Hi everyone, I’ve got a question I hope you can help me with. I’m not a professional. But I’m one of those guys who grew up loving to do carpentry and “home improvement” work. Over the years, one thing I’ve done is put hardwood floors in several homes, as my wife and I have moved around the country because of my job. Now, one of my sisters-in-law and her husband, have asked me to install a hardwood floor in their home. The area covers three adjacent rooms and about 800 square feet of flooring (pre-finished, nail-down, three & three-quarter inches wide oak). The job would also involve pulling up about 250 sq ft of old wood flooring, removing a tile floor from a small bathroom (about 20 sq ft), and staining and installing about 300 feet of quarter round. Finally, they would like me to put the same flooring on the stairway that leads to their finished basement; not my ideal way of finishing stairs, but that’s what they want.

Can any of you give me an idea of what someone might charge for this type of job? I need something to base my price on. I want to be fair with them, but I also want to be fair to myself; given the amount of time and effort it will take.

They live in the Baltimore-Washington DC area, and they told me that a local outfit (where they’re buying the wood) told them the price for laying down the floor would be $2.50/sq ft.; which sounds surprisingly low to me. I asked at the local Lowes and they told me $4.69/sq ft regardless of the width.

I’d appreciate any thoughts you might have.