Investor · VA · Member since 2016 · 47 posts · 26 votes
I have an apartment that is 1092ft2 2bd/1ba.
Rent is $600/month. Currently have a tenant until June 2021.
I was planning to take out the carpet and install adhesive vinyl flooring.
The flooring company I usually used quoted me $3500 to install FLOATING vinyl for 460ft2 (everywhere but the bedrooms). She said installing adhesive vinyl would be more expensive due to labor to remove the old carpet and install the adhesive vinyl.
Two questions:
1) Is it worth installing floating vinyl at $3500 in an apartment that rents only for $600?
2) does that makes sense that adhesive vinyl would cost more overall? Or am I being duped?
We went the professionally installed adhesive vinyl route on a flip with all the required sub flooring etc & it was not a good result. My partner insisted on it & it was just like or worse than peel/stick/unstick tile & come back 4x to correct the problems. But on a well prepared level cement slab its probably a lot better result. I know adhered vinyl tile is louder for anyone below.
I've laid a LOT of 'fit-it-expletive-click' vinyl of various grades/qualities & all of them beat the adhesive route. 12mm minimum with adequate cushioned backing already adhered to it & we do it ourselves.
The the labor cost of $3500/460sq ft is more than 3x want we would charge out here & HD etc here still does it for $1.50-$1.75/sq ft.
Rent is $600/month. Currently have a tenant until June 2021.
I was planning to take out the carpet and install adhesive vinyl flooring.
The flooring company I usually used quoted me $3500 to install FLOATING vinyl for 460ft2 (everywhere but the bedrooms). She said installing adhesive vinyl would be more expensive due to labor to remove the old carpet and install the adhesive vinyl.
Two questions:
1) Is it worth installing floating vinyl at $3500 in an apartment that rents only for $600?
2) does that makes sense that adhesive vinyl would cost more overall? Or am I being duped?
Thanks for the support and advice! I love BP!
You have to run the numbers on ROI for LVT. Can you increase rents? What is the cost of cleaning carpet or replacing on turnover and lifetime cost of either one.
Yes glue down does cost more due to extra prep time and materials and additional labor. Usually $2-$3 a square foot additional
I've done flooring for many years and that number looks a bit high already. That unit rents for $600, so I'm guessing that the area is not richly posh or high end. That flooring job should pay about $500 - $1,000 less and that's with using average materials straight walk-in purchased from Home Depot. Pricing average vinyl laminate planks, durable, and waterproof (which costs more) at around ~$2.70/sq. ft; soundproofing moisture barrier underlayment at ~$.50/sq. ft.; and a labor cost of $2/sq. ft. It's a small job, should take 2 guys around 2.5 days, cleaned.
We went the professionally installed adhesive vinyl route on a flip with all the required sub flooring etc & it was not a good result. My partner insisted on it & it was just like or worse than peel/stick/unstick tile & come back 4x to correct the problems. But on a well prepared level cement slab its probably a lot better result. I know adhered vinyl tile is louder for anyone below.
I've laid a LOT of 'fit-it-expletive-click' vinyl of various grades/qualities & all of them beat the adhesive route. 12mm minimum with adequate cushioned backing already adhered to it & we do it ourselves.
The the labor cost of $3500/460sq ft is more than 3x want we would charge out here & HD etc here still does it for $1.50-$1.75/sq ft.
That’s very expensive. That’s just about $7.50 a square foot. Use laminate for about $4-$5 a square foot. Remove the carpet yourself to save a couple dollars. A few hours of your time might be worth it.
@Ralph Miller not sure if you only got one quote but I recommend getting 3 quotes and telling each company you're getting multiple quotes. They won't just throw a number at you if they know you're shopping. Sometimes even with a regular trusted contractor it's good to shop and keep them from pricing in the fact they think it's going to be theirs to lose. Contractors and pricing seem to be all over the place and higher pricing does not always equal better work.
I don’t know why I didn’t do this earlier, but I reached out to a few other contractors and explained that I am getting quotes from several contractors. I literally got a better floating vinyl for $1.3k less. I told the previous contractor that I will no longer be using them. the power of competition!
@Ralph Miller you could save by doing it yourself. I am a novice and my teenaged son and I did this on our own. I believe Brandon Turner had long ago recommended Allure lvp from Home Depot, which we bought for about $1.98 square foot. We have had two tenants in for the past two years and it still looks like new. Good luck, either way you will love it, it is a great modern look. Based on our new floors and painting our cabinets white, our rent went from $1275 to $1550.
