Budgeting for carpet

I paid $2300 installed. doing the stage and riser did add to the cost. my room is 14x25 I also went with top of the line pad

We paid about 2500 for 700 sq. ft. basement playroom and pad + 1 flt of stairs.

Good quality on sale open loop berber.

Low pile high quality commercial carpet for 400 sq. ft. theater was another 2000. No upcharge to speak of for the riser and stage, just a little bit of extra material.

For your 500 sq ft, I'd figure no less than $1500 for decent quality with labor and pad included.

carpet was one of the single biggest expenses when I did my room. We sprung for the nicer option with a good pad.

~ 500 sq ft then add in the stairway.. ~$4k Took me weeks to get over the sticker shock, and suck it up and make the order.

Everyone asks about it though when they walk on it. One of the nicest touches on the room

I just carpeted my bedroom/HT area very similar to your basement. The total measurement was about 550 square feet, so pennies per square inch really added up. We have a save-more carpet store in my town. They basically get shipments of discontinued carpet or carpet that is overproduced. Think TJ Maxx for carpet. I got mohawk carpet for $1 a square foot, discounted from about $3.50 a square foot. We bought nice pad and installation was done by a family acquaintance. The total was about $1100 and I have no concern over quality/durability/etc.

I just had my basement family room and home theater carpeted through Costco. They have a limited selection compared to a carpet store, but The wife and I were able to find colors and patterns that we liked. Sometimes having fewer choices makes the decision easier. The styles we ended up choosing were from Shaw and in the $5.00 - $6.00 per sq ft range. We found the same patterns at Luna Carpet (under different names) and their price was close to Costco's. In the end you can buy carpet from just about anywhere, it all comes down to the installers and how good they are. I got lucky and my crew did an excellent job.

We have been a little amazed at the cost of carpet as well. What we did, though, was found the carpet we liked (compromised of course...) and then looked on line to find the carpet wholesalers in Dalton Georgia.

We got the carpet we wanted for a pretty substantial discount buying direct.

In the store they wanted $4.50 sq. ft. On line we got it for $2.40 sq ft. the pad was much cheaper as well. We did have to pay shipping, but it was only $145 delivery to my door.

The only catch is that the name they have in store is different from the actual name from the manufacturer.

I found Costco prices to not be any different than any where else. Carpet Direct was the best price for me.

We also paid about double what we originally expected for carpet. Of course we gravitated to the expensive stuff.

We paid about $6.50 sq/ft installed, including riser and stage. We saved a few hundred going for a solid color for the stage and riser due to the pattern matching and how much more of the expensive stuff would have been needed.

So about $3200 for about 500 square feet.

Much more than we wanted to pay, but we are VERY happy with the end result.

I found Costo to have high quality carpets/pads, BUT, big BUT, they were way too expensive. Home Depot install prices at $199 is more reasonable.

$2,000 all in for about 400 sq ft installed with pad.

Yeah, flooring prices can be a bit of a shocker. Our carpet was like $5400 plus install, which was another $1500 (the installer was well worth every penny though). So, $6,900 for 1400sf of carpet (that's $4.93/sf), but the wife went for some wild-expensive (but I'll admit it looks AMAZING) patterned carpet from a specialty flooring shop that our designer friend took us to. We also had to buy extra so the installer could pattern-match, but I have enough left over to carpet the two upstairs bedrooms... go figure. My budget was $5k on flooring... we spent $10k. Oh I feel ill now!

I'm just bumping this since I came across it on the front page of a google search for carpet prices and it seems like either A) you all ordered tip top of the line carpet for your basement or B) you guys got hosed.

It seems like many of you just took the original estimate and stroked a check. That's the wrong way to go about carpet shopping. Think of it as car shopping. Carpet is crazy high margin and they're willing to negotiate to get the sale while they're in your house.

My specs: Luna Carpet 2nd highest quality berber, upgraded pad, install for 1,000 square foot newly finished basement.

The salesman's first estimate was $2,700. After talking for a few minutes, we got it down to $2,400. Then I dangled the ultimate carrot on a stick and told him he could lock in the sale immediately if he dropped it to $2,000 even for the carpet, pad and install.

He did it without hesitation, so that tells me I shot a little too high and probably could have negotiated it down another couple hundred.

Anyway, I'm reviving this thread just so people googling carpet prices can realize that carpet estimate is just the START of the negotiation.

Good luck everyone.

edited to add: we have a full flight of stairs that is included in the final price, with the "hollywood" style of step tuck - which is their most expensive. Also, the total amount of "waste" necessary for the project was 15%.

Ever connsider doing a whole house installation from say home depot or lowes?

now I understand their carpet selection is okay and such.

But the sub $200 instalation charge. (Dont matter 2 sq ft, or 20000 sq ft)

Think I paid $179 for installation, brought cost to $1.79 a square. And it's real decent carpet to boot, not the best but hey gonna have a todler and a dog ruin it someday.

$3000 for a 22' x 15' theater


11' x 19' landing


plus stairs

Awesome basement, forced.

I love the molding on the staircase. Really makes it pop. And that looks like high end carpet, too. Nice all around!!

Look into distributing centers. A local place to me sells to the public if you sign up for a free account. Im buying a very nice frieze between $15-$20 a square yard. Its very thick and soft. 8lb pad is $2 or so a yard, and my carpet guy charges $5.00 a yard for installation (he picks up the carpet too). Their prices are much cheaper than anywhere else I've looked.

Just a final update:

Empire guy came yesterday. His original estimate was $3,400. When I told him I already got the Luna guy down to $2,000, he suddenly managed to cut his estimate in half - down to $1,700. He wouldn't put that down in writing though. He wanted a $25 deposit to lock that in. He'd only put $1,900 in writing.

I emailed the Luna guy and he matched the $1,700 estimate. So I knocked off another $300 just by bringing in the Empire guy to start a bidding war.

So we'll be going with Luna for $1,700 for 1,000 square feet of berber, installation, upgraded pad and the tucked flight of stairs.

Don't be afraid to negotiate with these guys. They'll cut their estimates in half!!

Very good info! This will be very helpful as I will be shopping for carpet in the near future.

Thanks!

THANK YOU for posting this. I'm going to begin shopping for carpet in the next month or so! VERY good info!

CJ

If you don't mind, post up here after your done shopping.

This thread is being picked up on the front page of google searches for shopping around for carpet estimates, so it'll serve as valuable information for many others (not just us AV folks).

Empire is very overpriced. They have to pay for all those tv ads some how. It seems like you got a good price. About $15-$16 a yard for carpet, pad and install.

I paid $1900 for 400 sq ft of a good Masland with a simple stage and riser install. After dealing with fourteen different carpet dealers I was happy to finally be satisfied with a quote. A year later and I am still happy with the carpet AND the install. Looking back, the riser and stage complicated the quoting proccess tremendously. I felt the local dealers took an excessive shot at me with their bids as many were between $2500 and $3000. Even HD with their $39 install fee measured the room to need 540 sq ft of carpet when actual was a little under 400 sq ft. I could write a book on this part of the theater build. Good luck!

I spent a lot more that I originally estimated as well. We went with a top of the line Masland with upgraded pad in a large basement, complicated stage/riser install, landing, and stairs. They spent 2 full days installing it.

Well worth it -- the installers definitely make the difference with all of the expert little tricks that they have.