I am planning to have Home Depot to install some carpet bought in Home Deport, their price looks attractive, at one time they offer “Basic” installation almost free. What are the catches?
They charge extra for stairs and to move furniture. It’s still a good deal. We had them replace our carpets and we saved a bunch by moving the furniture our self.
Move everything and prep yourself as much as possible. Tear out old carpets yourself if you are replacing. With any Home Depot or Lowes work, they kill you in demo and stuff like that. I once asked for an estimate to install cabinets, and when I looked it over they were going to charge me 3k just to take down and trash my old ones.
I’m not sure if this still applies or applies everywhere, but when I used home Depot to install carpet, they didn’t have their own staff but subcontracted the job out to an independent installer I knew nothing about. Everything went okay, but I was concerned that if I’d had a problem, they’d be pointing fingers at each other, and I figured if I needed to call with an issue while the installation was underway, the chances of reaching the right person at Home Depot and getting it solved on the spot were nil. I’d prefer to use a local carpet retailer that does its own installation so the people on the job have a need to please me, rather than Home Depot.
My Home Depot charged $50 to move furniture but .43/sq ft to tear out and haul away the old carpet. If we were to put hard surfaces down that cost went up to .59/sq ft
My neighbors had the local flooring store install carpet and they had sub contractor also. Something went wrong and that’s how they found out. It was resolved but I wanted to put that out there.
Obviously. 43c per sf for removing the old carpet is outrageous. But, if you were to take it to an expensive dump in CA they might charge you $70-80 for a truck load of carpets. Back in NJ, the town has a dump for town residents for free, you can dump anything you want as long as you bring it to the dump. Your car/van/truck needs a decal issued by the town, nevertheless. Time has changed.
Home depot had very limited scheduling for installation, no weekends, will call the day before and you better be ready to take the day off tomorrow and wait all day long for them kind of thing.
We were very happy with small local carpet store, service was much better, scheduling ahead of time, and all extra pieces were wrapped to save if needed in future.
we used home depot for carpet a few years back. yep, they subcontract it. yep, they charge extra for lots of things. Our family pulled out our own carpet. it was fun and a learning experience.
Once our new carpet was down, i noticed a very small bleached spot in the carpet. within the week, they inspected the flaw, removed the entire carpet, and replaced it all very willingly.
If you thoroughly know what you’re looking at it should be fine. we got the top/best pad, and it is AWESOME!
I just had our condo done last week. The install company called me the day or so after I put the order in to set it up. I They called me early in the morning the day of the install to give me my time window. They arrived early, but called first to see if it was ok. It was 2 nice men who installed it. They were hard working and I had no complaints. After the install they had to phone into the install company and I had to get on the phone. They asked me how it went, was I satisfied, did they clean up etc. They cut the carpet so the seams were minimized and I still had a nice piece left over to use for patching in the event of a mishap down the road.
I got a better price than with the local company who didn’t seem interested in selling me 750 sf of a carpet that was under $3 sf. I think I got better carpet for less $. I wanted to use the local place, but when I told them Home Depots price they didn’t even try to negotiate, even though we were ready to purchase that day, and it wasn’t a huge difference. Silly on their part, because when I need carpet in my home, at probably a higher quality, I won’t be going back to them. If they had even tried to work with me I might have bought from them.
In the end, I truly believe the HD carpet was a better carpet for less $. It was one of their “rapid install” which means about 7 days to come in. They said that group of carpet is their best value.
HD did want about .43 sf to rip up old carpet. We did it. Well, hubby did it, and his back yelled at him for a few days. Stairs were extra, but that is true of any carpet install. We didn’t have any stairs and spent enough to get the free install that was on promo at the time. Supposedly the install is guaranteed for life. Not sure if local company offers that, but local company could be sold or close up and may not be there if you have a problem. HD isn’t going anywhere…
As above- be sure to find out the total costs. Also be sure their subcontractors are known to do good work. Prices quoted need to be compared for all aspects as detailed above. I ended up with Lowes here, perhaps a local store would have been a better carpet than we chose (wanted Stainmaster and soft) a couple of years ago. The carpet pad is important- pay for the best one you can afford. Likewise consider the characteristics as found on the back of the samples- density et al. “Free” is only the mere laying of carpet. Figure out charges for moving furniture, old carpet removal and disposal et al. Check with a carpet store for their pricing and what they include to see if the equivalent carpet is more/less expensive. Remember, you expect to live with the carpet for at least a decade- far more important than the installation costs.