The per-square-foot number in a flooring quote is the part that varies least. What varies is everything underneath it: removing and disposing of the old floor, repairing the subfloor, underlayment, moisture testing, and the trim and transitions at every doorway. Hardwood installed runs $11 to $25 a square foot on one guide and $6 to $12 on another, and neither includes all of that.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Hardwood floor installationNational range | $6 to $25 per square foot installed |
Ranges last checked September 2026. They come down automatically when they are due to be rechecked.
Every figure above comes from a named source we can link to, with the date we last checked it. We publish ranges rather than single prices because a range is what a provider will actually give you: the same job moves with what is being worked on, the materials, how hard it is to get at and how busy the trade is locally. Treat these as the order of magnitude to expect before you call, not as a quote.
The figures here are national. Where a source publishes figures state by state, the state pages carry that local figure instead of this one. We do not scale a national number by a multiplier of our own invention.
Every range carries a review date. When that date passes the number comes down until it is rechecked, rather than sitting here undated.
Flooring is sold by the square foot, which makes two quotes look comparable when they are not. The material and the installation labor are the visible half. The other half is a list of line items that different contractors include, exclude or simply do not mention.
Removing and disposing of the old floor: carpet runs seventy cents to a dollar sixty a square foot, tile two to seven dollars, because tile has to be broken out. Subfloor replacement runs a little over two dollars to nearly five a square foot, or nine hundred to three thousand as a project figure. Underlayment is fifty cents to three fifty. Trim, baseboards and transitions are priced separately again, and there is one at every doorway. Furniture removal is sixty to a hundred and twenty dollars an hour if the crew does it.
None of that is a hidden charge. All of it is real work. The question to ask is not whether a quote includes it but which of these six lines are in the number and which are not, because the answer differs by contractor and that is where the difference between two bids actually lives.
The National Wood Flooring Association's installation guidelines carry a dedicated moisture testing section covering temperature and relative humidity, moisture in the wood itself, wood subfloors and concrete subfloors. The responsibility is stated plainly: it is the installer's job to recheck jobsite conditions at the time of installation and confirm they meet or exceed the flooring manufacturer's requirements, and the site should meet those requirements before wood is delivered as well as during and after installation.
This page publishes no numeric moisture limits, because the specific figures could not be read at the source. What is worth carrying away is that testing is a defined step with a named owner, and a contractor who cannot say what they tested and when has skipped it. Wood that goes down over a wet slab fails months later, and by then the argument is about who caused it.
Get the quote itemized: material, labor, old floor removal and disposal, subfloor work, underlayment, trim and transitions. Six lines, and then two bids are comparable.
Ask what happens if the subfloor is bad underneath. It is the most common change order in this trade and nobody can see it in advance.
Ask what moisture testing will be done, when, and what the readings have to be before installation starts.
Ask about the pattern before you fall in love with it. Herringbone adds roughly thirty percent for the same material.
If the sale was made in your home, the FTC Cooling-Off Rule gives you three business days on anything over twenty-five dollars. Flooring is an in-home-measure trade and that rule applies more often than not.
Two guides disagree. HomeGuide gives $11 to $25 a square foot; Angi gives $6 to $12 for a standard install and $13 to $25 for higher-end work, with a $4,722 average. Both are published here rather than blended.
On HomeGuide's figures, installed: tile $10 to $50 a square foot, carpet $2 to $8, luxury vinyl plank $4 to $16, laminate $4 to $14.
Old floor removal and disposal, subfloor repair, underlayment, trim and transitions, and furniture removal. Ask which of those six are in the number.
Carpet runs $0.70 to $1.60 a square foot and tile $2 to $7, because tile has to be broken out.
Replacement runs about $2.20 to $4.75 a square foot, or $900 to $3,000 as a project. It is the most common change order in this trade and nobody can see it before the old floor comes up.
Because wood laid over a wet subfloor fails months later. The National Wood Flooring Association guidelines make it the installer's responsibility to recheck jobsite conditions at the time of installation and confirm they meet the manufacturer's requirements.
Yes. Herringbone adds roughly 30 percent to the bill for the same material.
Yes, within three business days under the FTC Cooling-Off Rule, on a sale of $25 or more at your residence.