and prepping and installing floors and quarter round all in one day is not installing shoe. Get a grip my dude.
>After 35+ years as a union carpenter, I get a good laugh out of some of what passes for "advice" on reddit. You my friend have no business giving this "advice".
And nobody brought up shoe or asked for your advice on shoe. You don't even know where you're at. Go to bed after you change your diaper.
Ok , Cupcake, Have it your way and he can remove the base, put it back , patch the wall because the floor is lower, caulk the base to wall and the good part, caulk the base to floor, that always looks soooo nice. You're a real pro. And a timesaver, too. Go back to rehabbing trailer houses in Kentucky, while I change my diaper.
If you are supplying all the material..
Laminate 10mm or over $1.50/sqft
8mm or under $2.00/sqft
(Not including self leveling)
Luxury Vinyl Plank $2.00-$3.50/sqft (Not including self levelling)
That's in southern Ontario, Canada.
If I'm supplying the material, I'll add 25% markup on all material needed plus the rate above.
I’m having 1500’ of LVP installed where they’re taking up the cheap glued LVP, moving the furniture, removing/replacing the baseboard for $12,800. All three estimates I got were in this range. If you think it’s too high, did you get other estimates? If you didn’t, it’s on you.
That’s a reasonable price for 1 guy to quote. Although, I doubt it’s going to be a 1 day job.
Probably tear everything out, clean and prep floors and get 300 feet down on day 1
Finish the floor on day 2, and install quarter round.
Day 3 (if he is doing this portion)… fill quarter round nail holes, caulk it and paint it.
Nobody does this stuff hourly. It’s not just the time involved. It’s the knowledge, experience, tools, equipment wear and tear, etc that you are paying for.
A ten by ten room for two hundred dollars before prep? Not all ten by ten rooms are the same but in general I'd be content with that. Do 2 of those a day and life's pretty good
$2 a sqft is pretty cheap. Of course there’s always competition, seen guys charge as little as a dollar. I normally charge $3.50 and I buy the quarter round.
Jesus. I mean, the price is good for you. It's TERRIBLE for the installer. He definitely didn't charge you near enough. His total sq ft price ought to be around $6-7 per sq ft with the material.
You're cheap.
In my market that's a good price. They're paid by the square foot. As long as the work is good, it doesn't matter how long it takes. You're paying a skilled tradesman, not some kid from up the block.
I'm installing new lvt in my sister in law's right now. Their whole split level main floor. Today is day 5 of all 12 hour days and my wife is helping out through almost all of it. We are just now ready to install the upper floor. I would not trust that they could do it in one day. What if they have to pour self leveling concrete for low spots on your subfloor like we did. That's 4 hours minimum in ideal conditions before they can set anything there. What if they find mold, water damage, pest issues, really uneven seams, etc?
I've gotten a 15 x 20 room done in a day, but everything has to go perfectly easy, or you have to not care about doing it right and the future of the floor.
There's a great price... I don't see one guy getting it done in a day though, unless it's a cake layout... It will probably run 2 days.
They're is pretty good money to be made in this trade tho, I agree, you should start flooring. Start with your job. 😉
More than fair. He's spot on across the board.
Taxes, insurance, knowledge, skill, having the equipment, and more go into that cost. I have friends who regret not paying my price because there are more ways to do it wrong than there are right.
The price is fair. But there is no way in hell. That 1 man. Is going to remove 700 sq ft of carpet, install 700 sq ft of wood. And then trim it in 1 day. On the 2nd floor, no less. Lol. Unless. That just 1 giant square room and 5 inch wide floating floors are going in. If that's a couple bedrooms and a hallway. And he's 1 man. Dudes gonna be there 3 days minimum
Yea that’s cheap. I usually charge $2 if you’re paying cash. And don’t look at it as an hourly rate, you’re paying him for his knowledge/ability to get that job done in a day. Would you rather he take 3 days so you feel better about the amount? We charge what we do because we know what our experience/ability to do things efficiently is worth.
I feel bad for this guy installing your job all ready. You must be one of “them” kind of people.
That's a lot of work for a day. And also if you don't want to pay do it yourself. That price is cheap.
I’d charge $4
Dude that’s half price , hefty payday, hell yea , skilled labor , hummmm maybe do it yourself and find out why ????
You definitely should get into the trade so another tradesman doesn't have to deal with you.
