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Hardwood Flooring Cost in Ontario (2026): Solid Hardwood Supplied and Installed by Grade, Species, Width and Finish, With a Main Floor Priced Through to the HST
Flooring & Tile
What Solid Hardwood Costs in Ontario, Why Labour Roughly Matches the Material, and What a Real Main Floor Comes To With the Tax
Solid hardwood at mid grade is $12.00 a square foot installed in Central Ontario this fall: $6.50 for a decent 3-1/4 in. prefinished red oak delivered and $5.50 for a crew to nail it down. The rule of thumb I use when a client asks across the kitchen table is that the labour roughly matches the material, and it has held for twenty years through every price swing in oak. Here are the rates by grade, what moves them, and a 900 sq ft main floor priced two ways, because the new-house number and the renovation number are $5,000 apart for the same floor.
The numbers
$6.50mid-grade solid oak, delivered
$5.50labour to nail it down
$12.00installed, mid grade
$14,600a 900 sq ft main floor, new house, with HST
| Grade | Material | Labour | Installed | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Builder | $5.00 | $5.50 | $10.50 | 2-1/4 or 3-1/4 in. red oak or maple, “cabin” or No. 2 common grade with knots, colour variation and short boards, gloss or semi-gloss factory finish. |
| Mid | $6.50 | $5.50 | $12.00 | 3-1/4 to 4-1/4 in. select-and-better red or white oak, maple, ash or hickory, matte or satin aluminum-oxide finish, Canadian mill. The number to quote on. |
| Premium | $9.50 | $5.50 | $15.00 | 5-in. white oak, character grade, wire-brushed, oiled or UV-oiled finish, or quartersawn, or a walnut. Site-finished floors land here once you add the finishing. |
These are the rates in the flooring cost calculator. Engineered is on its own page; the two are compared on engineered vs solid.
What species, width and finish do to the price
Species. Red oak is the base. White oak is about $1.00 more a square foot and is what everyone wants right now because it takes the grey and natural stains better. Maple is close to oak in price, harder, and shows every scratch because it has no grain to hide them. Hickory is a dollar more and the hardest common domestic. Walnut is $3 to $5 more, soft, and beautiful. Ash sits with oak and is underpriced because nobody asks for it.
Width. 2-1/4 in. strip is the cheapest to buy and the slowest to lay. 3-1/4 is the standard and the price is based on it. 4-1/4 and 5 in. plank adds $0.75 to $1.50 a square foot to the material, and anything wider in solid wood is a seasonal-movement problem I would talk you out of; the cupping and gaps page explains why. Wide plank also wants the subfloor moisture within 2 points instead of 4, which is a day of extra waiting.
Finish. Prefinished boards come with eight or nine coats of aluminum-oxide urethane baked on at the mill, harder than anything a floor finisher can lay down in your living room, and you walk on the floor the day it is nailed. Site-finished (unfinished boards, sanded and coated after installation) gives you a flat, joint-free surface with no micro-bevel between boards and any stain you like, and it costs $3 to $5 a square foot more, puts the house out of use for a week and smells. On a new custom house I use prefinished unless the client has a specific look in mind; on a herringbone or a floor with a border, site-finished.
Pattern. Diagonal lay adds about 15% waste instead of 10% and a day of cutting. Herringbone and chevron are a different trade: waste at 15% and up, a layout that has to be set out from the centre of the room and labour that is quoted by the job and often lands near double the straight-lay rate. Budget it and get it in writing.
