Costs & Planning
What a Flooring Installation Quote Should Include in Toronto
A flooring installation quote in Toronto should list the measured square footage and waste, the exact product and underlay, removal of the old floor, subfloor prep, trims, stairs, furniture moving, building logistics for a condo, the payment schedule and the warranty. A line that is missing is the most likely place for a change order later.
The flooring installation quote checklist
Lay your quotes side by side and check each one against this table. A blank is not automatically bad, but it is a question to ask before you sign.
| Line | What it should say | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Area | Measured square feet, room by room, plus a waste allowance | A guess from a floor plan can be off by a room's worth of boxes |
| Product | Collection, colour and plank size | "Engineered hardwood" alone lets the product change after you sign |
| Underlay | The exact underlay, or that the plank's pad is attached | In a condo it must be the one your building approved |
| Removal | What is coming out, room by room, and disposal | Carpet, glued vinyl and tile take very different labour |
| Subfloor prep | How levelling is handled and priced | The most common surprise on install day |
| Trims | Baseboards, quarter round and transitions at doorways | Easy to leave off and annoying to add later |
| Stairs | Step count, treads or treads and risers, nosing type | Stairs priced blind are priced wrong |
| Moving | Who clears the rooms, and which appliances are included | A floor cannot go under a sofa |
| Building | Elevator booking and permitted work hours | Condo jobs stall on logistics, not on flooring |
| Payment | Deposit, balance, and when material is ordered | You should know exactly what you owe and when |
| Warranty | Who stands behind the product and who stands behind the work | They are two different promises from two different parties |
The lines that turn into change orders
Most extra charges after a signed quote come from five places.
- Removal with no detail. "Removal included" means little until it says what is being removed. Lifting carpet is quick. Scraping up glued vinyl or breaking out tile is slow, heavy work, and disposal fees go by weight.
- Levelling that nobody looked at. A new floor only lies as flat as what is under it. If the installer has not seen your subfloor, the quote cannot honestly cover levelling. Ask how it will be handled if the slab or subfloor is out.
- Stairs priced without a look. Treads, risers, square or rounded nosings and open sides all change the job. A number for stairs given before anyone has seen them, even in a photo, is a placeholder.
- Appliances, especially gas. In Ontario, only TSSA-registered fuels contractors may legally do fuels work, and disconnecting a gas line is fuels work. A flooring crew should never touch your gas range or dryer, so the quote should say who disconnects it.
- Things the crew will not move. Ours do not move pianos, safes, aquariums, pool tables or wall-mounted televisions, and other installers have lists of their own. Check the list before install day, not on it.
Why two quotes for the same room are far apart
Usually it is not the labour rate. One quote measured the rooms and the other worked from your numbers. One includes removal, trims and moving, and the other leaves them for later. One prices a specific collection, and the other prices "laminate" and fills in the product after you sign.
Condos add their own gap. A quote that ignores the building's underlay rule, the elevator booking or the renovation hours is cheaper on paper because it has not counted the work yet. If you live in a tower, our guide to condo flooring rules and board approval covers what the building will ask for.
How a Floorrable quote is built
We start with a range and finish with a firm number. The two-minute online estimate asks about your rooms, the floor coming out, your stairs, a photo of them if you have one, and whether you want us to move the furniture, with doing it yourself as the free option. It gives you a price range straight away.
A free measurement then turns the range into a firm price, with cutting waste included. Anything found under the old floor is priced separately, and only added with your written OK. You sign the quote online and choose to pay half up front and the balance on completion, or all of it up front. Material is ordered once the deposit clears.
After the walk-through, you have seven days to tell us about anything at all, and we come back to look. That is on top of the manufacturer's product warranty and our workmanship warranty, not instead of them. The whole sequence is laid out step by step on how it works.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Did you measure the rooms yourselves, and what waste allowance is included?
- Exactly which product, colour and underlay am I getting?
- What happens to the price if the subfloor needs levelling?
- Who moves the furniture, and who disconnects a gas appliance?
- When is material ordered, and what do I owe at each stage?
Floors that fit this guide
Browse every floor
Frequently asked questions
Not always. Some quotes include removal, others leave it out or say "removal included" without saying what is being removed. Ask for removal priced by the floor coming out, since carpet lifts quickly while glued vinyl and tile take far more labour and disposal.
Only if the quote says so, and only honestly if someone has looked at your subfloor. A new floor lies as flat as what is beneath it, so ask how levelling is handled and priced if the slab or subfloor turns out to be uneven.
Usually because they include different things. One measured the rooms, the other used your numbers; one includes removal, trims and moving, the other leaves them for later; one names a specific product, the other a category. Compare line by line, not by the total.
The usual ones are removal of a harder floor than expected, levelling, stairs, moving appliances, a gas disconnect that only a TSSA-registered contractor may do, and condo logistics like elevator bookings. A quote that spells each of these out leaves little room for surprises.
