Of course pricing varies depending on where you are, but that does seem high. You should get some additional bids from some other installers in your area to compare.

In the old house, I was in a significantly higher priced area than I am now. The problem is....he is doing our job...gutting the kitchen...doing structural work, etc. How can I pull in someone else at this point? That could and probably would get ugly. We talked about living on the slab until he is finished, but we are having built-in bookcases in the LR and new cabinets in the kitchen and everyone on the forum seems to be of the opinion you need to have flooring under them and not have them installed on the slab and add flooring later. There is no way to get around using him if we do the flooring while he is still on the job. How bad would it be to add flooring later? I realize it would mean quarter round would have to be used...but...that would be better than an absurd price. At least at the moment I think so.

We just put in Andersen hand scraped hickory flooring right before Christmas and, on sale, it was more than $6.75 per sq. ft. I guess it does depend on where you are located. We looked at many other types, some cheaper and some more expensive, but I finally just went with what I knew I liked and wouldn't want to change anytime soon. Good luck!

All the engineered I was looking at was between $9 and $16 per square foot materials only and without tax.

So I think it's low. Then again my neighbor got her engineered wood floor for about $3.99 per sq ft - material only.

Lumber Liquidators sells engineered floors for a little less than your price, but from all the reviews I've read you get what you pay for when you buy from there.

My hardwood guy quoted ~$10 per square foot installed for both engineered and regular hardwood. He said the engineered was less expensive for him to install, but more expensive for the material. And regular site finished hardwood was the opposite.

Impossible to know without knowing which specific floor you're talking about. A lot of engineered hdwd flooring costs more than $6.75 sq ft, material only, without installation.

Also, the type of install matters. Floating, which requires a cushion? Glue down, which requires glue. Eng hdwd is also sometimes nailed or stapled down. I recall that you have a slab so you'll probably be doing a floating floor. With a slab, you'll need a premium cushion w/ vapor barrier.

So, you need to consider the cost of the flooring, cost of addt'l supplies like the vapor barrier/ cushion and the labor to install all of it. All things considered, $6.75 a sq ft sounds cheap, maybe too cheap. I would be concerned about the quality of the hardwood you're getting at that price.

The installation alone can run from $2 to $6 a square foot, depending on type of installation. THe material itself should cost from $6-$10 a square foot for mid priced something of decent quality. So, I think you're WAY low for material and installation costs here.

Thanks. It just surprised me since I knew what I paid for the nail down. He is buying the floor from a friend out of state...directly from the factory...cutting out the middle man. The floor is a good floor. I did compare it to floors in flooring stores locally. All of this was an add-on so price was not discussed before we hired him. Thanks for sharing your experiences...my heart is beating still now. ha.

I think my hand-scraped engineered was about $10/ft installed. Your quote for $6/ft installed sounds pretty reasonable, and in fact your earlier $3/ft site-finished sounds ridiculously cheap (why don't you use that supplier/contractor again?).

We just installed 500 sq feet of BR 111 Engineered flooring.

I searched the internet and shopped locally and finally purchased it on line. I was quoted prices as high as 6.79 a square foot locally and one on line site and a low of 5.21 Sq foot at an online store where I ended up purchasing it. We live in the New York area and the on line store was in Indiana and the quoted price included shipping and no sales tax. Everything arrived on the day as promised and without damage.

Do shop around because prices are quite different depending where you shop..

billp what brand did you go with? Thanks.