coved or flat? When you say the subfloor is laid, are you referring to the underlayment? Subfloor is not an appropriate surface for sheet vinyl or linoleum. Generally, a layer of 3/8" particle board, or another dimensionally-stable, flat material, is laid on top of the subfloor. You could probably find someone wiliing to do the job for a few hundred bucks, flat laid, no coving, directly over whatever surface is there now, whether it is right or not. If you are just trying to get the lowest price, this is what you'll have. If you're going to pay someone, get a real flooring person who knows how to do coving. Thay way, you'll be paying an expert, and it is going to be worth the price paid. If you just want flat laid linoleum, do it yourself. You'll do a better job than a "professional" doing it the unprofessional way.

Are you thinking that you can go back to Contractor B and say "I only want to buy 600 sf, will your install price go down?" I doubt it, but you could ask. You need to compare total costs between the 2. If your material cost is $5/sf, then: Contractor A: materials: 600 sf @ $5/sf = 3000 labor: 935 total = 3935 Contractor B: materials: 675 sf @ $5/sf = 3375 labor: 928 total = 4303 So using Contractor A will save you $368, but you will have more potentially left over at the end. BTW, keeping extra for future repairs is a good idea. My experience with installing hardwood is that wastage is pretty small, since you can use the off cut from the end board as the starter on the next row. Or else you can find a board that only needs a couple inches cut off to finish up a row. 10% was more than enough on our floors. Contractor B, who says buy 20% either isn't a very good installer or doesn't trust the wood you're buying.

I am a professional flooring installer. There are quite a few different costs that are associated in installing a new hardwood floor in a (not new) home. If your home doesn't have an existing floor, then the average install was mentioned in the above comment. Those numbers hold true in St. Louis, Missouri. $2 - $3 for Nail Down Lets look at the job from start to finish. Make sure to get a moisture test, try and understand the reason behind this. You must allow your wood floor to acclimate to your home, and the moisture levels should be within the tolerances allowed. If you nail all your wood down while its freezing in your house, then you allow your home to remain open, during 100 degree days with 100% humidty like it gets here, you will have issues. Let your wood sit in your home, at your normal temps, for a couple days. A week if you can. If you have tear up. This is where the cost can vary greatly. If your home is on wood, you can look in the hear/ac register on the floor and check what all is installed on top of your sub floor. Here is a general list I use for take up: Carpet $.20 / sq ft Vinyl $1.00 / sq ft (If you have more than one layer, usually you can take all up at once, cut with hand saw into smaller easier to pry up pieces. Set your saw to not cut through your subfloor. Buy the 4ft pry bar for $20 at the box stores) Nail Down HardWood $1.50-$2.50 / sq ft. (The thinner the boards, the more expensive. i.e. 5 inch 3/4 is easier to rip up than 2" 1/4 (3/4 inch wood). More boards = more nails ) Laminate $1.00 / sq ft. This is the easiest take up. You will have to have a place to dump it, but if you have old laminate, you should really consider taking it up yourself. Its simple Ceramic $2-$4 / sq ft Nobody wants to tear out old ceramic. If the underlayment is screwed down and glued, well it can get expensive, dusty, and down right dangerous. Wear safety googles. BUT WAIT!! There is more! If there is a toilet, that can cost up to $100 to be pulled up, and reinstalled correctly. There is the issues with the baseboards. Usually this is pulled and rehung for free. Its a great opportunity to have it replaced, it gets banged up pretty bad if the last time it was hung, it was hung up with a million nails. The key is to use a utility knife and cut the top of the base, cutting the calk/base from the paint, so when you pull the base, it doesn't rip the paint up the wall. If your floor was taller before, you will have an issue with your base matching the old paint line. You can buy taller base, or paint!! I use this calculator to plug in all the values of the take up and installation costs, it gives me a rough estimate. This is android only, I haven't found one I like for apple sorry! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dma.flooringcalculator For installation charges i use this a guide: (All amounts are Per Square Foot) NailDown Hardwood $2-$3 (depending on width of board) Carpet $.50 (pattern matches/berbers extra $.25-$1.00 Depending) Laminate $2 (Cheaper for larger open areas) Vinyl $1 I hope the info helps!! D

I am king of all trades. I'll do any job for much less $ than a contractor. With a new line of pipe running outside and all the necessary fittings your total materials cost is maybe $250. Since I am out of work, I would only charge you $10 an hour, or whatever you say is fair for unskilled labor in your area. I would make a hole in your exterior wall with a hammer because I do not have all the fancy tools they use on TV. I would spend about a day working on your house, maybe two. I fix the hammer hole with spackel, caulk, or aerosol foam, the choice is up to you. You pay me $425 and I go away, never to be seen again. Too bad you wasted all that extra money on the ripoff contractor. He'll just blow it on some stupid tool he can use to extort more $ from consumers. Why would anyone hire a plumber with license and insurance? Just doesn't make sense if you know me! And I am everywhere!