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How to Compare Flooring Quotes: The Grid, What Is In and What Is Out, Subfloor, Moisture, Trim and Warranty, With Three Quotes for the Same House
Flooring & Tile
How to Compare Flooring Quotes: Put All Three on One Grid and the Cheap One Usually Stops Being Cheap
A flooring quote is a short document that leaves out more than it says. One installer prices the planks and the labour and nothing else; the next includes tearing out the carpet, screwing down the subfloor and putting the baseboard back; the third is quoting a better plank and did not say so. The totals are $9,900, $12,250 and $14,800, and the homeowner picks the first one and spends the difference anyway, in extras, on a Tuesday, with the furniture in the garage. The fix is a grid with every line on it, filled in from each quote, with “not included” written wherever the quote is silent.
The grid
Draw this on a sheet of paper, one column per quote. Where a quote does not mention a line, write “not included” and price it yourself from the table on the cost per square foot page. You are not trying to catch anyone; you are making three documents answer the same questions.
| Line | What to look for | Typical mid-grade rate |
|---|---|---|
| Material: product, grade, thickness, wear layer | Brand and product name, not “engineered hardwood”. For engineered, the wear layer in mm; for LVP, the mil wear layer and whether the pad is attached; for tile, the exact size and PEI rating. | Engineered $5.25, LVP $3.25, porcelain $4.50 plus $1.25 setting |
| Quantity and waste | Square feet of material, not of floor. 10% waste for straight lay, 15% for diagonal or herringbone, 12% for tile. | Floor area x 1.10 |
| Labour and method | Nail, glue or float; thinset type for tile; whether the rate changes for pattern or large format. | Nail-down $5.50, glue-down $6.50 + $1.00 adhesive, float $4.00, LVP click $2.75, tile $10.00 |
| Removal and disposal | Each existing floor by type, and who pays for the bin. | Carpet $0.90, laminate $1.25, glued vinyl or hardwood $2.00, tile $3.50; bin $450 |
| Subfloor prep | Screw-down and ridge sanding at minimum. Levelling and plywood overlay as allowances, by the square foot. | Minor prep $0.75, self-levelling $3.00, 3/8 in. plywood $2.75 |
| Moisture testing | Named: pin meter on wood, in-situ probe or calcium chloride on concrete. Who does it and what happens if the slab fails. | Usually in the labour; mitigation $4.00 if the slab is wet |
| Baseboard and trim | Remove and reinstall, new, or quarter-round over existing. Transitions counted. Door bottoms. | R and R $2.50/lf, new $6.50/lf, quarter-round $2.00/lf, transitions $35 each, doors $25 each |
| Delivery, furniture, protection | Who moves the piano. Occupied house is a real cost. | Delivery $150, occupied +10% |
| Warranty | Workmanship, in years, in writing, and whether it survives him going out of business. | One year is normal |
| HST | Shown, or “plus HST”, or silent. Silent usually means plus. | 13% |
The worked job: 900 sq ft of engineered hardwood over carpet
Main floor of a bungalow, living room, dining room, hall and two bedrooms, 900 sq ft, carpet and pad coming out, plywood subfloor underneath, 120 linear feet of existing baseboard, four doorways to tile and the stairs needing a transition. Here is what a complete mid-grade quote should contain, with the arithmetic shown.
| Line | Quantity | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineered hardwood, mid grade, 3 mm wear layer, 5 in. plank | 990 sq ft (900 + 10%) | $5.25 | $5,197.50 |
| Nail-down labour | 900 sq ft | $5.50 | $4,950.00 |
| Remove carpet and pad, dispose | 900 sq ft | $0.90 | $810.00 |
| Subfloor: pull staples, screw down, sand ridges | 900 sq ft | $0.75 | $675.00 |
| Baseboard remove and reinstall | 120 lf | $2.50 | $300.00 |
| Transitions and reducers | 4 | $35 | $140.00 |
| Delivery | 1 | $150 | $150.00 |
| Total before HST | $12,222.50 | ||
| HST 13% | $1,588.93 | ||
| Total with HST | $13,811.43 |
Call it $12,250 before HST, which is the second quote in the lede. Now look at the other two.
