Whole house carpet installation -- $97

[Jon Klaus]

Lowes and Home Depot offer this at times. Buy the carpet and pad from them and they'll install it throughout the house for $97. I assume the catch is that you can't get a good buy on the material? Have any of you taken advantage of this to get a great deal? Or not so great?

http://www.lowes.com/cd_Special+Offers_381632314_

[Chris Calabrese]

The main catch is the pad. You have to buy the premium Stainmaster pad and pay their crazy markup. The other catch is it's "basic installation" - they charge you for tear-out, haul-off, steps, tack-strip, transitions, etc. I have used them a couple of times, and they tend to have good installers because the installers don't want to lose their contracts with Lowe's. Good finished product, but total value, not so great.