Depends on all of the add ons like furniture moving, shoe mold install, floor prep, etc. Ballpark for basic mid grade is $10 a square. Start adding on the extras.

SJ McCarthy - thanks for the response. To clarify, those quotes are not for the cost of the wood. They are for materials and installation - everything. I am not considering any products where the flooring cost alone is above $8/sf. That would mean a total cost that would be far outside of my budget. Note that I do not need an engineered wood that can be resanded three times, as I am never going to do that. This is my permanent home - I don't care about resale-specific issues. It is just me living here, no pets. Of course my BF is here often, and my son stays with me when he visits, but traffic in my home is very light.

The Harris product that I am considering is actually my top choice as far as appearance (Hickory Roaring Fork). It is by far the most appealing to me, over everything else I have seen. It is not a wire-brushed finish (which adds a lot to the cost) but since I don't love that look, it works for me. (I also cannot stand the hand-scraped, or distressed barnwood-looking stuff.) Its cost, that I am being quoted, is between 4.70 and 5.00 a square. I could beat that price online, but that opens up more issues for me. As far as "NWFA certified installers", there are none within 50 miles from me. So for my purposes, using an authorized flooring retailer/installer would seem to give me more protection as far as warranty, would it not?

Totally agree with what you are saying on the LVT - I am fairly certain I'm going with an Armstrong Vivero glue-down LVT - and it is a stone-look - not wood. Even the finished install cost of that winds up being around $7 a sf. Not cheap. I have thought about doing LVT everywhere, but frankly, I have not found any that has a look that I would want in those other areas, It has actually taken me many many hours (which means actual months!) of searching to finally find 2 or 3 engineered woods that I actually like, that would not empty my bank account. It's a curse being this picky. :-(

So the quote for 500sf of engineered flooring = $8/sf INSTALLED????? Ouch. That's low (for my market). That means the cost of the flooring is around $5.00/sf. That is not a mid-grade quality; that's low quality.

The amount of quality you can get for a HIGH END LAMINATE is going to far out perform the engineered hardwood being offer for that price. And it is cheaper to install laminate.

If the $5/sf for flooring + $3/sf install is too much for your budget (or is pushing the comfortable envelope) then I HIGHLY recommend working with a stellar laminate. It will wear well and look great for 20+ years. The engineered wood that is $5/sf is going to look nasty before it turns 15 years old. And it could look ugly inside of 7 years.

Our house has a floor like that. When my dogs walk on it I can hear their toenails amplified by the thin wood like they were walking on a drum. I hate it. We covered it with rugs and carpets. If we remodel we will replace the faux wood with the wood-look porcelain tiles. We did that in two bathrooms, and it looks great.

Can’t stand the look of laminate so not an option for me. I do like the Harris product, better than anything else I have seen. I can’t see spending more money for something I like less. Low for your market might be totally different from my area. My 24 old carpet may have to stay put a couple of more years. An upcoming new roof is more critical. :-/

Sorry Chess but the $4.70/sf is "Lumber Liquidator" range. And that is some of their lowest pricing. That's across the USA. All markets would say an engineered hardwood at $4.70/sf is low end. I'm very sorry to say that but it is the reality.

That being said, a mid-grade carpet + mid-grade pad will be LESS than engineered. If you need to "get by" for another 7 - 10 years, a carpet for carpet replacement would do VERY well.

I'm with you on wanting that 24 years of nastiness to be gone! I get it. But the roof is MUCH more important. If you need another 7 - 10 years to save for wood flooring, then perhaps a quick carpet swap for little money would be a better option.

I have looked at a crap ton of flooring - and frankly I don't see how you can judge by price alone. Saying that 2mm is crap, is just silly. I have seen some far more expensive planks with the same 2mm veneer. I don't really care about a "low end" label. If the one I like the most is the least expensive, then that is a bonus to me. It may be "cheapo" to YOU, but I am replacing 24 year old builder grade carpet - and I doubt you would have recommended that either. :-) I'm not replacing carpet with carpet - already made up my mind on that. But I have time for the wood. I am getting FIVE more estimates next weekend...but I still do like the Harris Wood. And no I am not waiting 5 - 7 years LOL.

Price for flooring, like cars, indicates quality of manufacturing process. A Mercedes holds a higher level of value than Hyundai. It is not just a brand that carries the value. It is the amount of knowledge, development, integrity and environmental sustainability that goes into the car/floor that reflects the price.

There are reasons why a $4.70/sf floor can be SO LOW. Economics means the dealer purchased it for $3/sf (or so). That will include $0.30 - $0.60/sf cost of transport. And that will also include the import duties of 7% - 15% (depends on country of origin). So that wholesale $3/sf is actually $2.10/sf with everything else added on top. That means the manufacturer is still making a profit at $2.10 (10-20% markup is normal for manufacturers)

The USA, Canada and the EU are unable to manufacture wood flooring for that amount let alone sell it for that amount. It is not financially feasible. The wage costs alone plus the cost to build the factories (again, wage costs + material costs in a 1st world democracy), materials used to glue the wood together and the finishes (limitations imposed by the country of origin) as well as the wood itself. Then there are the environmental requirements of these 1st world companies (air polution restrictions; waste water disposal; properly lined holding ponds; fish stock and ground water monitoring in and around the manufacturing site, etc, etc, etc).

The same product, produced to the same manufacturing specifications in the USA/Canada/EU would be triple the cost. And the countries that are able to produce a $2.15/sf wood floor, are often located in the Asian Pacific rim. An area known for environmentally risky practices...not to mention human rights violations, etc, etc, etc.

I agree that price alone is not an indicator of quality. On occasion you can find the quality of Mercedes in a Hyundai....but you still have to purchase the HIGH END Hyundai rather than the entry level Accent.

Harris Wood is made in the US. In Tennessee. I prefer that, for sure. I have to disagree that price is always an indicator of quality of manufacturing. I mean, it would be awesome if that were true, but I think most people know that it is not.