Three quotes for that job, on the grid
| Line | Quote A: $9,900 | Quote B: $12,250 | Quote C: $14,800 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Material | “Engineered oak”, 900 sq ft, no brand, no wear layer | Named product, 3 mm, 990 sq ft | Named product, 4 mm, 7 in. plank, 990 sq ft at $8.00 |
| Labour | Nail-down, 900 sq ft | Nail-down, 900 sq ft | Nail-down, 900 sq ft |
| Removal | Not included | Included | Included |
| Subfloor prep | Not included, “as required” | Included, with a levelling allowance if needed | Included |
| Moisture test | Not mentioned | Pin meter, readings on the invoice | Pin meter |
| Baseboard, transitions | Not included | Included | Included |
| Waste | None allowed for | 10% | 10% |
| HST | Silent | Shown | Shown |
| Warranty | “Guaranteed” | 1 year workmanship, written | 2 years workmanship, written |
Quote A is the planks and the labour, 900 times about $11, and nothing else. Add the lines it left out at the rates above: removal $810, prep $675, baseboard $300, transitions $140, the 90 sq ft of waste he will run short by at $5.25 is $472.50, delivery $150. That is $2,547.50 of extras, and Quote A is now $12,447.50, two hundred dollars more than B, with an unnamed product and no written warranty. Quote C is Quote B with a better floor: the 990 sq ft at $8.00 instead of $5.25 is $2,722.50 more material, which almost exactly explains the difference. C is not overpriced. It is a different floor.
The rule: never compare totals. Compare the grid. When two quotes are within 10% of each other on the same grid, pick the installer, not the number. How to pick the installer.
Where homeowners go wrong
- Letting “as required” stand on the subfloor line. It means a number you will learn on day one. Ask for a rate per square foot and a cap, or an allowance.
- Comparing a glue-down quote to a nail-down quote. Over a slab, glue-down is $6.50 plus $1.00 adhesive against $5.50 for nailing on plywood. The $2 difference is the method, not the installer. The three methods.
- Missing that the quantity is floor area. 900 sq ft of material for 900 sq ft of floor leaves you three boxes short in a dye lot that no longer exists.
- Reading “waterproof” on the LVP quote and skipping the moisture line. The plank is waterproof. The mould under it is not impressed. What happens on a damp slab.
- Forgetting the trim. A floor is not finished until the baseboard is back and the doors close. Those lines are $500 to $1,500 on an ordinary house and the cheap quote never has them.
Questions people ask
How many flooring quotes should I get?
Three, from three different kinds of outfit if you can: a store, an independent installer and a renovator. Two tell you nothing; five is a week of your life and the fifth man can tell you have been shopping.
Why is one flooring quote so much cheaper?
Usually it covers less: no removal, no subfloor work, no trim, no waste, HST not shown. Sometimes it is a lower grade of the same material with no brand named. Rarely, the man is just hungry this month, and that one is worth checking out carefully.
Should a flooring quote include HST?
It should show it. A quote that says “plus HST” is fine; a quote that is silent and later adds 13% is a $1,600 surprise on the job above. A quote with no HST at all and a cash wink has no warranty you can enforce.
What should be in a flooring quote?
The product by name and grade, the quantity with waste, the install method and rate, every prep and removal line, trim and transitions, delivery, HST, a payment schedule, the start and finish dates, and the workmanship warranty in years. If it is on one page with a total and nothing else, send it back.
Will you look at my quotes?
Yes, that is the $99 quote review: up to three quotes, and a written note back on what is included, what is not, and what the extras will likely come to.
Build your own column first
Run your rooms through the flooring cost calculator before the quotes arrive; it produces exactly the grid above, line by line, at these rates. Then every quote gets measured against a number you understand.
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.
- Tile Council of North America: the TCNA Handbook methods for tile over wood, concrete and in showers, and the ANSI lippage and grout standards a tile setter is held to.
- 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.
