# Laminate floor installation price



## mt232

Whats a good rough estimate for replacing a laminate floor? If the materials run 3.00 per sq. ft.? Is the material cost tripled?

It is for a 10' x 16' kitchen.

Thanks


----------



## space_coyote

If it's the click-together kind, I'd say enough for beer and pizza for you and a friend!


----------



## KUIPORNG

Agree, click-together kind laminate is so easy to install.... it is so easy I felt insulted and not too interested in installing the remaining 100 sq. ft. of my basement... my wife who hardly hold a hammer can do as good as mine , it's been sitting there for a few weeks without finishing when I am just finished the hardwood stairs...

price of laminate cost shouldn't be that high $3/ft... unless it is the supreme quality types... a high quality type I say cost around $1.5/ft if you hunt for deals...


----------



## send_it_all

Somewhere between 3 and 4 dollars per square foot is the ballpark for pro installation...It will probably be alot higher for such a small job....I would probably be looking for about a grand to do that job.


----------



## Floorwizard

I would expect a grand would also cover appliance moving and molding detach and reset.


----------



## send_it_all

Florcraft said:


> I would expect a grand would also cover appliance moving and molding detach and reset.


Maybe appliance moving. Certainly not molding removal and reattaching, since I would not do that. I would install new base and charge for the material on top of the grand for labor.


----------



## Floorwizard

always install new base.....why?


----------



## send_it_all

Because if I am going to charge to carefully remove and reinstall old/usually crappy looking base, only to have the finished product look unfinished, why not spend the buck and change per linear foot for new base. This is based on mdf because that's just about all any of my customers want anymore.


----------



## Floorwizard

> why not spend the buck and change per linear foot for new base.


My store does not sell base.... so I cannot match up to what they had.
Most high end homes I deal with have excellent base, so I just remove and reset that.

To each his own....


----------



## send_it_all

I dont install laminate flooring in high end homes.


----------



## KUIPORNG

Good PROs-fight...


----------



## Floorwizard

send_it_all said:


> I dont install laminate flooring in high end homes.



so if someone wanted high end Wilsonart estate in their 5000 sq ft home you would send them to me?
Clients get what they want after they get info on all the products.
If you exclude yourself from jobs because you don't want to install a specific floor, then more power to you.


----------



## send_it_all

Wow...I waited 5 days for THAT? I was expecting something really heavy. Frankly, I'm a bit disappointed.


----------



## send_it_all

I'm glad you haven't responded yet. After reading my last post and probably my previous posts, I can see how my attempts at playfulness might come off as being a jerk. I DO try to sell the customer on new base when doing any flooring job. I haven't been in business for myself for very long (about 4 years). I have installed laminate or floating engineered flooring in probably 8-10 homes, and haven't yet been forced to remove and reinstall base. I wont say that I absolutely would NOT do it if asked, or install laminate in a high end home, but I would strongly urge the customer against both scenarios. I am getting to a point where I am starting to turn down work in situations that I feel wont look right when finished. It has happened 2 or 3 times in the last year that I have declined to do a job that the customer wanted to do half baked. I flat out told the customer that I didnt think the job would look good when finished and I wouldn't want them to tell people I did the job. This is not because I am doing so well finacially that I don't need work. It is because all of my work up to this point comes from referrals/word of mouth and I dont want to put my name on a job that looks crappy no matter how well I do my part.
Anyway, my apologies for coming off like a Jerk. I'll look forward to reading more of your sound advice. Mike.


----------



## KUIPORNG

My only comment is: I saw those stylish Greece style, Euorpean style..etc. moulding selling so expensive like gold.... if once they were installed in a house happened to be one I bought... I would definitely don't want to damage them for any reason... just much $$ you are talking about there...


----------



## Floorwizard

> Anyway, my apologies for coming off like a Jerk. I'll look forward to reading more of your sound advice. Mike.


Not a problem. Your obviously a class act for saying so.

I am happy to hear you are making great bread. And it must be nice to pick and choose what you put into homes.
I also make good money and could in fact turn down jobs because clients don't want to put in quality that should be in their home. But the customer is always right....
Although if you can get more wood and ceramic jobs, then why do Vinyl?
My job is different...I sell... So if the client wants Vinyl, they get it...if they want wood, they get it...then I move on to put whatever floor the next wants.
But I do draw the line at industry standard. I will not sway from it. If the customer wants something done incorrectly, I will flat refuse.


----------



## sleepy23

over a thousand bucks to install that small area of floor...wow, looks like i saved a fortune when me and my dad did my entire last house.


----------



## jproffer

> over a thousand bucks to install that small area of floor...wow, looks like i saved a fortune when me and my dad did my entire last house.


