Pay flooring guy by the hour, day or job?

House Repair Talk

Help Support House Repair Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

o2284200

Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2012
Messages
227
Reaction score
11
I have 966 sq ft of engineered to install on plywood sub-floor using the floating-click installation for three 2nd floor bedrooms, closets & hallway.

The old carpet, tack strips, nails & baseboards have been removed and the sub floor vacuumed but it still has several loose areas to screw down and a small high traffic area approx 3'-4' to flatten.

I'm considering hiring a handyman, who has flooring experience...and a 12' "story teller"...to assist me on the rest of this job by providing labor only. I will supply all materials and tools; except perhaps for his 12' "story teller" cuz mine is only 8'. ;)

How would you pay flooring guy...by the hour, by the day or by the job?

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
You are basically the contractor and subbing for some labor. I would pay by the hour and the hourly rate would start out at what I felt the guys experience level is or what he told me it was. I would be very clear up front that the rate is based on his performance and would be adjusted up and down once you had a feel for if he knew what he was doing. Hour worked is an hour pay you can fire him at any time and he can walk at any time being paid up to that point. If he agrees to that then great if not you have to deal with what he wants or do the job yourself. You are getting no great deal if you find someone to work for 10 bucks an hour if it takes them 4 times as long and on the same note if you get someone you pay more and they do a crappy job going fast that’s no good.

I personally pay a little more than I think and find people work good for me and give that little extra. But I don’t hire much done also that I can do myself.
 
If you're doing the measuring and planning, those are the hard parts. Installing the click floor is easy, unless you can't do that much up/down kneeling kind of stuff.
 
Thanks!
Correct, I can't do that much up/down kneeling kind of stuff. ;( Around here, one can hire a day laborer for $12-$15/hr...That said, for those with flooring experience, I've got 2 options, so far...One guy is in his early 20's and the other probably has 20 years experience. These guys charge "by the day" and it's quite a difference; the younger guy wants $125/day and the older guy wants $225/day but came down to $200/day.
Thoughts?
How many days, should this take??
What about paying "by the job"???
 
Last edited:
They are both a pretty good deal if you can keep them working for 24 hours straight.

By the job is a good way to go if you want a fixed cost to budget to. Just don’t come back after you find out it only took X hours to do the job and then divide the cost by the hours and complain he’s making $150 per hour and not want to pay him.

Around here it’s snowplowing everyone tries to figure out, do you pay by the season or pay by the plowing. The people paying by the season want the guy to come every time there is a trace of snow and complain every time we get a mild winter and it ends up costing them $200 per plowing. The people paying per plowing complain when you come and plow because they only had 6 inches of snow in the drive. There is no right answer.
 
I'm not in the trades, but I work on a day rate in my video business. If you've ever tried charging by the hour on odd jobs, you'd know why these guys won't do it. You get booked for a couple of hours and there's no real way to fill in your schedule for the rest of the day. The result: a $25 or $50 day. Can't live like that.
If you go along with a day rate, make sure you know and agree to the length of the day; 6 hours, 8 hours, etc. and how you will compensate if the day goes longer than that.
Also keep in mind that as the job nears the end, work will slow down, as that's when the details start to add up. More thinking=more time.
 
I have 966 sq ft of engineered to install on plywood sub-floor using the floating-click installation for three 2nd floor bedrooms, closets & hallway.

The old carpet, tack strips, nails & baseboards have been removed and the sub floor vacuumed but it still has several loose areas to screw down and a small high traffic area approx 3'-4' to flatten.

I'm considering hiring a handyman, who has flooring experience...and a 12' "story teller"...to assist me on the rest of this job by providing labor only. I will supply all materials and tools; except perhaps for his 12' "story teller" cuz mine is only 8'. ;)

How would you pay flooring guy...by the hour, by the day or by the job?

Thanks!

That's a judgement call. I think you will just have to figure it out.:hide:
 
Wow, nealtw...No opinion? lol ;)
If nothing major unforeseen pops up, how many days should this take, including 250 linear fett of new baseboards?
 
Last edited:
250ft, so it is not one big room, and likely imcludes closets and adjoining rooms. Are the walls straight are the rooms square. How many boards have to be ripped. Baseboards gone , are the door trims gone or undercut.
Every detail takes time and with experiece can get fast but and then you have to consider the tools that are availible. I'm afraid the best I could guess is a few days, maybe a week..
 
nealtw said:
250ft, so it is not one big room, and likely imcludes closets and adjoining rooms...
o2284200 said:
...three 2nd floor bedrooms, closets & hallway.

The old carpet, tack strips, nails & baseboards have been removed and the sub floor vacuumed but it still has several loose areas to screw down and a small high traffic area approx 3'-4' to flatten...

nealtw said:
Are the walls straight are the rooms square?
Yes
nealtw said:
How many boards have to be ripped?
Not sure, yet.
nealtw said:
Baseboards gone?
Yes, all except hallway, where baseboards and parquet flooring must be removed.
nealtw said:
are the door trims gone or undercut?
No, still need to undercut.