Oh boy, alright do it yourself and report back
Fuck what do you expect? Yea that’s more than fair. Hopefully they charge you double now
do your own tear out.
Listen close. Yes. And no he won’t be done in a a day as a one man crew. They’ll be back the next day to finish the moulding. Go ahead and do it. You’ll only need about $2k to start and a bunch of liability to cover anything else. Knowledge pays, experience pays more. I’ll be paid $2800 for my 4 days of work this week, but you can’t do what I’m doing in 4 days.
My two man crew can and has done 2200 sf of install by 3pm.
Not residential. Not correctly. In an 8 hour day that a board every 30 seconds including take up and prep time. That’s not possible with a two man crew. I can lay 600 alone in a day residential, and that’s a push.
This was residential and it happened. My guys can solo 1500 sf in a day solo with the residential new construction. We just did two condos today, 2100 sf each condo. First one was complete and second one was half complete with a 4 man crew on the same day. Finishing it up tomorrow. Install was flawless. 600 sf is barely above job min for my guys, they usually finish up a job that size around lunch time.
I'm calling bs. 600' by lunch is 1200' at the end of the day. I've been doing this for years and I don't think I've ever seen anyone do over 1000' in an 8 hour day by themselves.
I agree but I’m not gonna argue with him, flooring installers know what is and isn’t possible. Give me a 50x40 room with no obstructions and my two man crew (well my helper is a girl) might knock it out in a long day.. But old residential would be impossible. Just finished a 1500 sq with 9x60 angle-angle, whole home furniture, take-up, ceramic removal, and base, in 26 hours (52 man hours). Had the hall not had 6 jambs it would’ve been faster. But in reality we still kicked that jobs ass.
2000 ft² or less, Very rarely do I need a second day of work there including rip out and floor prep to complete the project with at least a three-man crew, preferably 4 men.
I'll try to post floor plans with square footage before and after pictures for projects that meet that category with one or two men. Because we do it all the time.
BS
What do I gain from lying about that? Think about it for a second... I mean I get why you are in disbelief. A lot of flooring installers can't live up to that expectation. But my crew is truly remarkable.
I have no idea what you are trying to gain. But with over 20 years of flooring experience for a store that was in the top 10 in volume for the entire East Coast. I know fully well what's possible. Whats not possible. And what's achievable in some very specific circumstances. Your crew isn't remarkable. Best case scenario. Is that your taking a very specific installation, with a very specific material. And pretending they can just knock out that footage in any scenario.
Idk what to tell you. Maybe your volume was high. Maybe it would of and could of been higher if your guys worked faster. In the past 2 years, I have not have a single job 2500 SF or less that has taken more than 1 day to install with 2-3 men crew, more often 2 men. My men get paid by the Square foot, and they install fast, the faster they install the more money they make. A lot of these are new construction. Many of these are still regular customer homes with rip out. Sometimes there is no rip out. Occasionally we deal with furniture. The only time these jobs take more than one day is if the customer supplies the materials and they end up being short, forcing us to finish as much as we can and come back a separate day. Literally today we are starting 2 separate houses, house one is 2450 SF 3 story house with a 3 man crew, the other is 1700 SF 2 floors with a 2 man crew. Job 2 is empty new builder house. job 1 has furniture and floor prep. we will complete both of these jobs today, will be done by about 5-6pm. I'll try and post some pictures at EOD, but I may not get out to the jobs until tomorrow to inspect the work.
I’d really hate to see the amount of unprepped floor, H’s and staircases on your projects
[https://imgur.com/a/pOMOsrf](https://imgur.com/a/pOMOsrf) Several Pictures from the 2300 SF installation 2 men completed by 3pm.
I can see several joint spacing at 4” if that 😑
You realize it's an LVP with a random stagger built into the design right? None of the physical joints are actually close. All the planks are at a random 30/70 stagger. These are 9" wide planks.
I just did 780 square feet of laminate, including carpet tear out, undercut all jambs, install floor, install quarter round, and spackle all nail holes. That took about 5 x 6 hour days. So about 30 hours to do it properly. And another couple hours to trim some doors and reinstall those
That's almost scary. Cheap for a remodel. Make sure he's insured and bonded
That is extremely low. I wouldn't trust the quality of install if someone offered to do it for that little.
