Flooring Your Home For Less

Ways To Save On Flooring Cost In Charlotte NC

Tips for saving money when installing new floors in your home.

Flooring is always one of the largest sections, in the big box home improvement stores located in the Charlotte, NC area.  There are a couple of reasons why there is always a large selection of flooring products in the home improvement stores.  One reason is many homes have products like carpet and linoleum, which need replacing and upgrading within 7-10 years, making replacement needs one of the top reasons.  Another reason flooring is such a popular section in the home improvement stores is that it can drastically change the look of a room or home.   Flooring products are often one of the more affordable home improvement products on the market, as customers are continually upgrading and replacing flooring on a regular basis.  With all these factors in mind, you can see why re-flooring your home, is one of the most popular ways to improve your home. 

With all the flooring products out there in the Charlotte, NC market, customers can easily get duped into paying a lot more then market value for reflooring their homes.  Large selections in home improvement stores unfortunately lend to sales pitches that might not always be honest.   For example, a lot of home improvement stores in the Charlotte area like to sell the installation with the flooring product.  This in my opinion is a great way to market and sell your products, however big home improvement stores will advertise $.99/square foot installation prices.  When you get to reading the fine print on the $.99/square foot installation prices, you see then that on top of installation cost there is also demolition cost for removing the old flooring product, cost for molding installation, and other expensive upgrades to complete the flooring job right.  Although, $.99/square foot installation, additional cost of services to complete the flooring project properly, come as upgrades in many home improvement stores.  Many homeowners do not know that there is often a lot more experienced flooring installer, that will do the price for a lot less, eliminating the big box home improvement store from getting their middle man fees and commissions.  So how can homeowners save money on flooring cost?

There are a few different ways that homeowners can lower their flooring cost.  The first way homeowners can save money is by starting with a budget.  A good flooring budget can help you spend less in the long run.  In preparing to write a flooring budget, a homeowner is going to need to know how to measure and calculate square footage.  To get the square footage of the room, simply measure the length and width of the room, then multiply the two number together. The formula for square footage is:

Length x Width = Square Footage (Example: 6'L x 6'W = 36 square feet)

It is important to know the square footage because this will let you know how much flooring material to buy, and flooring installers like to quote labor prices using square footage.  Having this little bit of knowledge will not only help you budget, it will also let you check the honesty of your flooring installer as well.  Most flooring contractors will add about 10% to the square foot total for material as a waste factor, however they should be upfront and honest and show this 10% in their equation.  For larger areas and more detailed products, this waste factor may be a little higher than 10%, however the waste factor for most flooring products is within a 10%-15% range.  Anything higher should call for questioning.

Another cost often forgotten in the shuffle of shopping for new flooring is the trim pieces like the quarter round, transition strips, or baseboard.  Its good to write down the dimensions of all your rooms, as you will use them to calculate the linear footage of trim materials needed.  Knowing these cost will also help you get a true budget, and no surprise material cost popping up later. You will also need some semi-gloss paint for your wood trim as well, so make sure to count in a quart, or gallon of paint as well. Flooring contractors will generally charge for trim work separately, with modest installation rates that range from $0.75/foot, all the way up to $7.00/foot for more detailed trim pieces. Typical quarter round and shoe mold installation should be on the low end of the spectrum.

The second way homeowners can save money is by being patient. Shopping for building materials can be a tedious process, especially when its a finish material like flooring. Hundreds of different designs in every category of flooring.  Once you have decided you wanted tile flooring instead of hardwood flooring, then you have thousands of tile pieces, with hundreds of different free tile patterns for homeowners to download. Being patient in this process of picking materials, can save you a lot of money, as you will be more patient in waiting to find the material you like, at the price you budgeted for.  If your a good planner, you can watch the retailers with big tile flooring selections, and try to catch the tile flooring material you like on sale. Big box retailers have sales not only on the cheap tiles, but they run sales on tiles expensive as special order tiles.

In summary, to floor your home for less, the 3 key components to saving money is how to measure, having a budget, and shopping research. Knowing how to measure insures your not getting ripped off, and input for ordering materials. Making a budget is essential to saving money on flooring cost. Another good thing to do is put your work out for bid to a couple contractors as well, however finding a good contractor can make another article all in itself.   We hope this blog post has been both informative and helpful for anyone reading it. If you are a Charlotte, NC area homeowner looking to install new flooring, then give MB Construction Company a call for a free estimate.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to comment with new ideas for blog post.

Authored by:


Brad Basinger
MB Construction Company
224 Prescott Drive
Salisbury, NC 28144
Phone: 704-267-7763
Website: http://www.mbconstructioncompany.com

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