The price on the tag is the carpet. It is not the job.
That single sentence is behind most of the confusion in flooring, and it is the reason two quotes for the same room can differ by hundreds of dollars while both are technically honest. One included padding and tear-out. The other did not.
Here is everything that goes into an installed price, so you can read a quote properly and compare two of them fairly.
Start with the unit, because it is the oldest trick in the trade
Carpet is manufactured and priced by the square yard. A lot of advertising uses square feet because the number looks smaller.
One square yard is nine square feet.
A carpet at $3.50 a square foot is $31.50 a square yard. A carpet at $28 a square yard is $3.11 a square foot, which is cheaper, even though the first number read lower on the sign.
Convert both quotes to the same unit before you compare them. It takes ten seconds and it is the single most useful thing in this article.
Every line in a complete quote
- The carpet, by the yard
- Padding, a separate product with its own grades and its own price
- Tack strip around the perimeter, and transitions at every doorway
- Installation labor
- Tear-out and disposal of the old carpet and pad, if there is any
- Furniture moving, if you are not doing it yourself
- Stairs, always priced separately and never included in a room price
If a number does not name all of these, it is a starting point rather than a quote. Ask which ones it covers. Any honest store will tell you.
The twelve foot rule, which explains the yardage
This is the part that looks like padding the bill and is not.
Carpet comes off a roll twelve feet wide. It has to be cut in whole widths.
An 11 by 14 bedroom is 154 square feet. You will buy a piece 12 by 14, which is 168. That extra foot of width becomes offcut. You pay for it because the roll does not come any narrower.
A room wider than twelve feet needs a seam. A 15 by 15 living room takes a 12 foot width plus a 3 foot fill strip, and the fill has to run in the same pile direction or it reads as a different color. That is 27 square yards of material for a 25 square yard room.
Add closets, which need their own pieces cut from the same roll so the color matches, and about four inches at each doorway so the transition has something to hold.
Our full walkthrough of this is in how much carpet do I need to buy.
Padding is where people lose money
Padding is the line customers cut to save fifty dollars and then regret for a decade.
Pad is what your carpet feels like underfoot, and it is most of what decides how long the carpet lasts. Good carpet on cheap pad wears out early, because the backing flexes against a pad that has already crushed flat and the fibers break down from underneath.
If the budget is tight, the better trade is a slightly less expensive carpet on a good pad, not the reverse.
Stairs are their own conversation
Stairs are priced per step, not by the yard, because they are hand work. A straight flight of thirteen is a different job from a flight with a landing and winder turns.
Two things move the number: whether the treads are wrapped or capped, and whether there are landings or pie-shaped winder steps.
Details are in how to choose a stair runner and, for basements, carpeting basement stairs.
What actually moves the carpet price
Fiber. Nylon costs more than polyester and holds up better where it matters. Olefin is the basement and outdoor material. Wool is the most expensive and the longest lived. Covered in which carpet actually lasts.
Density. Bend a sample backward over your finger. If you see a lot of backing through the pile, it will mat down regardless of what the label says. A dense polyester outlasts a sparse nylon.
Whether it is a remnant. If your room is under about twelve by twenty, ask what is on the remnant rack before you look at rolls. It is first-quality carpet at a lower price purely because the piece is a roll end. See what is a carpet remnant.
About our per square foot prices
We publish per square foot pricing on the inventory page so you can see what a piece costs before you drive out. That number is the carpet.
Call us with your room dimensions and we will tell you what the finished job comes to with pad, labor and tear-out in it. That is a real number and it is the one worth comparing against anyone else.
About the measure
There is a charge for an in-home measure, and it comes off the final price when you buy.
We say this plainly because a lot of the industry advertises free estimates and builds the cost into the job instead. Ours is visible, and you know the number before anyone drives out.
The reason we charge is practical. A proper measure is an hour of an experienced installer’s time in your house, and that person is not installing while they are doing it. Charging for it means the person who comes out is someone who actually knows what they are looking at, and it is the same person who will install the job.
That last part matters more than it sounds. Deciding where a seam goes is a judgment call about light, traffic and furniture, and it is made better by someone standing in your room who knows they will be the one cutting it. More on that in local flooring store vs big box.
What to have ready when you call
- Length and width of each room, in feet or inches
- Whether there is a closet
- How many stairs, and whether there is a landing
- Whether old carpet is coming out
With those four things we can usually give you a ballpark on the phone before anyone goes anywhere.
Call (412) 885-1444, or send your room sizes through the site.
We are at 2855 Saw Mill Run Blvd on Route 51 in Pittsburgh, with parking behind the building. Same family since 1970.
