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khq0660

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I had some water damage in a small area and am going to tear up that area and replace in all continuous areas and will likely also replace bedroom on same level. What would a normal labor cost, per square foot, be for tear out and replace? The contractor is saying $14.80 per sq. ft. This seems excessive to me. The old flooring is floated tongue in groove engineered and would likely be replaced by floated tongue in groove engineered. About 800 sq. ft. total. Heck, I'm an old lady and could probably pull up the old flooring myself in an hour.
 
That is just labor. They will have to move my furniture out of the way. They also will replace quarter rounds.
 
They balled the whole job up into one sq ft price then? If you get more estimates, make sure you’re comparing apples to apples.
Still, doesn't $11,840 labor sound excessive to pull up and replace 800 sq. ft. of floated T &G flooring, even if they do have to remove and replace quarter rounds? This estimate does not include any materials.
 
Hard for me to say what is an appropriate price without knowing all the details but as an installer, I myself wouldn’t make that much on 800 sq ft, but if a shop I’m working for ‘in a larger metropolitan area’ is doubling the labor then I could see that being a realistic number a customer would pay.
 
I would agree with CJ.. Sounds to me like the contractor got a price from a flooring guy and doubled it… Common practice.

Flood wasn’t covered under insurance? If you’re paying might be wise to hire a wood guy direct. I don’t know your area but sounds like about a $5000 job tops to me. Even with the furniture shouldn’t take a good crew more than a day and a half.
 
The damaged area in the kitchen and all the wood considered continuous with it, breakfast nook, hallway and living room were covered by insurance. That leaves only a bedroom on the first level of my house not covered. However, insurance estimate of replacement cost does not begin to cover $14.80 sq. ft. installation fee.
 
Hmmm... I’m no lawyer but that’s not right. If the insurance company feels your contractor’s price is inflated they can use their own. Many insurance companies have contractors that they use regularly. They can’t just throw a low ball number at you and say good luck. It’s kinda up to them to repair and replace everything that was damaged…. Minus the deductible of course…😔

Shouldn’t come to this but if you have to sue your insurance company, sue um…You’ll win.
 
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I'm going to get some more estimates. I just wanted an idea if this was a reasonable number or not.
It sounds way high........as you already are aware, hence the question. When a job is relatively small it's more understandable, rather than square foot pricing to break it down into "man days" including skilled and semi-skilled labor.

remove furniture (appliances?)
remove quarter round (putty &paint?)
demo existing engineered floating hardwood (the easy part)
are there cuts/transitions into existing wood to remain or other types of flooring transitions?
dry existing subfloor--------fans/mop/TIME
repair any damage subfloor
install new engineered floating hardwood
Install new quarter round (putty & paint or stain and finish?)
Install transitions to existing floors/doors/stairs
Replace appliances and furniture.

They may be allowing for some work-----half a day to a day for repairs to the subfloor.
Staining/painting/putty and/or clear stain on quarter round can be tedious and time consuming.

I would assume a two man crew but it's much more about breaking the work down into hours or days per task. As you know popping up a floating wood floor is easy enough. But if that wood needs to be cut somewhere net fit or laced back into remaining and matching wood that's pretty detailed work.

Let's figure $100 an hour. So the work could take 118.4 hours or 14.8 days? (8 hrs per)
It's an exceptional flooring installer that commands $100 an hour. But I've made more piece working on occasion. Normally my average was closer to $75 after I paid my helper. Of course that's 20 years ago in Los Angeles area. I don't see that job taking 14.8 "man days".

Generally I agree with the opinions above. Someone who's quoting this price has doubled the labor and will make that profit + just for referring you to his subcontractor and then guarantying the repairs. If you can cut out the middle man you stand to save quite a few thousands of dollars.
 
If I recall correctly, it took the original installer 2-3 days to tear up all of the old carpet and put down the T&G floated and put in the quarterrounds. That included moving all of the furniture around, to do it
 
I posted a new thread asking a question about a cheaper alternative of only removing the wood from the kitchen and replacing it with tile. Any advise on this would be appreciated.
 
If I recall correctly, it took the original installer 2-3 days to tear up all of the old carpet and put down the T&G floated and put in the quarterrounds. That included moving all of the furniture around, to do it
If he charged $15,000, that should have included materials and doing the dishes. 😁
 
Ha ha. No. That was about 10 years ago. I don't recall exactly what it was, but it was in the low 4 figures for his labor.
 
Furniture move can add quite a bit. In a brand new or unoccupied home, a guy or crew can fly right along instead of pecking along one room at a time.
 

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