Material prices, labor rates, the add-ons that quietly double a quote, and the ten-year lifecycle math that reverses most "cheapest option" decisions. US national averages, mid-2026.
Includes the line items most online calculators leave out — demolition, disposal, subfloor prep, underlayment and baseboard.
Tear-out labor. Priced on what comes out, not what goes in — stretched carpet lifts in minutes, bedded tile does not. Disposal is a separate line below.
Every room you plan to cover, added together. Rough reference: a bedroom runs about 120–200 sq ft, a living room 250–350, and the main floor of an average home 1,000–1,500. Measure to the walls — the waste allowance below covers the cuts.
Spot patching and flattening, not a full self-leveling pour. Needed under large-format tile or any floating floor once the subfloor is out of flat by more than about 3/16" over 10 feet.
Acoustic pad, vapor barrier or cork under a floating floor. Often quoted separately from the material itself — confirm it isn't already bundled before adding it here.
Not every slab needs this — have it tested (calcium chloride or in-situ RH) before adding it. Skip it if the result comes back dry.
Optional but recommended — quarter round nailed over the old baseboard looks like a shortcut because it is one.
Dumpster or haul-away for the old floor. Usually its own line even when the same crew handles tear-out.
Out of the room before the crew starts, back in when they're done. Many installers exclude this by default — confirm before signing.
Fridge, washer, dryer. A water or gas line disconnect is often billed separately from the physical move.
Needed before tile or a floating floor can run under the base. Some installers include it, some treat it as a separate trade — confirm which.
These are US national averages. Real quotes vary with your market, subfloor condition, stairs, room count, furniture moving and how busy your installer is — 20 to 40% either way is normal. Use this number to spot a quote that is wildly out of line in either direction, then get three real bids.
The material price is what gets advertised. These are what turn a $4,000 estimate into a $6,500 invoice.
| Line item | Typical cost | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Tear-out of the old floor | $0.08–$3.00 / sq ft | Nearly always, and priced by what comes out rather than what goes in. Stretched carpet lifts in minutes at around $0.08; glued and nail-down goods run $2–$3; bedded tile and stone are the top of the range. A quote using one flat rate for every job is guessing. |
| Debris disposal | $0.10 / sq ft | Dumpster or haul-away, and separate from the tear-out labor on most quotes. Tile and stone fill a dumpster far faster than carpet, so heavy jobs sit at the top of the range. |
| Subfloor leveling / patching | $0.20 / sq ft | Spot patching and flattening. Required for large-format tile and any floating floor. A slab needing full self-leveling compound costs several times this. |
| Subfloor replacement | $3.00–$8.00 / sq ft | Water damage, rot, or inadequate thickness for tile. Discovered after demo, not before. |
| Underlayment | $0.40 / sq ft | Laminate, vinyl plank and floating engineered wood. Acoustic mat, vapor barrier or cork. Often quoted separately, and not interchangeable with carpet cushion. |
| Carpet pad | $0.80 / sq ft | Broadloom carpet only. Carpet tile is hard-backed and lays straight down with no cushion. |
| Moisture mitigation (slab) | $1.00 / sq ft | When RH testing exceeds the adhesive or product limit. Skipping it voids the warranty. |
| Uncoupling membrane (tile) | $1.50–$3.00 / sq ft | Standard practice over any wood subfloor. The main defense against cracked tile. |
| Transitions & thresholds | $25–$90 each | One at every doorway and change of material. A minor line on most quotes — worth knowing about, rarely worth arguing over. |
| Baseboard removal & reinstall | $0.40 / linear ft | Optional but recommended — quarter round over old base looks like a shortcut because it is one. |
| Stairs | $45–$200 per step | Wide variance by material. Hardwood stairs with returns are at the top of the range. |
| Furniture moving | $25–$75 per room | Out before the crew starts, back in when they're done. Many installers exclude this — confirm before signing. |
| Appliance disconnect & move | $80 each | Fridge, washer, dryer. Disconnecting a water or gas line is usually billed separately from the move itself. |
| Toilet pull & reset | $100 each | Needed before tile or a floating floor can run under the base. Some installers include it, some treat it as a separate trade — confirm which before you compare bids. |
The single most useful comparison between three bids is the exclusions list. A low bid that excludes demo, disposal and subfloor prep is frequently the most expensive quote once those are added back.
Installed cost plus annual maintenance plus replacement, per square foot over ten years.
Every row is generated from this site’s own data, so the table can’t quietly fall out of step with the material pages. The installed figure is the point a specifier actually buys at rather than the midpoint of the published range, and replacements use the low end of each material’s service life — the pessimistic reading a budget should carry.
Only the VCT row is anchored to published figures: a $3.50/sq ft install carrying about $1.50/sq ft/year for a daily-mop, weekly-burnish, semi-annual strip-and-refinish program. The upkeep figures for the other materials are editorial estimates chosen to be internally consistent with it, not measured across a sample of buildings.
