Interesting experience today regarding flooring.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

In late spring we bought a house in Tucson. It was a fixer and we are in the process of gutting it and turning it into our little dream house. It's a modest house by Tucson standards in a neighborhood where folks take a shower AFTER work but the bones are here and a house like this in the SF. Bay Area where we are from would only be obtainable if we won the lottery.

Today we had some folks out to give us some prices on carpeting a couple of bedrooms. We got some rough quotes by phone and today Empire came out. We picked out something we liked and the sales guy did some calcs. He came up with a figure of almost three grand for two bedrooms. We freaked and told him we had gotten phone estimates that were much less than that and that three grand is way more than our budget. He said, "Let me see what I can do". He re-figured the numbers and came up with a price that was less than half his original quote and he threw in upgraded padding. $1,400 for both rooms. Still more than I was hoping for but Jeeze, half off because I balked at the price? Ya gotta wonder. Also, in this day and age, you gotta bargain.

[NYC_SKP]

1. At $1,400, is probably still twice what it should be.

I've been here before, even with Empire.

Try price shopping at Lowe's or HomeDepot just to get a price figure.

The last job I had done was living room and bedroom and hall with a high quality top grade stain resistant dupont berber for less than $1,200.

I think the whole job for carpet and kitchen with bathroom in vinyl was just $1,600.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. Lowes was about $1500 for one room!

Yeah, I still think it's too high but the keeping the wife happy factor has value.

[NYC_SKP]

3. Happiness with spouse has no price tag!

Glad you challenged the price.

I would be inclined to punish them for inflating the first estimate but go with what you like!

FWIW, we went out and found a discount carpet warehouse with the quality goods and weren't disappointed, but we did shop around after getting ridiculously high bids from Empire, like you.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Carpeting is figured by the square foot. So carpet should be chosen by how much

you want to spend by the foot. You can find some for $1.98 a square foot and some at $45.00. Compare that price instead of the total estimates. $3000 for 2 bedrooms in a rather small house is high. I also bought a fixer-upper for my son and DIL. We did 3 bedrooms and 2 hallways for about $1400 installed, including pad.

[MichiganVote]

5. If u go w/empire watch that they actually give u what u pay for

And watch the installation. Some not so good reviews around the country.

[randr]

6. Check exact materials quoted

Empire prefers to sell the highest quality flooring at the highest profit margin. Since the lowest quality floors are comparable in appearance the prices will vary. Educate yourself as to the differences between solid, engineered, and the cheapest photo engraved floorings. Value is based on longevity and non-toxicity.
A bargain in the home improvement industry may be a disappointment down the road, and a loss of assumed equity.

[AndyA]

7. I just installed carpeting as well.

I used a local business that had a good reputation and has been around since the 1940s. It was a nightmare, but is finally finished.

I've heard a lot of bad things about Empire. Poor quality being one, and lots of issues with carpeting not holding up very well and the warranty not being honored. I read so many bad things I didn't even call Empire, as I figured not all of the complaints couldn't be valid.

I learned a lot about carpeting--including it's next to impossible to not support the Koch Brothers when you buy flooring. They have their dirty little fingers stuck in every area of the flooring and building industry. Sometimes you have to look a bit, but almost always something leads back to one of their companies.

Another issue that seemed common with Empire customers is they didn't install what the customer agreed to buy. The color might be the same, but it's not the same exact carpeting as the sample.

I hope it works out well for you, but your story is a familiar one repeated often online, and makes Empire look pretty bad IMO.

Having new carpeting does make everything look better, though!

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

8. Here is a way you most likely didn't think of

You go to a carpet supply outlet and pick out what you want. Than look for a independent carpet installer and have the installer quote you a price on the install.

I just did a total renovation on a two story apartment and doing the carpet and painting was out in my book . New bathroom and kitchen and wood flooring in the first level was as much as I wanted to chew.

The owner got hold of a independent installer and they told him if you get the carpet and pad there on location I'll give you a good price. The carpet guy told him exactly how he wanted to the carpet -two rolls 12 ft. wide ,he had about 12' by 28 ' plus the stair case to do.13 steps and a landing .

The owner bought the materials exception to the carpet tracks and I picked up the carpet and pad and my helper got it all up there on location. The owner saved a bundle really-just takes a little time on the phone and tenacity. The installers price was $300.00 plus his gas for truck -$320.00 total.

Carpet came from Lowe's about $ 600.00 maybe $500.00 on sale wt. pad. That's the other thing- look for sales on carpet. when they are not selling a lot they are hot to sell.That's when you find the best deals.

Carpet installation is either busy as hell or no work at all. Carpet cleaners same thing.

The installer drove 40 miles to do the job so he couldn't have had much of anything going on work wise at that time.

But that can always change over night. So the art of it is knowing when to close the deal .

If you want to sit back and have them do everything ,than yea it's gonna cost ya.