My neighbor across the street has a Tesla. It is amazing, however it is almost a 100K car. We bought a used Ford several months ago for less than 14K. I would never try to get a Tesla at a used Ford price.

I usually try to be patient and watch for sales when buying products. Usually smaller stores have less of a profit margin than the big box stores. You may be able to negotiate a little, but remember that theses "Mom & Pop" shops don't get the same buyers discount than the big box stores do.

We diy installed the cork flooring in our first kitchen. Second time we had more money than time so we paid the same carpenter who did much of the rest of the work. I bought the flooring online both times and was satisfied with the price, quality and delivery. Diy installation was the biggest cost savings for us.

I shopped at both Floor and Decor, Lumber Liq, HD, and Lowes. We started with reclaimed hardwood but it was out of our budget so we looked at everything including vinyl and laminates. It turned out that the good looking vinyl and laminates were more costly than real stuff.

I also shopped at umpteenth little flooring stores. I found one store that was willing to work within my budget by giving me 10% over wholesale. I ended up buying limestones for only a little over the cheap laminates at Floor and Decor.

My suggestion is to shop around hard.

Installation is a huge cost. I had to pay $2/SF for demo and $6.25 for install. I saved money by doing my own sealing in between steps. I'm also doing some of the grouting. I saved a bit on install by shopping around and some DIY.

we found the same kitchen floor on-line and at a floor store (not discount store). the on-line price was cheaper and i called the floor store and they matched it and gave us about another 5% on top of that to save the cost of sales tax which we would not have paid if we bought on-line.

we also did the same thing with the flooring we used in the family room. different store and they also met the on-line price with no hesitation. and frankly, if they don't meet it or exceed it, they lose the sale.
its in their best interest to do it. you have to do your homework and
make the system work for you.

we like to buy from local stores to give them our business and if anything goes wrong with the order or delivery, they are right in your neighborhood and its an easy fix. Or if you need more material their easily accessible. i like to be able to go there and talk to someone, with on-line vendors, not so much.

we also saved by doing it ourselves. DH is a contractor so that's a no-brainer for us.
Good Luck!!!

I live in a larger metro area and had many options; I did "shop around hard" well before I would be installing the floor and so found a fabulous deal on engineered hardwood at a local flooring store. It was a closeout (the mill that made it had gone out of business) but was 1st quality.

I was rather nervous at the thought of buying on-line, afraid that I would be sent warped or otherwise damaged product and have difficulty with return or replacement. However, there were a few that I went so far as to get samples that looked good with good prices.

We were doing our entire home and simply ran out of money. No wiggle room at all. Bought a remnant sheet vinyl at HDepot and lived with it in the kitchen for 10 yrs before having enough $$$ to replace both flooring and countertops.

Turned out I liked solid vinyl floor tiles best, so having the sheet vinyl proved perfect. They were glued down right on the old vinyl, so now I have double cushioning underfoot - which is great because our floorplan is flipped. The kitchen is over the master bedroom, LOL. Nice slate-look Metroflor; looks very good against the original oak flooring in the LR/DR open plan.

Taught us that floors and counters are the easiest to replace. Good thing to remember when you can't do everything all at once.

I found a locally owned store that sold Chelsea flooring that we just installed. What I liked about it was that I got a great floor made here in the US, and supported local business as well.

I did have to make, at least for me, a huge compromise. I wanted walnut so bad, but it would have been at least $2,500 more. Wasn't in the budget. I still got the brand, but had to go with a darker ash hardwood flooring that is wire brushed. Do I like it as much? Not even close. But I got it for $5.35/sf (product only), in a combination of 3", 4" and 5" laid in a random pattern which turned out beautiful. I got a Home Show discount. I think I got a great deal.

I've found that the flooring stores will bundle their prices together so you don't really know what you're paying for in material vs paying for installation and prep. So, even if you got them to discount the material by 5% to match online retailer, who's to say they won't turn around and increase their installation by 5% so it evens out.

It seems like installation would be the biggest cost savings. But, the Kardean installation seems fairly complicated and I think you might lose your warranty.

I became a regular at the local flooring shops when I was scouting for floors. They always had batches of leftovers from install jobs. You just need to find a place that does lots of commercial installs.

The trick was finding something I liked that was higher quality and in my price point.

I eventually found a batch of tile leftover from an install at a casino that was perfect. I got tiles that would usually be around $5 sq/ft for under $2.

I used these guys ... www.floorstoyourhome.com ... and picked out flooring that would be pretty easy to diy. Got a lot of samples. It will be better than old carpet and ugly terracotta tile. Have to get the kitchen installed before the flooring though, since it is floating. So we've had flooring stacked in a corner of the living room for over a year, lol.

I found the best price on wood flooring from a local construction supply house. They sourced it from a relatively local mill for me and delivered for free. We DIYed the install. We were able to get 7-inch wide southern pine flooring for about $1.75/lf.

Mermanmike, NICE!!!

We're building a house, and did variable width (4" to 7") hickory throughout. A local mill was able to cut and tongue and grove it for us for $2.50 s/f. We installed it, and finished it. All said and done, it was about $3/sf. I don't have a good photo right now, but it's freaking gorgeous, if I do say so myself. :)

So check with a local mill.

DIY acid stained concrete. We will be doing it ourselves next week. It only cost us about $300 total and if we don't like it when it is done (I have a strong feeling we will), then we can tile over it, DIY style.

I agree with Sophie about ProSource. I've been buying from them for at least 12 years. Never a complaint.

I saved tons of cash by buying online and installing it myself.