Carpet Installation Flooring HQ vs Big Box Stores

We’ve all seen the commercials where the Big Box Stores advertise one low price ($97 entire house) for Carpet installation. Beware of Big Box stores that offer one low price for installation. The stores that offer this deal just build the labor into the price in other ways. You have to look at the entire package price and not get caught up in the gimmick of the one low price installation.

Usually when a store uses this ploy, they build the labor into the price in other ways. This is done by increasing the pad price and adding on charges like carpet removal fees and furniture moving fees. On top of all those add-on expenses they offer this great deal of one low price installation, which is really just like giving away extra money because they have already covered their labor cost with all those other fees.

For example, you have three rooms that are 12’x12’ (144sf/room) for a total of 432sf. Now let’s say the one low price installation is approximately $100 for the entire house. If you divide the $100 by the 432sf you will get an average price per square foot of $.23. Keep in mind, this average will change with your total square footage. If your total square footage is less, then the average price goes up. If the total square footage is more, then the average price goes down.

In addition to the one low price installation, you then have to look at all the add-on fees:

· Basic padding at these stores average approximately $.50/sf

· Removal of existing carpet averages $.20/sf

· Furniture moving averages $20/room (based on example above $20/room = $60 divided by 432sf gives an average square foot price of $.14/sf).

Now let’s add all these up – $.50 + $.20 + $.14 + $.23 = $1.07/sf just for labor and pad. Amazing how all these things really start to add up. Then you still need to add the cost of your carpet selection.

You should always consider the total package price and not fall victim to the hype of a well marketed gimmick. I assure you that when you compare apples-to-apples you will see that “one low price installation for the entire house” is not always a great deal.