carpet cost

worried_jim

I am desperately saving to have carpets fitted throughout my 2 bed flat, presently have laminate in hall and lounge and varnished floor boards elsewhere.
Would I need to take up the laminate flooring myself? How much should I budget for, there is just me and no pets so carpet wise how much should I spend? I will need gripper rods and underlay so pretty much need the complete package for 2 double bedrooms, lounge and hall way.
Carpetright have always got a "sale" on or should I use a local family business, I can see in Carpetright's adverts the price for the carpet, what I don't know is the cost of everything else and how much I should budget for. Any help and advice/tios greatly apprecaited. Jim.

worried_jim

bump...........

worried_jim

anyone ?

andy111

Most of the High St carpet firms sell the carpets at reasonable prices and then make their big profits on underlay, grips and fitting charges.
ie they lose the price of the indivdual components - grips, underlay etc and just give you the all -in price of it fitted.
In reality these components are as cheap as chips, the markup is huge and they make a tidy profit. The best way around this is to buy the carpet and then have it laid by a one man band etc.
Phone around a few from yellow pages and get them to quote- I would imagine your property is about 50 sq yds max. Discuss it with them, in my case the fitter collected from Carpetright and supplied everything else himself.and it was much much cheaper.
My Victorian house was 100 sq yds- I made a total saving this way of over £700 on Carpetrights ridiculous price.
The big stores send out surveyors who seem to think they're some kind of maths genii - utter comedians.
If its only you there are plenty of servicable carpets at £6/£7 per sq yd which are perfectly adequate and hardwearing.
Make sure you get a few quotes for fitting - you'll find a huge variation.
Obviously taking up the laminate yourself will save but get the fitter to quote for that as well.

worried_jim

Andy- you are a legend.

deanos

I would always check out your local carpet shop you can always haggle with them, i just got my bedroom carpet fitted + underlay for £120 for a good qulaity carpet, United Carpets wanted £140 for there cheap carpet that had free fitting if you bought there rubbish underlay.

Our United Carpets opened about a year ago here and it always has a sign outside saying 75% off and free fttting, the poster seems to change every week with various ending days , "Weekend only", "This week only", "ends Monday" etc etc.

worried_jim

Thanks ! I was wondering what to do about the underlay and rods etc. If I buy the carpet from carpet right cheaply and get my own fitter (a neighbour has already recommended one) I was wondering where to get the extras from, someone mentioned that you can buy underlay from B&Q cheaply.
I do have a small independent in the village and he advertises that all prices include fitting so I may get a quote from him as well.

ormus

my auntie had a main bedroom carpet, supplied & fitted this week, from a small independant shop. 150 quid.
looks ok too.

cattie

For a decent quality carpet that will keep it's good looks & be easy to clean in case of accidents or just plain wear & tear, go for a 20/80 wool mix. There are various grades/weights & the higher ones are recommended for heavy traffic area's such as hallways, living rooms etc.

Be careful with wholly synthetic carpets as they can act as dirt magnets & can quickly loose their looks & take on a shabby appearance.

With something like carpets you do get what you pay for so bear that in mind. For long life buy the best you can afford, if you're only thinking of a few years in the flat then cheaper may be suitable for you.

andy111

Jim, any carpet fitter will supply all the necessary including underlay- some will only want to use one particular brand which they buy in bulk of underlay etc, so it's best to let them supply everything.

The secret is not to let him make a huge mark-up like the big chains do - easier said than done with some. That's why it's worth getting a few few quotes and discussing the price and letting him know you are not completely wet behind the ears when it comes to the cost of all the parts.
Generally all tradesmen try it on with price - just persevere until you find one who is not all out for every last penny- they do exist.

underlay_guru

deanos wrote: »

Our United Carpets opened about a year ago here and it always has a sign outside saying 75% off and free fttting, the poster seems to change every week with various ending days , "Weekend only", "This week only", "ends Monday" etc etc.

...'Free Fitting' if you buy an EQUIVALENT amount of their gold, silver or bronze underlay....Let me try to explain why you should avoid this.

Itis HIGHLY LIKELY you will not need as much underlay as carpet (because carpets are usually available only 4 or 5m wide). ...but to get free fitting, you need to buy the same square metrage of underlay as carpet!!!!

...Lets say your room is 3mx2m...You have no choice but to buy 4mx2m of carpet, due to the standard widths, but you certainly won't need 4mx2m of underlay!!! You being forced to buy more underlay than you need, in order to get something else for free.......which is a ripp-off. The surplus underlay from the fit will be loaded back into the van to be resold, along with the carpet waste: this will be resold in store as a remnant.

Their bronze underlay is priced at £5.99 a square metre, and is only a cheap 65lb rubber. If you shop around, this shouldn't cost you any more than £3.58 a square metre from an independent carpet shop.

So the carpet shop wins:

-You think you are getting something for free, but:

-The shop has gotten away with selling you too much underlay,
-The shop has an offcut to sell (the waste you have paid for)
-The shop can resell the underlay 'waste' which they did not use in your fit....

I guarantee you: there is no such thing as FREE FITTING! AVOID!