New flooring costs $3 to $18 per square foot installed in 2026, depending mostly on material. That puts a typical 320-square-foot living room anywhere from about $1,000 for carpet to $5,500 for hardwood, and a 1,500-square-foot main level between roughly $6,000 and $25,000. Here is how each material prices out, and where quotes quietly grow.
Flooring cost by material
Installed prices below include material and labor. Materials alone are typically 50–70% of the number; the rest is installation, which varies with the method (glue-down, nail-down, click-lock, mortar).
| Material | Installed cost / sq ft | 1,000 sq ft project | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carpet | $2–$6 | $2,000–$6,000 | Fastest install; pad quality matters as much as fiber |
| Laminate | $3–$8 | $3,000–$8,000 | Hard-wearing; older lines dislike moisture |
| Luxury vinyl plank (LVP) | $3–$8 | $3,000–$8,000 | Waterproof; the default for kitchens and rentals |
| Engineered hardwood | $6–$14 | $6,000–$14,000 | Real wood veneer; more stable than solid in humidity |
| Solid hardwood | $8–$18 | $8,000–$18,000 | Sand-and-refinish for decades; needs stable climate |
| Porcelain or ceramic tile | $8–$20 | $8,000–$20,000 | Labor-heavy; patterns and large formats cost more |
National estimates, standard installation. Removal of existing flooring, subfloor repair, and furniture moving are typically extra.
The add-ons that change your quote
- Removing old flooring: $1–$4 per square foot depending on what comes up. Glued-down tile and old hardwood are the slow, expensive ones.
- Subfloor repair or leveling: $2–$10+ per square foot where needed. This is the classic mid-job discovery; a good quote carries a unit price for it in advance.
- Furniture moving: often $20–$50 per room, or free if you empty rooms yourself.
- Stairs: priced per step, commonly $40–$150 each depending on material.
- Trim and transitions: new baseboards, quarter-round, and transition strips add material and finish labor.
- Moisture barriers and underlayment: inexpensive per foot but essential over concrete slabs and in humid climates.
What drives the price up or down
- Room shape and layout. Hallways, closets, angles, and islands mean more cuts and more waste (plan 8–12% overage on materials).
- Installation method. Click-lock floating floors install fastest; nail-down hardwood and mortared tile take real craft hours.
- Pattern. Herringbone, diagonal, and inlays can add 20–50% to labor.
- What is under there now. A flat, dry, sound subfloor is cheap to cover. Anything else is not.
- Whole-home versus one room. Larger jobs usually earn a lower per-foot rate, but continuous flooring across many rooms demands more careful planning at doorways and transitions.
Repair, refinish, or replace?
Replacement is not always the answer, especially with wood. Solid hardwood that looks tired can usually be sanded and refinished for $3–$8 per square foot, a fraction of the $8–$18 replacement cost, and most solid floors survive several refinishes over their life. Engineered hardwood can sometimes take one light refinish if the veneer is thick enough; check the wear-layer spec before anyone touches it with a sander.
Carpet is the opposite story: once it is matted, stained, or past ten years or so, cleaning returns diminish quickly and replacement is usually the better spend. Tile with a few cracked pieces can be repaired individually if you have spares; widespread cracking usually signals a subfloor movement problem that new tile alone will not fix. LVP and laminate fall in between, since click-lock planks can often be swapped plank-by-plank if you kept leftover boxes from the original install, one more reason to order that 10% overage and store it.
Ways to save without buying twice
- Let LVP do the wet rooms. Kitchens, laundry, and entries in waterproof LVP, with wood or carpet where feet actually linger, is a budget-smart mix.
- Clear the rooms yourself and pull your own carpet if the installer credits it; carpet removal is genuinely DIY-friendly.
- Buy mid-tier, not entry-tier. The thinnest wear layers and pads fail years early. The step up usually costs 15–25% and roughly doubles useful life.
- Get quotes measured on site. Phone estimates from your square footage routinely grow once waste, transitions, and stairs are counted properly.
- Schedule off-season. Flooring crews are busiest around holidays and spring selling season.
What a good flooring quote should include
- Measured square footage, waste factor, and the exact product line and wear-layer or thickness spec
- Removal and disposal of existing flooring, stated explicitly
- Subfloor prep assumptions and a unit price for repairs beyond them
- Underlayment or moisture barrier spec
- Trim scope: baseboards, quarter-round, transitions, stair nosing
- Acclimation plan for wood products (boxes on site several days before install)
- Workmanship warranty in writing, separate from the manufacturer’s warranty
Red flags when hiring a flooring installer
- A per-foot price with no site visit and no mention of prep, waste, or transitions.
- No license or insurance you can verify. A botched install over a bad subfloor is expensive to unwind.
- “Subfloor’s fine, trust me” without anyone lifting a corner of the old floor.
- Skipping acclimation on hardwood or laminate to hit a schedule; gaps and cupping follow.
- Cash-only pricing or full payment up front.
VettedQuote screens installers before they ever reach you: license status, insurance, and complaint history, checked against the records. The ones who fail never get your number.
How long does flooring installation take?
A single room is usually done in a day. A whole main level runs 2 to 5 days for floating floors, longer for nail-down hardwood or tile, which can need a week or more plus cure time before heavy furniture returns. Add several days up front for wood acclimation, and expect site-finished hardwood to add sanding and finishing days with the associated dust and fumes. If the job includes removal, budget an extra half day to a day per large room, more for glued-down tile. A crew that quotes one day for a whole house of nail-down hardwood is telling you something about the care you should expect.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to install 1,000 square feet of flooring?
Roughly $3,000 to $8,000 for LVP or laminate, $6,000 to $14,000 for engineered hardwood, and $8,000 to $20,000 for solid hardwood or tile, installed. Removal of old flooring and subfloor repairs are the usual additions on top.
What is the cheapest flooring that still looks good?
Mid-tier LVP is the current value leader: waterproof, convincing wood looks, and $3–$8 per square foot installed. Laminate competes closely in dry rooms and takes scratches from pets and furniture slightly better at similar prices.
Is it cheaper to install flooring myself?
Click-lock LVP and laminate are realistic DIY projects in simple rooms and can save $1.50–$3 per square foot in labor. Hardwood, tile, stairs, and anything involving subfloor repair are where DIY mistakes cost more than the installer would have.
Should flooring match through the whole house?
Continuous flooring through main living areas reads larger and is popular at resale, but it is not a rule. What matters is intentional transitions: doorways and hallway junctions are natural places to change materials cleanly.
Do flooring installers move furniture and appliances?
Most will move ordinary furniture for a per-room fee, but many exclude pianos, aquariums, electronics, and appliance disconnects. Get the list in writing so the crew does not stall on day one over a gas dryer nobody agreed to touch.
Cost figures in this guide are national estimates for planning purposes, compiled and rounded by the VettedQuote editorial team. Actual quotes vary by location, subfloor condition, material choice, and project scope. Always confirm pricing with a licensed local contractor.