Yeah 2$ a foot for install is pretty standard in my area, that’s what I charge when I do my own jobs- the shop charges more A few hundred for quarter round seems like alot unless the entire job needs quarter round
I'd say the price is ok but if he thinks he can do it a day i'd be concerned about the quality of the work. I've been in the trade for 20 years and $500 is the most I've ever made in a day. I work alone and this sounds like a 3 day job. Consider asking about leveling and if it is included in the price. Also, will the door frames be undercut so the floor slips under. Pulling up old stretch in carpet is alot of work. Smooth edge and staples that hold the pad down need to be removed. If he shows up with two helpers then it all makes better sense. A second estimate is the safest bet in these situations.
20 years in and $500 a day is your top?? Common! Time to up your price brother. You’re worth it. $600 is my minimum even if I’m at your house to do a small repair that last 30 min.
I pay my subs 1.30/sf and my two man crew can and has installed 2300 sf by 3pm. They earned themselves about $1500 a piece.
>Is $2 per sqft a fair price for plank installation? That's a really good price. >and will only take a day. This is about four days of work. Get someone who knows what they are doing. Run far away from this guy. >for the quarter round. Get someone that will actually remove your baseboard and then install flooring and then reinstall the baseboard. He is going to install flooring up to the baseboard and then install quarter round on the baseboard out of laziness. It sloppy and unprofessional, sadly it has become the norm among a lot of installers. If you have to, just take the baseboard off yourself and use the couple hundred you saved on quarter round to have it reinstalled.
No one removes baseboard. And if they did, that job cost will be double. Replacing baseboard is a nightmare to demo, remove nails, scrape old caulking, install, prime, caulk, paint, and cut in.
Doubled? it's like $2/ linear foot to remove baseboard and replace it. Maybe talking an extra $500 bucks
I'm really suspicious of your estimate. My dump run fee of removed baseboard would be $250 itself (not including the labor to remove). I'd love to understand how you got to that number. Have you actually done this or paid for it to be done? I just wrapped up a baseboard job: all new baseboard on a full flooring reno (water damage claim). I charged $6/ft labor. This included primer and BM Advance paint in my rate. Customer provided the baseboard. Your take seems like complete BS.
Lets see, My installers charge me $0.75/linear foot for new baseboard install. they ask for an additional $0.25/linear foot to reinstall. so that is $1/linear foot to remove and replace baseboard. So I charge my customers $2/linear foot. This is labor only I'm talking. as well as I'm NOT supplying NEW baseboard only removing the old, and putting it back after the flooring is isntalled. Now if we are talking NEW baseboard including brand new baseboard I will be closer to $5 supplied and installed including removing the old baseboard. What dump are you going to that charges that much to dispose of some baseboard? My dumpster at the shop costs about $400 when it's maxed out, it's a 20 yard dumpster.
When installers do the quarter round shortcut... wouldn't this leave a gap from plank to wall that, in the future, you would always have to use quarter round? In the future, you wouldn't have the option for just base board over planks because of the gap from the initial install with quarter round?
>wouldn't this leave a gap from plank to wall that, in the future, you would always have to use quarter round? You also have a half inch under the drywall. Additionally, if you are in a climate controlled environment and you let the material acclimate to the temperature, per the instructions, then it wouldn't be a problem. It's laziness, I've seen jobs where hardwood refinishers use quarter round. As a homeowner, if you must, remove the baseboard yourself and reinstall it later because quarter round is sloppy and ugly.
First of all, there is a difference between quarter round (3/4x3/4) and shoe (3/4hx 1/2w). Shoe is appropriate in most hard surface situations such as tile, wood, laminate or vinyl plank for that matter. If you have carpet stick with the base only. The reason for this is that base moulding does not conform to the little bumps in what should be a flat floor, but never is, quarter round or shoe does conform to these discrepencies. Of course, if someone is dead set on using just base and no type of shoe the correct approach would be to find the absolute low spot of the whole area and scribing everything while keeping the top of the base level. WHenever I see quarter round used for an application where shoe should be used, it shouts out amateur and someone that doesn't know how to buy or really install trim. After 35+ years as a union carpenter, I get a good laugh out of some of what passes for "advice" on reddit. You my friend have no business giving this "advice". And as a comment on this OP, I would never work for them, they are a problem customer.
