How big a job is laying vinyl and LVT tiles?

[d000hg]

We are trying to get quotes to put down flooring in the following:

• Vinyl (a big roll like lino, not tiles) in 2 bathrooms say 3x2m each
• LVT in a lobby, again about 3x2m
• LVT in a bedroom sort of space, about 4x3m
• LVT in a large main room, it's about 8.5x6.5m but with the bedroom cut out of one corner to make a L shape

Underlay (as needed) will already be in place for LVT, so it should be ready to go. We'll sort out skirting/beading ourselves, there will be thresholds to fit in doorways.
So far we've had 2 quotes, one for £240 and the other over a grand, and we're having difficulty chasing people down.

Can anyone advise how long these floorings should take to lay and guesstimate what you would charge/expect to pay? LVT we could do ourselves if we had to but I don't want to try vinyl after seeing how tricky carpet fitting is

 

[JP_]

I have just vinyl sheet in my kitchen, which is about 9m by 2.8m, cost £500 last year. Was the cheapest they did. I think. That's was a good job, the salesman said they would fill all little holes in the concrete floor, but the fitter didn't! Wasn't worth levelling though.

Had Karndean in 2 spaces in previous house, this was 2015; lounge, about 5mx4.3 was £1600, other space was big, rest of downstairs, about 9x5m, less stairs, £2500.
Took a fair few days, can't really remember now as I was out most of the time.

Karndean fitter said it was pretty easily really, just lots of cutting. He used a heater to warm them up too - and said make sure they are fully at room temperature when fitting, don't bring in from cold storage etc. He marked out lines on the floor first to make sure they didn't got wobbly.

 

[d000hg]

I should clarify I'm only talking about fitting cost, not the flooring itself.

 

[JP_]

In that case, no idea! Maybe look for an independent floorer and ask for a quote?

 

[dazlight]

Why you getting a few quotes?

 

[foxhole]

LVT does not usually require underlay ?

 

[d000hg]

Why you getting a few quotes?

I don't understand the question, why wouldn't you get multiple quotes?

LVT does not usually require underlay ?

seems to depend on subfloor, they often recommend a super thin rubbery one. The product we're looking at has it built in anyway

 

[foxhole]

£240 seems extremely cheap , could he provide recommendations?

 

[d000hg]

We'll ask... I thought the same thing which is why I wondered how big a job it is. Up here in the north-east, an independent tradesman might quite often only charge £120/day so if it's a 2-day job fair enough. It took me ages to do laminate in one large room but I had no idea what I was doing so I have no way to gauge how much faster a pro will do it.

 

[dazlight]

The question means why get multiple quotes ? Are you looking for the cheapest price ?

Maybe do some research then find out who is a good local independent shop who will give the best advice and do the job correctly.

 

[dazlight]

You be better with a glue down LVT then a click. If going a click look at quickstep Livyn. Or a rigid click.
With a click you will need to have a level subfloor.

what underlay do you have for it ?

 

[d000hg]

The question means why get multiple quotes ? Are you looking for the cheapest price ?

Maybe do some research then find out who is a good local independent shop who will give the best advice and do the job correctly.

You get some recommendations then you invite people to come and quote, ideally 3 but you always want more than one unless it's a tiny job. When we got quotes for electrical work they varied from 9 - 15k and all 3 were well-regarded local firms.

Why on earth would you not get at least 2 quotes, even if just to check you like the guy?

Our sub-floor is brand new and level. I already said the LVT flooring we like has underlay built in, and vinyl is fine on the sub-floor. We have underfloor heating mats going in under the LVT (insulation mats on the subfloor first) so glued floors are not an option without a lot more work/cost, after we have spoken to the manufacturers and several flooring suppliers to ask, doing overlays and so on.

You seem to be pretty familiar with this, any idea how long it should take to actually lay laminate/LVT once the floor is prepared? Imagine most of the work is the edges so are we talking a room per day for 1 guy or more/less?

 

[foxhole]

Took me 6 days to lay 70sq metres of laminate, working part days.
Kitchen diner, utilities, cloakroom and hall.
6 Doorways and kitchen island to negotiate.

 

[crazydaze]

You get some recommendations then you invite people to come and quote, ideally 3 but you always want more than one unless it's a tiny job. When we got quotes for electrical work they varied from 9 - 15k and all 3 were well-regarded local firms.

Why on earth would you not get at least 2 quotes, even if just to check you like the guy?

Our sub-floor is brand new and level. I already said the LVT flooring we like has underlay built in, and vinyl is fine on the sub-floor. We have underfloor heating mats going in under the LVT (insulation mats on the subfloor first) so glued floors are not an option without a lot more work/cost, after we have spoken to the manufacturers and several flooring suppliers to ask, doing overlays and so on.

You seem to be pretty familiar with this, any idea how long it should take to actually lay laminate/LVT once the floor is prepared? Imagine most of the work is the edges so are we talking a room per day for 1 guy or more/less?

If you are laying LVT, the surface you are laying too, underlay or not, needs to be billiard table smooth.

Getting the floor level, and fitting LVT correctly is a skilled and time consuming job, your not just paying for the time it takes to do the job, you are paying for the years of training and experience of the fitter to get the job done properly. Areas are usually charged by the m2 to fit or by a minimum charge per room if small.

Click LVT has an unfair reputation in the trade of being a bit of a nightmare, usually due to fitters/companies not prepping the floor correctly, not supplying the correct underlay, and generally speccing it like a laminate/engineered install.