@Ralph Miller The $3500 to install float vinyl was pretty over priced, glad to hear that you got a better quote. If you feel like saving more, you can always try to do it yourself. I think with the new quote price or DIY, it is definitely worth it if you can increase rent after it is installed, and after the current lease is up.
@L. A. Jr.yes that does sound kind of high .... I just did my rental unit and it did take me about 2-3 days . In the long run it will save you money !!! Tenant will like the flooring!!!
@Ralph Miller, you have a options, you can always get several more quotes to compare the quote you got. How long do you plan on keeping this rental? If you are going to keep this for a long time then installing the new floors would save you money in the long run.
@Ralph Miller, go to Home Depot and get a few day labors and have them rip out the carpet and prep the floor. Then call a couple of companies and have them give you a quote on installing the new floors.
I usually charge $2/s.f. for floating laminate plus trim including removal of old floor (extra for glued down products like engineered hardwood) and could do a job like that myself in 2-3 days. Installed price for a click and lock should not exceed $5-6/sf including materials in most situations. Haul away and delivery would be extra of course.
Home depot advertises installation for click lock vinyl for 1.95/sq ft. If you are laying over some subfloors you might need to first screw down luan underlayment (.25 sq ft for materials) or level things out. You may also need to add quarter round to baseboards if you are moving from carpet. Material costs for qtr round are about .50/linear foot + installation costs. Vinyl Flooring for rental $1.50- 2.00/sq ft for reasonable 'rental grade' quality. I would guess with tear out of carpet and tack strips some underlayment work, and some quarter round and possibly some thresholds $2500-$3000. Those of us that diy or have sunk costs with handyman types will be able to do it much, much cheaper. But I don't think they were screwing you , they probably quoted a 'residential grade' flooring that is going to add more to the cost (2.50-4.00 / sq ft)
@Ralph Miller For $600 month I would look at $1 sq ft tile if you are on cement. Tile the whole thing. Vinyl plank is a nice product but tile is cheaper and more durable. Get a tile guy not a flooring store to install. The wood look is nice but you can get a nice look with $1 tile...maybe even wood look tile.
I’m with Jill and always get few estimates. If you live close by the rental why don’t you try doing it or some of it yourself ? Removing trim, carpet, doors and toilet is about the easiest thing you can do even if you’ve never done it before. Also, it doesn’t matter if it’s a nice area or not for the install price. Material selection matters not the install. Do you want someone to give you an estimate that says I’ll do a half *** job that you might have problems with for a cheaper price? Tile is absolutely not cheaper than vinyl plank floor. Maybe you can get the tile cheaper but you have much more added prep work with underlayment and taking longer to install.
I’m a huge DIYer, but I found it to be a much better route for me to have someone come out and do a recent install. I did the prep work and what would have taken me 3-4 days of my labor to install, took a team of 3, 6 hours. Best money I’ve spent in a long time.
I would definitely take a swing at doing it myself. However, I am currently overseas and am not available. Once I get back to the States, I do intend to do all these projects on my own.
Rent is $600/month. Currently have a tenant until June 2021.
I was planning to take out the carpet and install adhesive vinyl flooring.
The flooring company I usually used quoted me $3500 to install FLOATING vinyl for 460ft2 (everywhere but the bedrooms). She said installing adhesive vinyl would be more expensive due to labor to remove the old carpet and install the adhesive vinyl.
Two questions:
1) Is it worth installing floating vinyl at $3500 in an apartment that rents only for $600?
2) does that makes sense that adhesive vinyl would cost more overall? Or am I being duped?
Thanks for the support and advice! I love BP!
Why is yours so expensive? My townhome is 920sq ft and I bought luxury vinyl for $1.49sq ft for my entire first floor which consists of living room, dining area, kitchen, bathroom. It cost me ~$1000 in material and $1000 in labor. $3500 is too much.
I see you have already received feedback that the price is too high, you can't be paying anything above $5 including labor and material.
If I may ask , the lease is till June 2021 the rent is only $600 , why do you need to do this now while the unit is occupied? Are you expecting higher rent from the same tenant?
Sounds expensive to me. I would ask that they detail the individual cost for carpet removal, flooring and install. Carpet removal is QUICK and the added time to remove tac strips and sweep are minimal. $2/sqft would be on the high end for install by a professional installer. I would confirm that you are not paying extra for flooring for installer to pick up and deliver as well.
Anything that you or a handyman can do will save you a great deal.
You could easily remove carpet and tac strip and take to dump for the expense of a small dump fee. This could be something they are charging $ hundreds for. You could also deliver the material for installer and have on site to save more. Ask your installer for his best price in cash and you will for sure receive an additional discount. Don't spend what you don't need to.