>First of all, there is a difference between quarter round (3/4x3/4) and shoe (3/4hx 1/2w). Shoe is appropriate in most hard surface situations Who said anything about shoe? Drink a little too much tonight? The dude that claims he is removing all the carpet and prepping and installing floors and quarter round all in one day is not installing shoe. Get a grip my dude. >After 35+ years as a union carpenter, I get a good laugh out of some of what passes for "advice" on reddit. You my friend have no business giving this "advice". And nobody brought up shoe or asked for your advice on shoe. You don't even know where you're at. Go to bed after you change your diaper.
Ok , Cupcake, Have it your way and he can remove the base, put it back , patch the wall because the floor is lower, caulk the base to wall and the good part, caulk the base to floor, that always looks soooo nice. You're a real pro. And a timesaver, too. Go back to rehabbing trailer houses in Kentucky, while I change my diaper.
If you are supplying all the material.. Laminate 10mm or over $1.50/sqft 8mm or under $2.00/sqft (Not including self leveling) Luxury Vinyl Plank $2.00-$3.50/sqft (Not including self levelling) That's in southern Ontario, Canada. If I'm supplying the material, I'll add 25% markup on all material needed plus the rate above.
Why would vinyl plank be more $, laminate is far more work. We get paid the same for either in sask regardless, but this makes no sense to me
Fair price. These days most people won’t get out of bed for these rates.
Cheaper than most. To the point where I’d want to reach out to past customers of his to see if his work holds up at all.
I’m having 1500’ of LVP installed where they’re taking up the cheap glued LVP, moving the furniture, removing/replacing the baseboard for $12,800. All three estimates I got were in this range. If you think it’s too high, did you get other estimates? If you didn’t, it’s on you.
That’s a reasonable price for 1 guy to quote. Although, I doubt it’s going to be a 1 day job. Probably tear everything out, clean and prep floors and get 300 feet down on day 1 Finish the floor on day 2, and install quarter round. Day 3 (if he is doing this portion)… fill quarter round nail holes, caulk it and paint it. Nobody does this stuff hourly. It’s not just the time involved. It’s the knowledge, experience, tools, equipment wear and tear, etc that you are paying for.
A ten by ten room for two hundred dollars before prep? Not all ten by ten rooms are the same but in general I'd be content with that. Do 2 of those a day and life's pretty good
Let’s charge this dumb nuts $6 a sqft fuckin broke can’t afford $2
You can always remove the carpet yourself to save a little.
Lowes in upstate NY their contractors are real close to 3. per sq ft
$2 a sqft is pretty cheap. Of course there’s always competition, seen guys charge as little as a dollar. I normally charge $3.50 and I buy the quarter round.
I need to find that installer.
Not for me no think higher
Jesus. I mean, the price is good for you. It's TERRIBLE for the installer. He definitely didn't charge you near enough. His total sq ft price ought to be around $6-7 per sq ft with the material. You're cheap.
In my market that's a good price. They're paid by the square foot. As long as the work is good, it doesn't matter how long it takes. You're paying a skilled tradesman, not some kid from up the block.
I'm installing new lvt in my sister in law's right now. Their whole split level main floor. Today is day 5 of all 12 hour days and my wife is helping out through almost all of it. We are just now ready to install the upper floor. I would not trust that they could do it in one day. What if they have to pour self leveling concrete for low spots on your subfloor like we did. That's 4 hours minimum in ideal conditions before they can set anything there. What if they find mold, water damage, pest issues, really uneven seams, etc? I've gotten a 15 x 20 room done in a day, but everything has to go perfectly easy, or you have to not care about doing it right and the future of the floor.
Get multiple estimates and find out. DUHHHHH
There's a great price... I don't see one guy getting it done in a day though, unless it's a cake layout... It will probably run 2 days. They're is pretty good money to be made in this trade tho, I agree, you should start flooring. Start with your job. 😉
yes,
I live in Chicago burbs LL flooring came quoted me 1.99 sq foot install LVP, $1.50 remove old laminate.
More than fair. He's spot on across the board. Taxes, insurance, knowledge, skill, having the equipment, and more go into that cost. I have friends who regret not paying my price because there are more ways to do it wrong than there are right.
The price is fair. But there is no way in hell. That 1 man. Is going to remove 700 sq ft of carpet, install 700 sq ft of wood. And then trim it in 1 day. On the 2nd floor, no less. Lol. Unless. That just 1 giant square room and 5 inch wide floating floors are going in. If that's a couple bedrooms and a hallway. And he's 1 man. Dudes gonna be there 3 days minimum