Flooring costs

The per-square-foot number a salesperson quotes is almost always material plus the labor to lay it. That is maybe two-thirds of the real job. The other third is tear-out ($1-$6/sq ft), subfloor repair or replacement ($2-$2.50/sq ft for repair; $3.50-$12/sq ft for full replacement), underlayment ($3.40-$5.30/sq ft), and trim. Baseboard runs about $1.74-$2.50 per linear foot and transition strips are $10-$40 each.

Stairs are priced per step and they are expensive. Hardwood stairs run roughly $100-$200 per step, and carpeted stairs run about $11-$160 per step depending on the carpet and the stair shape. A 14-step staircase can add more to a job than an entire bedroom. If your quote covers 800 square feet and says nothing about the stairs, it is not a whole-house quote.

Material-by-material, installed: luxury vinyl plank $3-$11/sq ft (materials $2-$7, labor $1-$4). Carpet $1.36-$13.58/sq ft, national average $7.47, of which padding is only $0.35-$1.14 and labor $0.74-$1.17. Solid hardwood $9-$23/sq ft installed versus engineered hardwood $8-$14/sq ft. Refinishing existing hardwood $3-$8/sq ft, which is the cheapest good-looking floor most people can buy.

Two nasty surprises deserve their own line. If mold is found under the old floor, remediation runs about $10-$25 per square foot. If the old floor is vinyl tile or sheet vinyl from a home built before the 1980s, asbestos abatement runs about $5-$20 per square foot. Neither is padding. Both are real, and both are why an honest contractor will not give you a firm all-in price until the old floor is up.