Hardwood Floors - Budget Breakdown

I’m going to give it to you straight - this was an expensive project! Even after we modified our original scope (read the full story here). I’m not sure if it was because of the labor and material shortage caused by the pandemic, or because of other unique factors happening at the time, but it cost us more that we had anticipated. That said, I feel super grateful that we were able to make room in our budget for this particular project because we both love our hardwood floors!

Originally, we wanted wood floors throughout the entire house, including the staircases. When we first requested pricing, we got a quote for labor and parts to remove carpet from our three flights of stairs and the entire third floor (minus bathrooms) and replace it with engineered hardwood that matched the rest of the house.

Below is a diagram outlining the original scope.

The quote came back as follows:

• Supply and Installation of Hardwood (33 Cartons Total; 1056 Square Feet including 27 stair nosings, and 2 T-Moldings at stair landings) - $22,540

• Underlayment and Prep - $3,453

• Remove and Replace Existing Baseboard - $4,275

• Remove and Haul Away Carpet, Pad, etc. - $300

Totaling approximately $30,500, this was way over our planned budget, so we had to go back to the drawing board and figure out what we could afford and what made the most sense to us. That’s when we decided to skip the stairs and just replace the carpet on our third floor.

Here is what the revised scope looked like (I used my PDF editor to redline our floor plan)…

Our revised total came out to be right around $12,400. This was closer to our planned budget and, because having wood on all floors was important to us, we went for it. Based on our desires and priorities, we found a way to make it work. It took sacrifice and compromise as it often does, but in the end, we are really happy with the direction we took and the outcome of our decision.