Independent lifecycle analyses do support the direction — VCT operational maintenance runs roughly 22–27% above LVT and sheet vinyl, driven almost entirely by finish application and removal labor. Use the ranking, and get real numbers from your own custodial contractor before you put them in a budget. See sources.
| Material | Installed | Annual upkeep | Replacements in 10 yr | 10-year total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laminate | $5.50 | $0.20 | 0 | $7.50 |
| Sheet Vinyl | $4.50 | $0.30 | 0 | $7.50 |
| Luxury Vinyl Plank — Flexible (Glue-Down) | $5.50 | $0.30 | 0 | $8.50 |
| Polished Concrete | $7.00 | $0.20 | 0 | $9.00 |
| Nylon Carpet | $4.50 | $0.50 | 0 | $9.50 |
| Luxury Vinyl Plank — SPC (Rigid Core) | $6.50 | $0.30 | 0 | $9.50 |
| Carpet Tile (Modular) | $5.50 | $0.45 | 0 | $10.00 |
| Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) | $7.00 | $0.30 | 0 | $10.00 |
| Luxury Vinyl Plank — WPC (Wood-Plastic Core) | $7.50 | $0.30 | 0 | $10.50 |
| Epoxy & Resinous Coatings | $8.00 | $0.25 | 0 | $10.50 |
| Olefin (Polypropylene) Carpet | $3.50 | $0.45 | 1 (yr 5) | $11.50 |
| Ceramic Tile | $9.00 | $0.25 | 0 | $11.50 |
| Polyester / PET Carpet | $4.00 | $0.50 | 1 (yr 5) | $13.00 |
| Engineered Hardwood | $11.00 | $0.35 | 0 | $14.50 |
| Solid Hardwood | $12.00 | $0.35 | 0 | $15.50 |
| Triexta (PTT) Carpet | $5.50 | $0.50 | 1 (yr 8) | $16.00 |
| Porcelain Tile | $14.00 | $0.25 | 0 | $16.50 |
| Wool Carpet | $12.00 | $0.60 | 0 | $18.00 |
| VCT — Vinyl Composition Tile | $3.50 | $1.50 | 0 | $18.50 |
| Natural Stone | $18.00 | $0.55 | 0 | $23.50 |
| Terrazzo | $28.00 | $0.20 | 0 | $30.00 |
VCT has the lowest installed price on this table and the second-highest ten-year cost. The difference is entirely custodial labor: stripping and re-waxing a floor one to two times a year is a permanent operating expense that never appears in the construction budget it was approved from.
Terrazzo looks indefensible at ten years and unbeatable at fifty. A documented 75-year service life with periodic regrinding means the same floor spans four or five replacement cycles of anything else on this table. Match the analysis period to how long the building will actually be used.
Installation is never free; it is priced into the material. These promotions are worth evaluating on the bottom-line total against an itemized quote from an independent installer. Sometimes they win. Often the material price has been marked up more than the labor was discounted, and the fine print excludes demo, prep and subfloor work anyway.
Contractors rarely quote the same scope, so the lowest number is often the one that excluded the most. Put your bids side by side and see what each one leaves out.
For a 2,000 square foot home, budget roughly $8,000 to $22,000 for mid-grade vinyl plank or laminate installed, $18,000 to $38,000 for engineered hardwood, and $16,000 to $58,000 for porcelain tile. Those figures cover material plus professional labor. Add tear-out of the old floor, which is priced by what is coming out rather than what is going in: about $0.08 per square foot for stretched carpet, $2.00 for floating laminate or vinyl, $3.00 for glued and nail-down wood, and $3.00 for tile and stone. Disposal is separate at about $0.10 per square foot, subfloor patching around $0.20, and underlayment $0.40 for a floating floor or $0.80 for carpet cushion.
VCT at roughly $2.50 to $6.00 installed and sheet vinyl at $3.00 to $9.00 are the lowest first cost. VCT is a trap for anything other than a facility with an in-house maintenance crew: it needs stripping and re-waxing one to two times a year, which typically costs $1.00 to $2.00 per square foot per year and makes it one of the most expensive floors to own over ten years.
Because the advertised number is usually material only, sometimes material plus basic labor. The line items that get added are demolition and disposal, subfloor leveling, moisture mitigation over concrete, underlayment, baseboard removal and reinstall, stairs charged per step, furniture moving, and toilet pulls. Comparing three bids is really about comparing their exclusion lists.
Roughly $1.50 to $3.00 per square foot for carpet, $2.00 to $5.00 for vinyl plank and laminate, $3.00 to $8.00 for wood, and $5.00 to $14.00 for tile, where skill is most of the outcome. Tile labor rises sharply for patterns, large format and anything needing an uncoupling membrane.
Judge it on cost per year of service rather than first cost. Polished concrete works out near $0.11 per square foot per year and solid hardwood near $0.21, because both last decades. Polyester carpet is cheap to buy but lands near $0.62 per year because it needs replacing sooner. If you are selling within three years, buy on first cost; if you are staying fifteen, buy on lifecycle.
Do your own demolition and haul-away, move your own furniture, choose a stocked color over a special order, keep the layout straight rather than diagonal, and run one material through several rooms to cut set-up time. Do not save on subfloor preparation, moisture testing over concrete, carpet cushion, uncoupling membrane under tile, or vinyl wear layer thickness.