Guide · For the trade
Carpet pricing for the trade: what drives carpet cost, line by line
Carpet pricing to the trade is a net price per square yard (9 square feet) for the goods, plus a price per square yard for pad and for labor, plus freight, with stairs priced per step and custom work per project. What drives carpet cost, in order of weight, is fiber, construction, face weight and density, width and pattern repeat (which set the waste), custom color, and the installation itself. A wool broadloom can cost two to four times a nylon of the same construction, and a hand-loomed wool several times that again; the lines below explain why without quoting a figure, because net pricing is given to approved trade accounts on request and never published.
This guide is for the designer putting a carpet allowance into a budget before the samples arrive, and for the junior asked why two 12-foot rolls that look alike are priced a room apart. It covers how the trade is quoted, the six cost drivers, how to read a mill price list, what sits inside an installation quote, and how to take a plan to a yardage. Measuring and waste have their own carpet yardage guide.
How carpet is quoted to the trade
Mills price broadloom by the square yard, cut to the length the room needs from a roll 12 feet, 13 feet 2 inches or 15 feet wide. The price list shows a per-yard figure by style and sometimes by color group, a cut charge for orders under a set length, and a roll price. Rugs are priced by the piece in standard sizes and by the square foot in custom sizes. Pad is quoted per yard by thickness and density, labor per yard by method with stairs per step, freight by weight and distance from the mill. A quote from Interiors shows each as its own line, so the designer can adjust one without re-quoting the job.
The six cost drivers, in order
| Driver | Range it covers | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Fiber | Polypropylene, polyester, triexta, nylon, wool, wool and silk, in rising order | Raw material cost and processing; wool is sheared, scoured, carded, spun and dyed before it reaches a loom |
| Construction | Tufted, machine woven and Wilton, Axminster, flatweave, hand-loomed, hand-tufted, hand-knotted, in rising order | Loom speed and hands: a tufting machine makes yards a minute, a Wilton loom yards an hour, a hand-knotter inches a day |
| Face weight and density | Within one style, the heavier gauge or taller pile costs more | More yarn per square yard; wool at 40 to 60 ounces is where "why is wool carpet expensive" usually begins |
| Width and repeat | Waste from 5 to 25 percent of the goods | A 12-foot roll in a 13-foot room buys 15 feet; a 36 inch repeat adds a repeat per seam and per step |
| Color and custom | Running line, custom color, custom design | Custom color on a mill program carries a minimum yardage and 8 to 16 weeks; a custom design adds a strike-off |
| Installation | Stretch-in, glue-down, stairs, pattern match, tear-out | Labor hours; a patterned stair runs three to four times the labor of a plain bedroom |
Why wool carpet is expensive, and what it buys
The fiber starts as a fleece, shorn once a year, and is scoured, blended, carded, spun, plied and dyed before it is woven or tufted; New Zealand wool, the whitest and most consistent, is bought at auction on a market that moves with the season. A wool broadloom then runs on a slower loom than a synthetic, at a heavier weight to perform. What the client gets is a fiber that is naturally flame resistant and self-extinguishing, hides soil in its scaled surface, recovers from furniture and traffic for twenty years, and takes dye with a depth no synthetic matches. Our wool carpet category runs to about 1,400 styles, and an 80 percent wool, 20 percent nylon blend from the wool blend category is the usual way to bring the price down a step without giving up the hand.
Reading a mill price list
Three things change the number more than the headline figure. Width: a 13 foot 2 inch European Wilton may look dearer per yard than a 12 foot domestic tufted and cost less for the room, because the extra 14 inches removes a seam and a strip of waste. Color group: solid and heather running colors are priced below the multi-color patterns in the same style, and a custom color carries a surcharge and a minimum run. Cut charge: an order under the mill's minimum length, commonly 10 to 15 yards, pays a per-cut fee, which is why a small powder-room rug from an expensive wool is quoted by the piece instead.
What is inside an installation quote
- Tear-out and disposal of the existing floor, per yard, more for glued-down goods.
- Floor preparation: tack strip, patching, a moisture test on a slab, a float where the subfloor is out of level.
- Pad by thickness and density: 7/16 inch 8 pound rebond under residential cut pile, 1/4 to 3/8 inch dense felt or rubber under loop, Wilton and stair runners.
- Installation by method, per yard: stretch-in, direct glue-down, double glue-down.
- Stairs per step, with a premium for a Hollywood wrap, a landing, a pie step or a pattern match.
- Seaming, transitions and metals, furniture moving, and a return trip for stair rods or binding.
Interiors measures and installs anywhere in the United States through our installer network, and the measure visit is where most surprises are found: a hall that needs a 15-foot width, a stair with a bullnose, a slab that fails its test.
From a room plan to a yardage
Take the room's longer dimension plus 3 inches for trim, divide by the roll width for the number of drops, and multiply the drops by the shorter dimension plus 3 inches; divide the square feet by 9 for yards, then add the pattern repeat to each drop after the first and 10 percent for closets and returns. A 14 by 16 foot bedroom in 12-foot goods takes two drops of 14 feet 3 inches, 28.5 linear feet of roll, about 38 square yards against a floor area of 25. That gap is the largest avoidable cost in most residential quotes, and why we ask for the plan before the sample.
Questions designers ask
Which carpet is the most durable for the money?
A dense solution-dyed nylon in a loop or low cut pile, in a running color, from a roll width that fits the room without a third drop. Wool lasts longer in a formal room and costs more; polyester and polypropylene cost less and mat sooner.
What does a carpet installation quote include?
Tear-out, floor preparation, pad, labor by method, stairs per step, seaming, transitions and furniture moving, each as its own line, with freight from the mill separate. The measure visit sets the yardage.
Who installs the carpet on a project outside California?
Our installer network, in the client's city, anywhere in the United States, with Interiors as the single point of contact for the measure, the order, the freight and the install.
How is carpet square footage calculated for a quote?
By roll drops, not floor area: the room's long dimension plus 3 inches, divided by the roll width, gives the number of drops; each drop is the short dimension plus 3 inches plus one pattern repeat. Total linear feet times the roll width, divided by 9, is the yardage.
Why is the same style priced differently in two colors?
Running solids and heathers are priced below multi-color colorways of the same style, a custom color carries a surcharge and a minimum run, and a color being discontinued is sometimes quoted below the line to clear the roll.
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