I pay roughly $1/sq ft for material and installation. This is for berber carpet.

It depends on what you are using it for.

Are you buying carpet for your home??

Carpet for a flip?? If so what price range??

Carpet for a new rental building?? OR and Older one??

Does the tenant expect crown molding and plush carpet for a high rent rate area or do you need to put in carpet that stands up to use and abuse??

What you pay with labor will depend on if for instance one of my units still has a good pad and tack and strip then I just pay for carpet and installation cost.

What you will pay will also depend on how much you are installing at one time.

I don't like Berber for rentals.The design of the loop once it starts unraveling it can unwind pretty good an dis harder to get certain stains and pet stuff out of it.

With carpet you want a Nylon carpet even if the cheaper version.Some carpet guys will try to sell you the rubber composite carpet stuff which is the really cheap stuff so it will stand up to tenant abuse.

The problem is it can only be cleaned usually up to one time and then you need to replace it again.

So I would rather get a cheaper nylon that can be re-cleaned many times over after installation for an additional .10 to .15 a sq ft extra than the super cheap stuff I will have to replace again.

If you get 1 sq ft for carpet,pad,tack and strip,and labor install and it is Nylon you are getting one heck of a deal.

Even at a carpet place usually you are at .40 to .50 for the pad and .50 to .60 for a cheap carpet.Then you have to do material to install and labor.

I have seen sometimes if you have to do a small area you can pick up quality remnant pieces for real cheap and hit that type of number or buy in bulk.

Joel,

Don't forget, you're less than an hour away from where the bulk of the carpet is made in this country (Dalton, GA).

I buy from a supplier up there and pay between $3.50 and $3.99 per yard for 26-30 ounce nylon carpet. I pay $1.59 per yard for 6 pound pad. And I pay $3.50 per yard for installation.

Total, that's about $9 per square yard, or about $1 per square foot. Assume 10% waste for flooring material and tax, and I pay about $1.15/sf for carpet installed, on average.

The supplier I use delivers to anywhere in the Atlanta metro area for a $75 trip charge.

Thanks Joel, I need to buy Carpet on Friday and found that educational. Wonder where I can find some Black Friday deals on that :)

Also, any recommendation on 6 lb vs 8 lb pads?

I've been putting in Home Depot cheap laminate flooring they sell at 68 cents a sq ft. with foam pad it comes out to 72 cents. My wife and myself can do a bedroom in 3 hours. If you have carpentry skills, its more fun than installing carpet! I haven't had any longer than 3.5 years, but its great so far!

Dick! Where do you get the pad so cheap?
Carpet? The worst thing to put in a rental if you can avoid it. I have tried allure, it's a big hit with landlords that I know.. I was disappointed with it. Have recently installed the .68/ft laminate at home depot on 2 jobs. Goes in fairly easily and is cheaper than carpet by far. Also, there's a better chance it will survive the first tenant. Carpet has never, with one exception, been able to last longer than one tenant for me. I avoid it wherever possible.

Ed, I'm talking about the thin foam pad that goes under the laminate flooring, $25 for 100 sq ft. at Home Depot! I guess thats 5 cents, not 4...

Also, any recommendation on 6 lb vs 8 lb pads?

Some will go with a nicer pad and a cheaper carpet.The nicer pad makes the carpet FEEL more expensive to the tenant when they walk on it.A great pad also resists wear and tear and if you need to replace the carpet the pad usually can be used again.

Used to you would put a plastic membrane in between the carpet and pad to protect the pad but the plastic would slide and make noise sometimes.

Now they have pads with built in protection.You are not looking for the cheapest product but the best VALUE for what you pay.It depends on the area and what kind of tenants and rent base you are working with.

I stopped using carpets in my rentals a long time ago. Nobody wants carpets these days except sometimes in the bedroom. I now use laminate floors and I get a great response from renters. Laminate can be bought for comparable price to carpets.

Sounds like 25 cents a foot to me, but they told me there wouldn't be any math.

Martin, I agree and use a lot of laminate, but am starting to use carpet in just the bedrooms.

I pay $12 for a yard installed for carpet and pad. This includes tack strip, if necessary. And that's for six lb pad. $3 per yard of that is for installation.

I always go with the same California Berber for each one of my flips. I would never put this carpet in a rental. Rentals get laminate flooring throughout the house.

Jon,

Not sure if they are in your area, but I use Sherwin Williams. I know it sounds crazy, but they are a little less than 10 bucks per yard installed! :mrgreen:

I had no idea they do carpet. Do they sell other flooring?

Yes! I was in shock too! they do ceramic, laminate, carpet, etc.. The thing I like about them is that they are one source for me to beat up on when they guys don't show up. They have multiple guys to dispatch. the quality is good too. I do not know if they offer that everywhere, but they do in the Cleveland market. :mrgreen:

Great info Rob. I'll stop by one of the SW stores here in Dallas.

Sounds like 25 cents a foot to me, but they told me there wouldn't be any math.

Thanks Jon
I thought I'd been doing laminate for 72 cents a square foot! But at .93 I'll still keep doing it!!

Yeah, laminate is still a great bang for the buck. I look for the kind with the pad already attached on clearance. It costs more, but installs fast and is typically better quality.

If you go to Home Depot or Lowes you will get the quality you pay for. Cheap carpet is not so good, expensive carpet is better - LOL. If you go just about anywhere else, NEVER, never ever pay the list price. Buying carpet is like buying a car. Unfortunetly you must negotiate and haggle on price, else you paid too much!

When we rehabbed, we pulled up all carpets and found that the old wood floors could be sanded/polished/waxed ,so I then hired someone to sand/polish/wax the floors in all rooms and they turned out beautifully. Tenants really liked the hardwood floors and put down their own area rugs.

how does the laminate hold up when the pets pee on it?
does it seep underneath and ruin everything?

I pay wholesale cost for any carpet. And then I have someone who does the installs for me.

I have the same question. Anyone have experience with this? Would you recommend it in a low end rental?

I have laminate in my home, the dog urinated in the same area for a few years causing bubbling at the seems a little bit. If it's a rare occurence and is cleaned quick, the floor should be fine.

One important part of the purchase of carpeting for you flip/rental is the cost of the carpet. But the hidden back end costs lurk in the installation fees for padding, stairs and overall install costs. Stairs can be $8 each plus replacing the existing padding will drive the end costs up. Lowes and Home Depot always are running promotions for $75 for whole house labor.