How to price flooring jobs

A flooring price follows the same equation as any job: price = materials + labor + other job costs + overhead + profit. What makes flooring different is that the new floor is only one of three jobs:

• The old floor has to come up.
• The subfloor has to be made flat and solid.
• The edges have to be trimmed out.

A price that only counts the install gets the visible work right and gives away the rest.

This guide walks through each part, shows where your labor hours per unit should come from, then prices three bedrooms of solid hardwood over old carpet from start to finish. It shows the arithmetic, not your local prices: wages and flooring costs vary by metro and by week, so every dollar figure is yours to fill in.

For the general method, see how to price a construction job. For software built around the trade, see the flooring industry page.

How flooring work is measured

Flooring is measured three ways.

• Floor area, by the square foot: tear-out, subfloor prep, installation and cleanup. Measure each room, including closets, and add them up.
• Edges, by the linear foot: tack strip removal, baseboard, shoe molding, cove base and transitions. These follow the perimeter and the doorways.
• Repairs, by the piece: subfloor sections replaced, toilets pulled and reset, doors trimmed.

Measure rooms to the wall, not to the baseboard, and note every doorway. The flooring calculator turns room sizes into square feet and cartons with waste added.

The formula for a flooring price

Every line on a flooring estimate follows the same pattern:

1. Quantity × labor hours per unit = labor hours for that line.
2. Labor hours × your full hourly labor cost = labor cost. That is the wage plus labor burden: payroll taxes, workers' compensation and benefits.
3. Materials: flooring, underlayment, fasteners, adhesive, trim and transitions, at what you will pay near the job now, with waste added.
4. Other job costs: disposal of the old floor, delivery, tool rental and any moisture or asbestos testing.
5. Overhead for every labor hour: a year of overhead divided by the hours your crew bills.
6. Profit, as a markup on the total cost or a target margin.

The labor rate guide and the labor rate calculator build your hourly cost from pay, burden and billable hours.

Labor hours by floor type

Get your hours from your own jobs

The hours per unit are the part of the price only you can supply, because they belong to your crew. Job costing is how you get them: on every job, record the hours each stage took and the quantity it covered, then divide.

Keep it per 100 square feet for floors and per 100 linear feet for trim, so the numbers stay readable. Count labor hours, not crew hours: a two-person crew working an 8-hour day is 16 labor hours.

Keep one number per floor type

Keep a separate number for each floor type, not one rate for "flooring":

Tile and site-finished hardwood take longest

• Usually quickest per square foot: floating plank, laminate, carpet and sheet vinyl.
• Slower: hardwood, because every board is nailed or glued and racked by hand.
• Slowest: tile, since setting, grouting and sealing are separate passes, often with a membrane under them.
• A job of its own: sanding and finishing an unfinished hardwood floor on site, with drying time between coats.

A per-square-foot price that works for plank will lose money on tile and site-finished hardwood. Let your own numbers for each floor type set the price.

What is under the old floor

Look hard on the walkthrough

Removal and subfloor prep are where flooring jobs go over. You price them before you can see them, so on the walkthrough:

• Pull back a corner of carpet in a closet.
• Check a floor vent opening.
• Ask how old the house and the floor are.

Price each removal as its own line

What comes up changes the price more than what goes down. Carpet is quick, but the tack strip and staples around it are slow per foot. Tile demolition is far slower than carpet, and the thinset left behind needs grinding before anything new goes down.

Track each removal as its own line so your next estimate knows the difference.

Four problems to check before you price

• Sheet vinyl and old adhesive: in older homes, some sheet vinyl, tile and black mastic contain asbestos. Have it tested before you scrape or grind, and price testing and any abatement separately or exclude it.
• Wood subfloors: squeaks, loose panels and soft spots near toilets, tubs and exterior doors. Screw down the whole floor, and carry an allowance for sections you may have to replace.
• Concrete slabs: check flatness and moisture. Most flooring makers state a flatness tolerance and moisture limit. High spots get ground, low spots get self-leveler, and both are hours.
• Height changes: a thicker new floor can leave doors dragging and transitions too steep. Count doors that need trimming as their own lines.

Taking off flooring materials

Add waste, then round up

Turn each quantity into what you buy, with waste added and rounded up to full cartons, rolls and pieces.

• Plank, laminate, hardwood and tile: around 10% is a common starting point.
• Carpet and sheet vinyl: often more, for seams and roll widths.
• Diagonal and herringbone layouts: more again.

Track what you actually throw away and adjust.

Add what goes with the floor

Then add the rest of the materials:

• Underlayment or felt by the roll
• Fasteners or adhesive
• Trim by the piece
• Transitions by the doorway

Price every item at what you will pay near the job this week. Order from one production run so the color matches.

