Buying carpet online then paying local carpet shop to fit it?

sourpuss2021

I do think I’ll end up just using this local carpet shop.  I went back there yesterday to look at samples.  What I like is that they are not at all pushy.   They’ve taken the measurements for the room which they’ll keep on file and I can make an order if and when I like.   There’s no hard sell.

I thought that they only sold carpets from one manufacturer as there was one name on the sample books.  But the carpet guy explained that was the name of the wholesaler, who supplied carpets by many different manufacturers.

It was funny though peeling back the multiple price per sqm tags.  The £20 per sqm carpets are now the £30.   The guy said there had been six price rises in recent years!

The one thing I was surprised they wouldn’t really do is advise on colour schemes.   At the moment the walls are painted in a colour called “malahide” which is a dark orange that soaks up light.   I think the woodwork will be “pointing”, a shade of white.  

I was confused by the thought that a carpet always had to be a darker shade (so… a dark brown? I couldn’t even find this colour).  But a bit of Googling showed me that you can go for a carpet that’s lighter than the paint scheme instead.  And if it’s a large room that gets a lot of sun, it won’t matter if it makes it feel smaller. 

So I could go for a grey or a light brown/yellow carpet.   I might also decide all the orange is too much and just keep it on one feature wall to catch the sun, with the other three walls in pointing/white.

Anyway I was surprised that the carpet guy despite decades in the trade didn’t really want to get drawn in to advising me on colours.   I’d be better off going back to the paint shop where they’d be much more willing to give their opinion.

dickysparks

After reading many of the post on this thread, looks like the OP knows the price of everything but the value of nothing. Using a local business helps as the money you pay stays within the local economy. If you care about where you live its always worth using local businesses. 
And yes, I run a local business.

danrv

Anyway I was surprised that the carpet guy despite decades in the trade didn’t really want to get drawn in to advising me on colours.   I’d be better off going back to the paint shop where they’d be much more willing to give their opinion.

Yes, colours or types.  I haven't got a clue what the different types of carpet are. I think wool is more expensive. 
All I know is that I quite like the colour of the old carpet which is medium brown. Goes well with the Almond White walls.
Too light a colour I think would show any marks easily. I'll just take an offcut in.

sourpuss2021

dickysparks said:

After reading many of the post on this thread, looks like the OP knows the price of everything but the value of nothing. Using a local business helps as the money you pay stays within the local economy. If you care about where you live its always worth using local businesses. 
And yes, I run a local business.

Steady on there!

I’ve used this company for all the other rooms in the flat already and I’ve just said I’ll be using them for this one.

The glazers on the other hand is a different matter!   Trying to charge £285 labour to change a £15 part on a window is ridiculous.   At the time I had a joiner working in the flat who would do a full eight/nine hour day for £250.   

sourpuss2021

Just went back and bought it!  This carpet with 10mm underlay.

bris

Carpet shops tend to have independent carpet fitters so they make no money from the fitting. 

You are asking them to send one of their fitters to you for nothing?

When measuring they don't care what the exact size is, you're either buying a 4 metre carpet or a 5 meter carpet. 

So if the room is 3.5 x 2.6 then they price it as 4 x 2.6, you pay for the waste.

sourpuss2021

bris said:

Carpet shops tend to have independent carpet fitters so they make no money from the fitting. 

You are asking them to send one of their fitters to you for nothing?

When measuring they don't care what the exact size is, you're either buying a 4 metre carpet or a 5 meter carpet. 

So if the room is 3.5 x 2.6 then they price it as 4 x 2.6, you pay for the waste.

No, my question was if I could pay them just for fitting.   Since I know the guy who runs the shop does fittings.  He has done other rooms here previously.  

But anyway as I’ve said I’ve had more of a look through their range, and today went ahead and bought a 5m x 5m carpet, underlay and fitting from them.

It cost £1150 which I put on a credit card I have that’s 30 month interest free on new purchases.   One thing about this carpet shop is that unlike the chains they won’t offer any deals on financing, it all needs to be paid upfront.   But fortunately I had this card to put it on!

casper_gutman

To give a slightly different perspective, a few years ago I wanted to hire a carpet fitter to install a carpet I supplied myself. I just googled "carpet fitter [name of city]" and found lots of listings on Facebook, yell.com etc. I contacted a few who had decent reviews and they were all perfectly willing to quote to install carpet they hadn't supplied. The guy I employed did a great job for a reasonable price. I'm not sure why this seems so complicated!

plumb1_2

Make sure the fitter lays the carpet the right way round.

CliveOfIndia

plumb1_2 said:

Make sure the fitter lays the carpet the right way round.

Oh come on, even the most dim-witted numskull knows that the hessian goes on the bottom and the fluffy bit goes on the top 

I know what you're really meaning though, and would hope that any professional fitter would check that as a matter of course.