Shopping for Carpet?

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

So the upstairs of our house has carpet, gross, stained, carpet. I hate carpet and would rather replace it with hardwood floors but that is 1) too pricey and 2) would outstrip the value/comps in our neighborhood. So, we know we have to replace it and have been talking about starting to save to do it.

In an effort to know what we have to save, I got a quote from the #1 company in our area on Angie's List and scored a $250 coupon. For the 95 yards we would need installed, we're being quoted $3,100. DH says that's absolutely ridiculous and unless they come down like 30%, he's not going for it. First of all, no one is going for it, we need to save for many months but I suppose that's besides the point. He just says it's marked up just like cars and when we do pull the trigger, he intends to get like 30% off.

Has anyone ever done this before? What is actually a fair price for installed carpet? How much bargaining can occur? Does time of year matter (will there be deals around some slow time for carpet installation)?

I feel like this is going to involve me meeting with multiple carpet companies to bid them off of each other. Easy for him to insist we shop around...

[SuzySunshine]

I think with any home improvement project you should get 3 bids and you should make sure they know you're getting multiple bids. We have only installed carpet once and it was around $5K for about 1600sf feet and it was a nice thick, not shaggy but longer carpet. Frieze, maybe? Its been probably 8 years.

Your bid does seem a little high?? I don't know about the negotiating though...

Have you looked at the non real wood hardwood options, Costco has some that I think looks really nice...

[Deebs]

I don't know if you can do this because of the sq footage, but when we finished a room in our basement,I went to a family owned carpet company and got an overrun. It saved me over 50% and is, ironically, one of the nicest pieces of flooring in our house. The key was to be flexible in the type and color.

[poky]

Have you looked at wood laminates? Some of them look and feel as good as hardwood, wear better and are cheaper and easier to install. Some might be in the same price range as carpet.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

It's a no-go on any type of wood/wood laminate. The first floor is all beautifully hardwooded, it would look bad (trust me on this one) to put laminate upstairs. Besides, then we'd have to buy all new rugs since DD and the new baby have floor beds. So it would end up more expensive anyway.

We're not able to be super flexible on color since our house is dark (thank you wooded lot). We really have to have a light color.

Hmmm...Suzy makes me think I need more bids. Damnit.

[alotofyarn]

We just put carpet in two of our bedrooms, and it was $1560 installed for about 300sqft plus closets, I think. We got nice carpet though: http://floorscapes.mohawkflooring.co...p=25%7Cpage=76

We didn't shop around on the carpet because we did that on the hardwood, and this place had by far the best price for that, plus it was local, so we just got all of our flooring from them.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Carpet shopping now delayed to 2014 (see rant thread). But still, will take all tips!

How do you get the best deal from these guys?

[ladymoreta]

Have you tried just having it professionally cleaned? That can get out a surprising amount of stains, maybe enough to put it up for sale anyway.

[diggitydot]

We had carpet installed in our last house a year ago. You're definitely need multiple bids. We had about 1800 sf of Frieze carpeting and our total cost was around $2K for materials AND the installation. They actually did a pretty amazing job. I'm not typically a fan of big box stores, but Home Depot's installers are rockstars.

Check out your local flooring places. Many have killer deals where you get a HUGE discount on installation if you purchase your flooring from them, too.