New flooring cost in Tampa Bay.
There is no number on this page. A flooring cost without seeing the slab is a guess, and a guess is what moves later. What we can give you is better. The 3 questions that put any floor in a range, and what a low bid leaves out of the prep.
Priced by written scope, never by the hour.
What a low bid is actually cutting.
Two quotes for the same room come in far apart. The cheap one is not magic. It left things out of the prep, and you find them later as extras. Here is what to look for in any quote, including ours.
The removal and what is under it
A low bid assumes the old floor comes up clean. Glued vinyl, thinset from old tile and a cracked slab do not. Removal and floor prep are the lines that show up later as extras. Ask if they are in the number.
Floor flatness
Every plank and tile maker publishes a flatness limit. Most vinyl plank calls for no more than 3/16 of an inch over 10 feet. Grinding high spots and filling low ones is real work. A bid with no prep line will find it later.
Moisture testing on the slab
Most Tampa Bay houses sit on a concrete slab. A slab that reads wet fails a glued or a floating floor within a year. Testing takes probes and a day, or a dish and 3 days. A low bid skips it. Ask if the slab is tested, and how.
Thresholds, baseboards and the doors
The strips between rooms. The baseboards that come off and go back. The doors that no longer clear a thicker floor. These are hours. A bid that prices only square feet is missing them.
The 3 questions that put you in a range.
We will not print a price per square foot, because it gets read as a promise. But 3 questions decide where any floor lands. You can answer them before you call.
What is coming up?
Carpet comes up fast. Glued vinyl and old tile do not. Thinset left on a slab has to be ground off before anything goes down. This one question moves the number more than the floor you pick.
Vinyl, laminate or tile?
Laminate and vinyl plank are the cheaper floors to lay. Tile costs more to install than to buy, because it is set piece by piece over a prepared slab. The material you choose changes the number and the calendar.
How flat and how dry is the slab?
A flat, dry slab takes a floor in days. A slab that needs grinding, patching or a moisture barrier takes longer and costs more. We test it before the number, not after.
The fourth question, which is ours
What the old floor is hiding. Cracks, old glue, a soft spot in a wood subfloor. We cannot see it from a photo. We can see it when the old floor is up, and that is priced only then.
What happens before the first plank goes down.
The price is written before the work starts. These are the things that get settled first, because they are what make the number hold.
A walkthrough of the real room
We measure the room and check the floor with a straightedge. We look at the slab where we can, and at the doorways and the baseboards. It takes about an hour. Everything in the scope comes from that hour.
A written scope, line by line
Every part of the job is listed. What is in, what is not, and which licensed trade does each part. That matters if a toilet or a sink is involved. The not in list is the honest part.
One closed price
One number for the written scope. It does not move unless you change the scope, or the old floor hides something. Hidden damage is priced only after it is visible, never guessed.
Milestones tied to stages you can see
Payments are tied to stages. Signing, prep done, floor laid, final walkthrough. You pay for what you can see. Nobody pays for a promise.
The room measured with the waste counted
Floors are bought by the box with waste added, usually about 10 percent, and more on a diagonal layout. The scope names the square feet and the waste. That is how you avoid running out one row from the wall.
What is included, and where it ends.
Every flooring scope on this site says where it stops. These are the boundaries we put in writing before anyone starts.
How long the room is out of use.
It depends on what comes up and how the slab tests. Carpet to vinyl plank in a dry room is days. Old tile to new tile, with grinding and a cure between steps, is longer. The cure times come from the product data sheets, not from us. Your scope has the dates.
When we tell you not to do it
A new floor is a big number that hides a bigger one, the prep. That makes it easy to sell to someone who should wait. Here is where we say no, and why.
The slab reads wet
A wet slab fails a floor from below. Glue lets go, planks cup, laminate swells. We do not lay a floor over a slab that fails the test. Fix the moisture first, or choose a floor and a barrier rated for that reading.
The house is going on the market
New floors sometimes pay back at sale, and sometimes not. A cleaned carpet and repaired thresholds cost far less. We would rather say that than sell you the whole house.
You are remodeling the kitchen next year
New floors, then cabinets on top of them, then a layout change that leaves bare spots. Do the kitchen first. The floor is the last thing in, not the first.
The problem is one damaged spot
A soft spot, a cracked tile, a lifted plank. Fix the spot. A whole new floor is not the answer to a repair, and we do repairs too.
Lifetime warranty on our workmanship.
If the work we did fails, we come back and fix it. That holds for as long as you own the home. On a floor it covers the prep and the lay. The slab we prepared, the seams and joints we made, the thresholds we set.
A warranty is only worth what its exclusions say. Ours are above, in the same size type as the promise. Ask whoever you are talking to how long theirs runs, and get the number in writing.
Questions we actually get asked
Is an estimate the same as a quote?
Not always, and the difference costs money. An estimate is a guess and it can move. A quote is a price for named work. What we give you is a written scope with one closed price. Ask any flooring company which of the two you are holding.
Why will you not publish a price per square foot?
Because the square foot is the cheap half. Removal, prep, moisture and trim are the other half, and they change room by room. A per foot number gets read as a promise. We give you a number after we test the slab. It holds.
Do you charge by the hour?
Never. Every floor is priced by written scope. An hourly price gives you no number to plan around, and nobody a reason to finish.
What makes the price go up after signing?
Only a change you ask for, or something the old floor was hiding. A change is priced in writing before it happens. Hidden damage is priced only after it is visible. Nothing else moves the number.
Can I buy the flooring myself?
Yes. Some people buy at a big store and have us lay it. It works if the box count is right and the floor suits the room. If you want, we measure and order under the written scope, so the count is ours.
Is the walkthrough free?
Yes. It is how we get to a real number. It takes about an hour, and you get the written scope after it. There is no charge and no obligation.
The other flooring services
Where we work
Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee and Sarasota counties. If your town is not on this list, call and ask: the answer is often yes.
A walkthrough, then a written scope with one closed price.
Never hourly, never a verbal figure, and our workmanship carries a lifetime warranty. Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee and Sarasota counties.