Flooring occupies a large part of the visual space. It can be a very expensive investment, so you need to choose wisely.
Since 2004, we’ve been fitting all types of flooring for our clients. Here is a selection from our renovations, estimated at 2023 prices. Our data includes materials and labour as well as sub-floor preparation and sundries.
You will see prices ranging from £240 for a small vinyl sheet, £900 to £2500 for a vinyl tiled floor, to £10 000 for a complete ground floor in parquet. We show prices for carpeted rooms and staircases, porcelain tiles and natural stone floors.
Every floor is different so, before we look at particular figures, it is important to understand the factors that affect the total cost.
Calculating carpet
If you are doing your own calculations to get a rough idea of cost, first draw the floor to scale. School maths will help you to calculate the floor area. But it’s not that simple…
Carpets come in standard widths (usually 4m and 5m), so you’ll need to establish the width appropriate for your room. For example, if your room is 4.2m wide, you would select a 5m wide carpet, so expect wastage. Rest assured that a carpet specialist would produce a cutting plan to make most economic use of your purchase. But you must be prepared to pay for the wastage too.
Patterned Carpets
If you are looking for a patterned carpet, particularly a stripe, you need to check that it runs in the right direction for the room; this will dictate the number of widths.
Also, bear in mind that carpet pile is directional, like a cat’s fur. Take a landing for example, which runs perpendicular to the stairs; if you turn a section of carpet through right angles, it will look different because of the light on the pile. You may need to buy more carpet to ensure that the pile of each section runs in the same direction.
Again, your carpet supplier’s cutting pattern will take these points into consideration, extracting the cut pieces efficiently from the smallest length.
Tiled and timber floors
For tiled and timber floors we always allow at least 10% wastage over the calculated floor area. Vinyl tiles tend to come in boxed sets so you’d need to estimate in whole numbers of boxes. If the tile set creates a pattern, you need to purchase “whole patterns”. Porcelain tiles can be purchased individually.
Tile patterns
Even with regular laying patterns, it is a good idea to draw the design to scale so you can see what works best.
Laying patterns may be stack bond (all tiles lined up), running bond (like bricks), herringbone, basket weave and so on. In this photo, whilst the tiles run in straight lines from left to right, you may have spotted that each row is offset at random relative to the adjacent row. This was to minimise the visual effect of this period property being out of square.
If you are tempted to run tiles diagonally across the room, remember that additional cuts and complexity will increase the labour price. You should also allow for more wastage since more cuts will cause more breakages and the pattern will be less efficient, particularly at the edges.
Sub-floor preparation
The total floor cost will include any associated tasks, such as floor levelling, punching down nails and so on.
Clients often ask whether they can fit stone tiles to a suspended floor. You can, but you need a completely rigid sub-floor, otherwise it will move, cracking grout lines and possibly the tiles. You may need to fit 18mm ply and extra noggings between joists to stiffen the sub-floor. Indeed, you should also fix anti-fracture matting. A ply floor will add several £100s to the price. You may also need to trim the bottom rail of any doors opening into the room if the new floor is higher than before.
If you are laying vinyl floor tiles over floorboards, your fitter will recommend a 5mm ply to provide a flat surface. then they apply levelling compound both to level the floor and cover any joins in the ply. If the ply sections aren’t quite flush to one another, you may find that tiles near those joins don’t lay flat or may even start to lift.
So you can see that the total cost is much more than calculating the floor area and multiplying by the cost of the tile.
Other flooring costs
First check what your supplier includes in the price. Some will advertise the fitted price; others just the carpet price. You will need to add the price of underlay and gripper rods as well as labour.
You can expect a trade threshold strip as standard; usually aluminium finished in brass or chrome. For a more exclusive threshold bar such as oak, these can cost around £30 each. If you have 4 rooms off a landing, this would cost £120.
Some products need an adhesive. Vinyl, porcelain and ceramic tile adhesive is remarkably expensive and fitters are very conscious of this when estimating their price. If the sub-floor is not particularly level, and the tiler has to make up the extra in adhesive, this could add £200+ to the job.
Remember that if your supplier can lay a number of floors at the same time, it will save money, so plan your project efficiently. If your fitter is qualified to fit different floor types, he or she may be able to do two carpets and a small vinyl floor in one day. You may even be able to negotiate a price for a day’s work on this basis.
Ask your carpet supplier if they have any off-cuts. One of our suppliers has a large warehouse stocked with off-cuts, some of which are large enough to fit a small room. You may find that you can fit a very expensive carpet at a fraction of the original price.
Cost of flooring
The following are from our renovations, estimated at 2023 prices.
Cost of vinyl floor tiles (LVT)
Family bathroom, 3m x 2.5m in vinyl tile pattern. Each repeat comprises 9 different tiles
5mm ply: £390
Levelling compound: £190
Vinyl tiles (high-end product with pattern repeat): £680
Adhesive: £70
Fitting – £350
Threshold bar – £30
Total: £1710 + VAT
En-suite shower room, 4m2.
5mm ply: £200
Levelling compound: £80
Vinyl tiles (mid-range): £420
Adhesive: £70
Fitting: £350
Threshold bar: £30
Total: £1150 + VAT
Family bathroom, 4.4m x 2.5m.