So, here's the plan...

1) Remove baseboards and parquet flooring in hallway.
2) Prep ALL sub-floor in bedrooms, closets & hallway i.e. level/flatten, check seems & screw down loose areas.
3) Undercut door trim.
4) Install underlayment & flooring...One section and one room at a time.
5) Install baseboards.
 
Yes
Not sure, yet.
Yes, all except hallway, where baseboards and parquet flooring must be removed.
No, still need to undercut.

So, here's the plan...

1) Remove baseboards and parquet flooring in hallway.
2) Prep ALL sub-floor in bedrooms, closets & hallway i.e. level/flatten, check seems & screw down loose areas.
3) Undercut door trim.
4) Install underlayment & flooring...One section and one room at a time.
5) Install baseboards.

Ya, it's still a guessing game, BTW how did you make out with the new front door.
 
One thing that will add or subtract some time is if you want or don’t want a transition strip in the doorways. I laid 500 sq ft once before the click together stuff when it had to be glued that went in and around 4 different rooms and areas and it took I’m guessing 40 hours. I also had furniture in all the rooms to move back and forth. That included sub floor and leveling.
More recently we did a kitchen and entry mud room all one lay that was about 300 sq ft of the snap stuff. It took me and a 85 year old helper less than 8 hours and it required a lot of leveling and messing around like that.
 
Pro flooring installers normally work by the sq. ft.
 
One thing that will add or subtract some time is if you want or don’t want a transition strip in the doorways. I laid 500 sq ft once before the click together stuff when it had to be glued that went in and around 4 different rooms and areas and it took I’m guessing 40 hours. I also had furniture in all the rooms to move back and forth. That included sub floor and leveling.
More recently we did a kitchen and entry mud room all one lay that was about 300 sq ft of the snap stuff. It took me and a 85 year old helper less than 8 hours and it required a lot of leveling and messing around like that.
Thanks, excellent point!

As far as transitions...I AM turned off by the number of transitions my floating install requires i.e. "all doorways, passageways or wall openings of 5' or less...as well as "floor spanning greater than 35 feet in length or width" and "floor areas interrupted by wall sections extending out of the wall, or floor areas which are not rectangular.".

That being said, your thoughts on the following video would be greatly appreciated. Notice no transitions in doorway from hall into master bedroom, closets and/or where long hallway zig-zags. It's not my flooring but it's a floating click-lock install from same manufacturer, which also requires transition moldings in in "all doorways., etc."

https://youtu.be/1ye3fA4M0lE
 
Last edited:
Thanks, excellent point!

As far as transitions...I AM turned off by the number of transitions my floating install requires i.e. "all doorways, passageways or wall openings of 5' or less...as well as "floor spanning greater than 35 feet in length or width" and "floor areas interrupted by wall sections extending out of the wall, or floor areas which are not rectangular.".

That being said, your thoughts on the following video would be greatly appreciated. Notice no transitions in doorway from hall into master bedroom, closets and/or where long hallway zig-zags. It's not my flooring but it's a floating click-lock install from same manufacturer, which also requires transition moldings in in "all doorways., etc."

https://youtu.be/1ye3fA4M0lE


My opinion is that’s how it should be installed. All those strips to me are a short cut and an aid to help someone that cant figure it out.

Like I said when I did the big job with the glue together T&G one of the reasons I did it DIY was I went in with a CAD drawing I made that showed all rooms and how the pattern was to be laid. The flooring place guy laughed and said they had no installer that would lay it like that in one giant piece. I said sell me the material and I will DIY it. He laughed and said sure thing. I ran into the guy a year later and he asked if I got it down and asked to see it. He came in the house and ran from room to room looking for a crack when he couldn’t find one he offered me a job installing the stuff. I told him no way doing mine was more time on my knees than I needed. With the T&G and glue every piece had to be wedged to hold it till the glue grabbed. I would still glue the new stuff if I was using it in a kitchen or bath.

I think the click together flooring shouldn’t be a problem going room to room with doors. The flooring I did a years ago snapped together and also had a metal strip that locked the bottom together. The old stuff used to have a pad below it the new stuff the pad is on the bottom of each strip.
 
Pro flooring installers normally work by the sq. ft.
Thanks!
If a job measured 915sq ft but to account for waste 1000sg ft of the flooring was purchased, would pro flooring installers, who normally work by the sq ft charge by the 915 sq ft "measured" or the 1000 sg ft "purchased" ??
 
They usually will charge the larger amount. At least that has been the case in my experience.
 
The reason a pro won't install it without the transitions is warranty. Without them, there is none. So if/when it fails, the pro would be responsible to replace it out-of-pocket.
 
Thanks!
If a job measured 915sq ft but to account for waste 1000sg ft of the flooring was purchased, would pro flooring installers, who normally work by the sq ft charge by the 915 sq ft "measured" or the 1000 sg ft "purchased" ??

The amount purchased if they have to handle it.
 
Back
Top