A 900 sq ft main floor, priced two ways
Mid-grade 3-1/4 in. prefinished white oak at $6.50, straight lay, four doorways to tile or carpet, three doors to trim, 180 linear feet of new baseboard.
| Line | New house, bare plywood | Renovation, occupied, carpet coming out |
|---|---|---|
| Material, 990 sq ft at $6.50 (10% waste) | $6,435 | $6,435 |
| Labour, 900 sq ft at $5.50 | $4,950 | $4,950 |
| Delivery | $150 | $150 |
| 4 transitions at $35 | $140 | $140 |
| 3 door bottoms cut at $25 | $75 | $75 |
| New MDF baseboard, 180 lf at $6.50, painted | $1,170 | $1,170 |
| Remove carpet and pad, 900 sq ft at $0.90 | – | $810 |
| Minor subfloor prep, 900 sq ft at $0.75 | – | $675 |
| Disposal bin | – | $450 |
| Subtotal | $12,920 | $14,855 |
| Occupied house, furniture and protection, +10% | – | $1,486 |
| Before HST | $12,920 | $16,341 |
| With 13% HST | $14,600 | $18,465 |
Same boards, same crew, $3,900 more because the house has a family and a carpet in it. Removal costs by material, and how to measure so the 990 is right the first time.
What is not in the number
Stairs. A hardwood staircase is priced per tread, $150 for a boxed oak tread and riser stained and finished on an existing stringer, so a standard 14-riser flight is $2,100 on top of the floor. Hardwood stairs has the open-tread and carpet-conversion numbers. Subfloor repair beyond screwing and sanding ridges: self-levelling compound is $3.00 a square foot where it is needed, and replacing water-damaged sheathing is $6.00. Moving a gas stove or a fridge with a water line is the plumber’s bill, not the floor guy’s. Painting the new baseboard is in the $6.50; painting the walls he scuffed is not.
Where homeowners go wrong
- Comparing a material-only price to an installed one. “$6.50 a square foot” at the store and “$12.00 a square foot” from the installer are the same floor. How to line quotes up.
- Buying the wood before the installer has seen the subfloor. He finds 3/8 in. of hump at the beam and now it is $3.00 a foot of levelling you did not budget. Subfloor levelling.
- Letting the boards go down the day they arrive. Five to seven days in the house first, meter readings written down. Acclimation.
- Skipping the 10% waste to save $650. You run out two boxes short, the dye lot has changed, and the last row is a different colour forever.
- Forgetting the HST. It is 13% on everything, and on a $16,000 floor it is a used car.
Questions people ask
How much does it cost to install 1,000 square feet of hardwood in Ontario?
About $12,000 to $13,500 before HST at mid grade for a new house with a clean plywood subfloor, including delivery, transitions and baseboard. $16,500 to $18,500 for the same floor as a renovation with carpet removal, prep and an occupied house. Builder grade takes $1,500 off; premium adds $3,000.
Is hardwood flooring cheaper than vinyl plank?
No. Mid-grade vinyl plank is $6.00 installed against $12.00 for solid hardwood. Hardwood lasts three or four times as long and can be refinished, so over thirty years the gap closes; over ten it does not. The comparison.
What is the labour cost to install hardwood flooring?
$5.50 a square foot to nail solid or engineered to a plywood subfloor, straight lay, in Central Ontario in 2026. It includes the nailer, the cleats, the underlayment paper and cutting around doorways. It does not include removal, subfloor prep, baseboard or stairs.
Is prefinished or site-finished hardwood better?
Prefinished has the harder finish, costs $3 to $5 less a square foot and is walkable the same day. Site-finished has no bevels between boards, takes any custom stain, and is the right call for patterns and borders. For most houses, prefinished.
How much hardwood should I order?
The room area plus 10% for a straight lay, 15% for diagonal or herringbone, rounded up to whole boxes, all from one dye lot. Keep an unopened box for repairs.
Get the number for your house
The flooring cost calculator prices solid hardwood room by room at these rates, with removal, prep, stairs and the tax. If you have a quote in hand that does not look like this table, the $99 review tells you why.
Sources and further reading
- National Wood Flooring Association: the installation guidelines every hardwood warranty points to: subfloor flatness, moisture limits, acclimation, fastening schedules and the radiant-heat chapter.
- Mirage Hardwood Floors: Quebec-made solid and engineered hardwood; their installation guides give the moisture, acclimation and radiant limits in plain numbers.
- Your rights when starting home renovations or repairs: Ontario government: the 10-day cooling-off period, the written contract rule, estimates, and what to do about a contractor who walks.