5mm ply: £450
Levelling compound: £225
Vinyl tiles (high-end with pattern repeat): £900
Adhesive: £70
Fitting: £480
Threshold bar: £30
Total: £2150 + VAT
Cost of vinyl sheet flooring
No photos, but we have fitted a vinyl sheet to fit a utility space 2m x 2m. Cost of flooring:
Vinyl sheet (mid range): £190
Fitting: £150
Total: £240
No photos for kitchen 3m x 1m floor area to cover
Vinyl sheet (mid range): £250
Fitting: £150
Total: £400+ VAT
Cost of carpet
Master bedroom, 4m x 5m.
Carpet (high-end), underlay and gripper: £1700
Fitting: £90
Total: £1790 + VAT
Large sitting room (8m x 5m) carpet (mid-range), underlay gripper and threshold bars, all fitted: total £3250 + VAT
Cost of stair carpet
One main flight of stairs and landing all in striped carpet runner.
Carpet (high end): £790
Underlay and gripper: £300
Fitting: £150
Total: £1240 + VAT
One main flight of stairs and landing all in striped carpet runner.
Carpet (high end): £690
Underlay, gripper and edge whipping: £320
Fitting: £230
Total: £1220 + VAT
One main flight of winding stairs with specialist to bend stripes to ensure alignment.
Stair Carpet (very high end): £1950 + VAT
Stair underlay and gripper: £200 + VAT
Stair fitting: £700 + VAT – includes bending the winders which was highly labour intensive.
Total: £2850 + VAT
One main flight of stairs and landing all in striped carpet runner.
Carpet (mid range): £500
Underlay and gripper: £300
Fitting: £250
Total: £1050 + VAT
Main Stairs, landing 1, attic stairs, landing 2
Carpets (low range): £800
Underlay, gripper and threshold bars: £300
Fitting: £250
Total: £1350 + VAT
Cost of wooden floors
Engineered oak floorboards running through hallway into kitchen-diner. 220mm wide boards, 50m2
Boards and materials: £4800
Labour: £4200
Total: £9000 + VAT
Note: carpet to stairs and landing: £1300
Wide, engineered oak floorboards in large music room, 40m2
Boards and materials: £2200
Labour: £2800
Total: £5000 + VAT
Price to age floor with paint effects (40m2), apply 6 stencils and seal after: £1450 labour and materials.
14mm engineered oak overlay boards used here over existing floorboards
Boards laid through living room, diner and hall; secured by secret nailing. cost of flooring includes:
30m2 pre-finished in hard wax oil
Materials: £2500
Fitting: £2400
Total: £4900 + VAT
Engineered oak floor parquet fitted to 3 rooms: 75m2.
Flooring: £4250
Adhesive: £550
Hardwax oil: £200
Labour: £5000
Total: £10 000 + VAT
Parquet floor fitted to hallway and dining room – 34m2
Flooring: £1850
Adhesive: £300
Hardwax oil: £120
Labour: £4500 – includes waterproof barrier, supply and fit 5 oak thresholds.
Total: £6800 + VAT
Wide, engineered oak floorboards, pre-finished in hardwax oil and fitted through living room, hall and dining room on ground floor (40m2)
Boards and materials: £3500
Labour: £4350
Total: £7850 plus VAT
Rustic, brushed and burned boards fitted to sitting room (31m2)
Floorboards, including sundries and hardwax oil: £2700
Labour: £2750
Total: £5450 plus VAT
Engineered oak floorboards 220 wide for kitchen (36m2)
Floorboards (pre-finished) including adhesive: £3200
Labour: £2000
Total: £5200 plus VAT
Floor sanding prices
Existing pine floor (3m x 3.5m) repaired (some boards replaced at £45 per sq m), filled, sanded and sealed: £3600
Existing kitchen pine floor (7m x 2.5m) stripped and sealed; some boards replaced: £1600
More generally, floor sanding works and sealing works out around £45 per sq m for more extensive work.
Cost of porcelain and ceramic tiles
Porcelain floor tiles in kitchen-diner and patio.
Kitchen porcelain tiles (32m2): £2400
Patio anti-slip porcelain tiles (21m2): £1600
Labour including adhesive and grout: £3500
Total: £7500 + VAT
Porcelain floor tiles extending from kitchen-diner to hallway (78m2) on part-suspended floor, hence anti-fracture mat.
Tiles (budget items): £1800
100mm skirtings: £225
Tile adhesive: £575
Anti-fracture matting: £885
Matting adhesive: £270
Grout: £115
Labour: £4000
Total: c £7780 + VAT
Porcelain kitchen floor tiles on concrete base over wet underfloor heating pipes in screed and anti-fracture matting. 36m2
Tiles – £1500
100mm skirtings – £250
Tile adhesive – £250
Anti-fracture matting – £560
Matting adhesive – £190
Grout – £60
Labour – £2500
Total: c £5200 + VAT
Cost of natural stone tiles
Natural stone floor tiles in kitchen-diner, garden room (30m2).
Materials: £4800
Labour: £3500
Total: £8300 + VAT
Flooring for your home renovation
If you need some assistance with a house renovation in Bath, please give us a call. You can read more about our services here.
If you’d like general guidance on the cost of doing up your property, read our advice page on home renovation costs.