Worked example: three bedrooms of solid hardwood

Example: A homeowner wants carpet replaced with prefinished 3/4-inch solid oak in three bedrooms on a wood subfloor. Room sizes include the closets.

The baseboard stays, and new shoe molding covers the gap. The hall stays carpeted, so each bedroom doorway gets a transition. The homeowner will empty the rooms.

Measuring the floors

• Bedroom 1, 13 × 15: 195 square feet, perimeter 56 feet.
• Bedroom 2, 11 × 12: 132 square feet, perimeter 46 feet.
• Bedroom 3, 10 × 12: 120 square feet, perimeter 44 feet.

From those rooms:

• Floor area: 195 + 132 + 120 = 447 square feet.
• Perimeter for tack strip: 56 + 46 + 44 = 146 feet.
• Shoe molding: the perimeter less 3 feet at each of the three doorways, 146 − 9 = 137 feet.
• Transitions: three doorways at 3 feet, so 9 feet.

You carry an allowance of one damaged subfloor section.

Labor hours

Say your crew's own records show the hours per unit below. They are example inputs to show the arithmetic, not a standard: use your own.

The check: 8.94 + 4.38 + 5.36 + 3 + 22.35 + 8.22 + 0.9 + 4.47 = 57.62 labor hours. For a two-person crew, that is about three and a half days.

Tear-out and prep nearly match the install

The install is 22.35 hours, well under half the job. Tear-out and subfloor prep are 21.68 hours, nearly as much as the install, and trim, transitions and cleanup another 13.59.

Example: If the client had chosen unfinished boards, sanding and finishing would be another line. Say your records show 6 hours per 100 square feet: 447 × 0.06 = 26.82 hours, more than the install itself.

Materials

With 10% waste on the flooring, and the rest from the product coverage and the room sizes:

• Solid hardwood: 447 × 1.1 = 491.7 square feet. At 20 square feet per carton, 24.59, so 25 cartons. Use the coverage on your product's carton.
• Rosin paper or underlayment: 447 square feet plus the overlaps, from the coverage on the roll, rounded up to full rolls.
• Flooring cleats: at the fastener spacing the flooring maker specifies, rounded up to full boxes.
• Subfloor screws and adhesive: screws at the spacing the panel maker calls for, plus adhesive and a panel for the section you replace.
• Shoe molding: 137 feet. In 8-foot pieces, 17.13, so 18, plus one per room for miters and short runs: 21 pieces, with caulk and nails.
• Transitions: one strip per doorway, so 3.

Price each at your supplier near the job. Call the total M.

Building the price

With a 25% markup, the price is the total cost × 1.25, a 20% margin. A 20% markup is only about a 16.7% margin. The markup vs margin guide explains why, and the job cost calculator adds up the lines.

Check the price per square foot

Divide the price by 447 and compare the price per square foot with similar jobs.

Common flooring pricing mistakes

• One installed price for every floor. Tile and hardwood take far more hours than floating plank.
• Forgetting the edges. Tack strip, shoe molding and transitions are slow per foot.
• No subfloor allowance. Damage under old flooring is common and invisible until tear-out.
• Skipping the asbestos question on old sheet vinyl and mastic.
• Waste from a straight lay on a pattern job. Herringbone and diagonal layouts waste more.
• Leaving out furniture, doors and disposal. Price them or exclude them in writing.

How to present a flooring estimate

• Group lines into tear-out, prep, install and trim, so the client sees what each stage costs.
• Name the product: species, width, thickness, finish and the waste you included.
• Put the subfloor allowance in writing, with the price per extra section. If it becomes a change, the change order guide covers how to write it up.
• List exclusions: furniture moving, stairs, door trimming, baseboard replacement and abatement.
• Set the deposit, often enough to order the flooring, with the balance at completion. The progress billing guide covers the options.

The flooring estimate template lays these sections out, and the flooring invoice template bills the deposit and balance. For a one-off, the free estimate generator makes a clean PDF.

Pricing flooring jobs with BuildWell

BuildWell builds a flooring estimate from a description of the job by voice, text or photos, such as "three bedrooms, 447 square feet, pull carpet, screw down the subfloor, prefinished solid oak, shoe molding, three transitions."

The AI decides what work the job needs and how much; it does not set prices. BuildWell prices materials at stores near the job and labor at the metro's median wage for each trade on the job, plus your overhead and markup.

You can change any quantity, hour or price, or add your own line.

A flooring pricing checklist

• Each room measured, closets included
• Perimeter and doorways counted for trim and transitions
• Old floor and subfloor checked, with an allowance
• Asbestos, moisture and flatness questions asked
• Labor hours line by line for the floor type
• Flooring with waste, in full cartons, at current prices
• Disposal, furniture and doors priced or excluded
• Overhead on every labor hour, then profit