Honestly i think thats a decent price, for the amount of work they are going to be doing, i dont think thats outrageous. Tile tear out can add up regardless of how much is there, depending if its a mud base or just cement board, it takes time. Are they adding quarter round or just taking it off and re-installing it? either way thats still more time, if they are adding it, is it white? or are they having to stain it? thats all time and money there too. For me the toilet install i would be calling a plumber to do that, not that its difficult but liability speaking, if i were to mess it up and the bathroom floods, thats on me, hiring that out cost more but takes the stress off of me if something goes wrong. then are they adding 3/4 plywood? the plywood it self is no expensive but you have a small house, and with that means lots of cuts and that there is time consuming. Honestly speaking here, the scope of the job doesnt seem too difficult its just really going to eat some time and i think for the quote you got, it feels right, im not in your geographical area so that could be way high, but in my area, i would be charging a lot more for that same project. Getting more quotes is a good idea, but rest assure that your quote you have now sounds like a good one.

There are HUNDREDS of Ma-and-Pa hardwood flooring businesses in your area. Possibly THOUSANDS of them. You should be able to find a Canadian or US made product with a satin finish on it. The local flooring stores (not HD, Lowe's, Rona, etc) will have access to independent mills. If you cannot find a floor with the finish you are looking for, you can have a special order made WITHOUT the finish and then have the family-run wood flooring business install and FINISH it on site. Your budget is going to limit you if you want something in the $7/sf range. Pop this to $10/sf and you can have any wood floor you want. And did you know that solid (site finished) hardwood can be LESS expensive than engineered? And remember: no matter what you choose, a WIDE plank (ahem....expensive expensive floor) will ABSOLUTELY require your home to have PROPER HVAC system with WINTER TIME humidity control (add humidity) and summer DEHUMIDIFIER (Ottawa is like a hot wet sock in summer time). Please please please get your HVAC company out to your home to determine what type of UPGRADE you WILL NEED. And AC in the summer isn't good enough for the types of summer humidity levels you guys go through.

Yah...the sales people are told to 'sell it' as water proof (each plank by itself is unaffected by water...). As millworkman points out, even a porcelain tile floor will cause issues once the water reaches the wall/subfloor. As for the edges you are seeing, some times this happens. Vinyl is delicate. It does NOT like being slammed together. vinyl takes a 'softly softly' approach which is why it is more expensive to install than laminate. The short edges show this more because they are SHORTER and the edges can be HARDER to click together. Many installers (especially if it is their first effort with the manufacturer ordered by the homeowner) will put extra effort to getting the short edges to go together (we see this with cork flooring especially). That causes a little bit extra stress (pinching like a pie crust) at the short edge. Is there a fix? Nope. Is it worth removing and doing it again? Nope. And for this reason the long edges should run in the same direction of the light source (like you see in the picture). It is better to see the short edges doing this (back lighting shows the lippage) rather than the LONG edges doing this (that is SUPER annoying).

Here are photos taken 11:30am PST. They completed install last Friday so is still hazy from dust. My front door faces East. Photos probably dont translate plank color accurately. I would say it has balance of taupes, browns and slight hint of gray. It is a matte finish. We were hoping for a slight sheen, but couldn’t sample with coloring we liked.