When it comes to estimating the cost of engineered flooring, the process can be a bit ‘hit and miss’. The good news is that there is now so much competition in the solid wood flooring industry that generally speaking, today you can get much more choice and much more quality for your spend than you could, even a decade ago, but you really do need to shop carefully to make sure you’re getting the best deal and know exactly what to expect. The solid wood flooring we have in stock at Wood and Beyond ranges from under £25 to just over £30 per square metre ex VAT.
Deciding whether to buy online or off
There’s no getting away from the fact that in the vast majority of cases, there are substantial savings to be made by buying your solid wood flooring from an online supplier. That said, you do need to be careful and you need to do your due diligence to make sure that what you end up with is what you expect and what you deserve. The reason that online suppliers can be cheaper is because they don’t normally have the running costs that high street shops have to pay. By positioning themselves in a remote, out of town location, online suppliers can make substantial savings on rent and, or premises and they can pass these savings on to you.
If you decide that you’re going to buy online, we’d recommend that you get your hands on samples of the flooring that interests you and, if possible, you speak to a few of the existing clients of the company that takes your fancy. Any online wood flooring company worth its salt will willingly provide you with samples and will put you in touch with previous clients. They do this because they have absolutely nothing to hide. Some companies like Wood and Beyond, even offer a high street presence where you can go and speak to staff and see and touch the products.
Board size
One of the biggest elements that will have a direct impact on the cost of your solid wood flooring is the dimension of your boards. In a nutshell, the thicker, the wider and the longer your board, the more expensive it will be. If you imagine the trunk of a tree and imagine how many narrow, thin, short boards you’ll get out of it and then imagine how many thick, long and wide boards you’ll get, you’ll start to get the idea here. In short, to get long, wide, thick boards, you need big trees that take a long time to grow and you need to cut the boards from the biggest part of the tree. This is means that there is often a lot of waste when large dimension boards are produced. Waste means higher product price.
Species and grade
There are any number of species of solid wood flooring on the market these days, ranging from the very basic, pine and oak, up to the more exotic, such as teak and walnut. Not surprisingly, trees that grow quickly and are in abundance produce wood that sells with a lower price tag than trees that are rare or in decline. When it comes to grade, it’s a similar story. Effectively, the higher the grade, the higher the price. So, if you choose a rustic grade oak floor, with narrow, thin boards, you can expect the cost to be significantly lower than if you select a prime grade walnut floor with extra wide and extra thick boards.
Finish
Most people these days choose a solid wood flooring option that arrives at its destination pre-finished. What this means is that all that’s left to be done is install the floor. The finish you choose will affect the price because different finishes require different amounts of work. Some finishes can be applied by machine, so will be relatively low cost compared to the more labour-intensive, hand finishes that are so highly sought after these days.
Extras
When you’re working out the cost of solid wood flooring for any room in your home, it’s important to make sure you’ve measured your room carefully and accurately. It goes without saying that the bigger your room, the higher the relative cost for the floor. Thereafter, you need to take into account such things as underlay and accessories as well as fitting and delivery.
If you’re planning a solid wood flooring project and would welcome some help to work out accurate costs, then why not get in touch? At Wood and Beyond, we have an abundance of experience and knowledge that we’d be happy to share with you.