Trade guide
Flooring Business
You get paid twice on every flooring job: once for your knees, once for the boxes. The boxes are the better half and almost nobody prices them that way.
The numbers that matter
$3–$8 per square foot installed. 1.45x–1.7x on material. About 40% of your profit before you cut a plank.
Labor is what you sell and material is where the margin lives. Sell only labor and you are renting out your back at retail.
The supplier account is worth more than your saw
Retail is where your customer shops. Wholesale is where you shop.
A distributor account costs a resale certificate and a phone call, and it changes every quote you write for the rest of your career.
You're not overcharging anybody by marking it up.
You're getting paid for choosing the right product, ordering the right count, taking the delivery, eating the two damaged boxes and floating $2,400 for three weeks.
Where the profit really came from — Boise, ID
1,140 square feet of luxury vinyl plank, bought at $2.14 a square foot on a distributor account and sold at $3.35.
Material sold: $3,819. Labor at $3.10 a foot: $3,534. Underlayment, transitions and quarter round sold at $690. Ticket: $8,043.
Costs: material $2,440, sundries $410, sub installer at $1.55 a foot $1,767. Gross: $3,426.
Of that $3,426, exactly $1,379 came from the difference between $2.14 and $3.35. Forty percent of the profit on the job existed before anyone knelt down.
Rates at a glance
| Work | Unit | Common price |
|---|---|---|
| Luxury vinyl plank, installed | per sq ft | $4.20–$7.80 |
| Laminate, installed | per sq ft | $3.40–$6.10 |
| Engineered hardwood, installed | per sq ft | $7.50–$14 |
| Solid hardwood, sand + finish | per sq ft | $6–$12 |
| Tile, installed | per sq ft | $7–$16 |
| Carpet, installed with pad | per sq ft | $2.80–$5.40 |
| Labor only, click plank | per sq ft | $2–$4 |
| Tear-out and haul away | per sq ft | $0.80–$2.20 |
| Self-leveling subfloor prep | per sq ft | $1.20–$3.40 |
| Material markup over your cost | — | 1.45x–1.7x |
How to build your own square-foot number from your real install speed is in the pricing guides.
Customer-supplied material is a pay cut you volunteered for
The customer found it cheaper online and wants you to "just install it."
That sentence costs you the entire material margin and hands you every problem the material has.
Take the job if you want it — at a different rate, with the warranty in writing where it belongs.
The sentence that saves the job — Springfield, MO
890 square feet, and the customer bought the plank. At your normal $3.20 labor rate that's $2,848 — and you just gave up about $1,077 of material margin you'd have earned on the same floor.
Then it goes wrong: the order is 4 boxes short at 70%, the reorder is a different dye lot, and the click profile on the transitions doesn't match.
Say this before you load the van: "I'll install material you buy — my rate goes to $4.35 a foot, you order 15% over, and the material warranty stays between you and the store. That's in the contract."
At $4.35 that's $3,872. Half the lost margin back, and the short boxes are the store's problem in writing.
Test the slab. Every time. Even when it looks dry. Most flooring manufacturers require a documented relative humidity or calcium chloride moisture test on concrete before a glue-down or floating install, and they will deny the warranty claim without one. Moisture coming up through a slab cups plank and lifts glue months after you've been paid, and if there's no test on file, replacing 1,200 square feet is your bill, not theirs. Follow the specific instructions for the product you're installing, and staple the test result to the job file.
What you genuinely need before the first job
- A wholesale distributor account and a resale certificate — this is the one that changes your income, and it costs nothing.
- A contractor license if your state requires one at your job size. Several states license flooring above a dollar threshold and others don't license it at all, so confirm with your state contractor licensing board.
- General liability insurance before you carry a table saw into someone's living room.
- A moisture meter and a slab test kit, plus the habit of using them on every concrete job.
- A written contract with the exact material, the waste percentage, the subfloor condition you're assuming, and a change-order price per square foot for leveling.
- Miter saw, track saw or multi-tool, jamb saw, tapping block, pull bar, spacers, knee pads that actually fit.
- An LLC and a separate bank account before you take a deposit.
Deposit, progress and final all go out on the free invoice template.
Read next
Common questions
How much does flooring installation cost per square foot?
$3 to $8 installed covers most vinyl plank, laminate and engineered wood, material and labor together. Tile is $7 to $16 and solid hardwood sand-and-finish is $6 to $12. Tear-out and leveling are separate lines.
How much do flooring installers mark up materials?
1.45x to 1.7x over contractor cost. Plank bought at $2.14 sells at $3.10 to $3.65 — on 1,140 square feet that's about $1,379, often 40% of the profit on the whole job.
Do you need a license to install flooring?
It depends on the state and the job size. Some states require a contractor license above a dollar threshold, some license flooring specifically, some require only a local business license. Confirm with your state contractor licensing board.
How much does it cost to start a flooring business?
Roughly $3,000 to $9,000 with saws, a jamb saw, hand tools, a moisture meter, a laser measure and liability insurance. Tile adds a wet saw and a leveling system. The wholesale account is free and worth more than the tools.
Should I install flooring the customer bought themselves?
Only at a higher labor rate with the material warranty handed back in writing. About a dollar more per square foot, and they order 15% over. Otherwise you've taken every problem and none of the margin.
How much waste should you order?
10% for straight runs in square rooms, 15% for diagonals or lots of closets and jogs, 20% for herringbone and chevron. A second dye lot costs more than the extra boxes.
Call one flooring distributor tomorrow morning and ask what it takes to open an account. That phone call is worth more than the next tool you were going to buy.
Ranges here are compiled public ranges for residential flooring contractors as of August 2026 — a starting point, not a quote or a survey result. Licensing statements are general; requirements differ by state and are set by your state contractor licensing board.