Guide
What tear-out and leveling add to a vinyl plank floor
The same 500 sq ft of vinyl plank over three starting floors, and the labor, materials and disposal that change.
Reviewed by TheCostDesk on : the working features and the sources were checked by hand, and the wording read for tone. What a review involves.
Data last checked . Figures are the US average; the calculator adjusts them for a state.
Three starting floors, one new floor
500 sq ft of vinyl plank at the US average, priced the same way each time.
| Starting floor | Typical | Range | Per sq ft | Against a clean floor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A clean, flat floor | $4,000 | $1,950 to $6,050 | $8 | Starting point |
| Remove old carpet first | $4,500 | $2,200 to $6,850 | $9 | +$500 (+13%) |
| Remove tile, wood or glued floor and level it | $6,850 | $3,200 to $10,600 | $14 | +$2,850 (+71%) |
What changes between the rows
Labor, materials and disposal.
Carpet. Pulling up carpet, pad and tack strips adds 0.008 to 0.012 labor-hours a square foot (about 80 to 125 sq ft per installer-hour) and $0.10 to $0.40 a square foot more disposal. Both are our estimates; we found no time study.
Tile, wood or glued flooring, and leveling. Hard flooring takes chipping or prying up, and the surface is then leveled with a pour-on compound. A 50 lb bag cost $30.98 to $35.98 (MAPEI and Sika, Lowe's Columbus, 5 November 2026) and covers about 42 to 65 sq ft at one-eighth inch deep according to the Sika data sheet (42) and a retail listing for another brand (65). With a primer allowance that adds $0.55 to $1.00 a square foot in materials. Labor adds 0.030 to 0.070 hours a square foot, an estimate, and disposal of tile and mortar runs $0.25 to $1.25 a square foot in all (the packaging allowance plus $0.25 to $1.00 for the heavy debris), also an estimate.
A deeper pour costs more compound; one-eighth inch is the figure used. The jump from a clean floor to a leveled hard floor is +$2,850 (+71%) at the typical figure.
The range is wide, and why
A note on reading these figures.
The default clean-floor figure works out to about $8 a square foot at the typical point, with a range of $4 to $12. It is wide because the low and high ends of wages, hours, materials and contractor margin are each taken together, so the ends compound. A real quote can sit anywhere inside, or occasionally outside, it.
Why a real quote can sit elsewhere
Things these rows do not capture.
- The plank itself. Cartons at Lowe's held 15.76 to 23.21 sq ft and planks ranged from a basic 12-mil click lock to thicker, higher-priced lines. Our materials cover $1.99 to $3.99 a square foot of plank plus accessories.
- Waste. Hallways, odd corners and diagonal lays use more flooring. The carton calculator shows the effect of 5%, 10% and 15%.
- What the subfloor needs. Repairs, moisture barriers on concrete, floors far out of level, stairs and moving furniture are not included.
- The edges. A floating floor needs a small expansion gap at the walls, covered either by taking off and putting back the existing baseboards or by adding quarter-round or shoe molding. Neither is in the rows above, so a quote that includes one will read higher.
- Season and demand. Installers' schedules and prices can move with the time of year and local demand. Our figures do not capture either.
Work it out for your own job
The figures above are examples. These take your numbers.
Sources
Where each figure comes from, and when we last looked.
- Checked sourceU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Data year 2025, checked 2026-11-04.
- Checked sourceU.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, table EC2223BASIC (Construction: Summary Statistics), NAICS 238330 Flooring Contractors, United States; fringe benefits are 24.1% of payroll and revenue is 63% above direct cost. Data year 2022, checked 2026-11-04.
- Checked sourceLowe's shelf prices read on lowes.com, Central Columbus OH (43211) store, 4 Nov 2026: luxury vinyl plank $1.99 per sq ft (12-mil click-lock) to about $3.99 (thicker), underlayment $28.98 to $79 per 100 sq ft. Data year 2026, checked 2026-11-04.
- Checked sourceLowe's shelf prices read on lowes.com, Central Columbus OH store, 5 Nov 2026: 50 lb self-leveling underlayment $30.98 (MAPEI Self Leveler Plus) to $35.98 (MAPEI Ultraplan Easy, Quikrete FastSet); coverage of about 42 sq ft at one-eighth inch from the Sika SikaLevel data sheet and 50 sq ft from the ARDEX K 22 F brochure (a retail listing for another brand says 65). Data year 2026, checked 2026-11-05.
- Published, secondhandNAHB Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study, 2026 edition (fiscal 2024), as reported by NAHB's Eye on Housing blog, 8 Apr 2026: revenue about 43% above direct cost (33% in 2021). Data year 2024, checked 2026-11-04.
- Published, secondhandU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities by state (US = 100), as republished by FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis). Goods parity is used for materials and all-items parity as a rough stand-in for permit fees. Data year 2024, checked 2026-11-04.
- Our estimateIn this guide: Labor hours for removing carpet (0.008 to 0.012 a sq ft) and for removing hard flooring and leveling (0.03 to 0.07 a sq ft), the extra disposal allowances ($0.10 to $0.40 a sq ft for carpet and $0.25 to $1.00 for hard flooring, on top of the $0 to $0.25 for packaging) and the $0.05 to $0.15 primer allowance. Data year 2026, checked 2026-11-05.
For information only: not advice, a recommendation or a quote. We take care, but our sources can lag and so can we, so a figure may be out of date. Prices change with wages, material costs, the season and local demand; a real quote can fall outside any range.