You can't really use that to get a true idea of the cost of a whole house. A small area will cost more per sq. ft. than a larger area.

If a pro is coming over to install, say, 100 sq. ft. they have to bring the same tools, drive the same distance, bring the same crew, etc., etc. (lumped together as "mobilization")...as they would to install 1000 sq. ft. 

So to make it worth the time to come over, set up, do the work, tear down, clean up and move on to the next job, it costs more per sq. ft. to do the smaller job.

On a side note, if a job is being billed hourly, I know of a few guys (myself included) that bill in half day increments rather than by the hour. For instance, if I come over to fix....whatever, and I'm there for 1 hour...you pay for 4 hours. If I'm there for 6 hours, you pay for 8.

Reason being: Say a day is 8am-4pm and I leave your house at 2pm, I'm not honestly going to get anything else done that day. By the time I go to the next job, set up, do MAYBE 1 hour's worth of work, tear down and clean up...it's just not worth messing with it.


----------



## sleepy23

i understand your point. 
what i dont understand is why someone is asking how much it costs to pay someone to do work on a ' do it yourself' forum. i could understand if it was asked on how much i would roughly cost to do laminate in a 100 sqft area.


----------



## KUIPORNG

so that the DIYer know whether it is worth to DIY or hire....


----------



## Floorwizard

Good point.
This type of question is asked all the time...
Good answer K-


----------



## davidbzm

*Labor cost for laminate flooring*

The Skill isn't snapping the flooring together. anyone can do that. The real skill is where the flooring meets up with the perimeter, casings and doorways. No matter what kind of floor it is, weather its 1.20 a foot or 4.50 a foot. The labor is the same... The skill is at the edges. thats why they call us SKILLED TRADESMAN.
Thats why I have a $600.00 special saw for under cutting door jams with blades that cost 45.00 a piece. and a compound chop-saw that cost $700.00, 15 rachet straps that cost 25.00 each..and Liability insurance, workman's comp payments, both sides of social security, my own health insurance, my helpers pay, that has to pay the same price for food, gas, and housing that you and i pay for... shall i go on ? -- pizza and beer for payment ? Lets pay our doctors with wine and crackers for them looking into our ear for 3 seconds.....

Also. I have installed laminate flooring from both ends of the pricing spectrum. The truth is. The cheap stuff IS HARDER to install because the quality of the material is low. Bad edges.. non square corners... butt seams that dont sit flat, brittle thin top layer and doorway transition thresholds and shoe molding made of pressed cardboard.
( have you ever install cheap wallpaper ? its a nightmare ) it takes longer to install the cheap stuff. 

You get what you pay for.... 
David - 28 years experiece - 

-----------------------------------------------------



KUI****G said:


> Agree, click-together kind laminate is so easy to install.... it is so easy I felt insulted and not too interested in installing the remaining 100 sq. ft. of my basement... my wife who hardly hold a hammer can do as good as mine , it's been sitting there for a few weeks without finishing when I am just finished the hardwood stairs...
> 
> price of laminate cost shouldn't be that high $3/ft... unless it is the supreme quality types... a high quality type I say cost around $1.5/ft if you hunt for deals...


----------



## pergo installer

we start the pricing out as $2 a square for install , then add sure things as moving stuff out of the room , repair of sub floor and adding baseboard , also add if we need to pick up flooring
thanks dapper


----------



## tacomahardwood.

*Laminate install price*

Basic prices 
Install in mostly square room 2$ per Sf 
Base remove and cut in new 2$
Tear out underlayment and vynil in a kitchen 2.50 sf 
. If the install is difficult , Like a 45 degree hall with 6 doors with end carpet tucks . And a kitchen with an Island 4 or 5 $ per sf . 

For those that say they did their basement . If you didn't do a calcium chloride moisture test and document ,You probly no longer have a warranty . If you think you could just put vapor barrier down , Thats a good thought but now the moisture will be likely to creep out at the ends near the walls and make the sheet rock mold . 
You mostly don't need a proffesional ., of the basements I test only 2 or 3 of 10 have moisture issues. If the flooring starts to cup and bow . You can try to remedy this by pulling th base and chiseling the laminate back so there is more gap , I know you will say you left a gap , But excessive moisture makes the wood swell quite a bit . It has happened to me . 
tacomahardwoodfloors.com


----------



## marins

$1.5 - $2 per square foot to install laminate, but contractor has to see what is there first before giving price. You can hire someone else or pay additional $$$ for let say toilet remove or dishwasher. But yep, most of them will charge around $2 for installation. Do not forget for old flooring - whether diy or the price will go up. And laminate in high end homes? In high end homes people installing high end exotic hardwood - I think.


----------

