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Improvement Sales Gimmicks
Home Depot & Lowe's
FREE Carpet
Installation?
©2011 Alan Fletcher - Carpet Expert &
Consumer Advocate
You can buy carpet at Lowe's or you can buy
carpet at Home Depot. They both certainly want your business and advertise
heavily to get it. That's because there are high profit margins on carpet and flooring
products. There is so much money to be made selling carpet they can offer you
carpet installation for $39 or less! Why do you suppose they offer carpet
installation at such a low cost?
Both Lowe's and Home Depot use
an
independent installation company to handle all their flooring installations
and they in turn hire subcontractors to do the work. This means that you have
no way of knowing in advance who is going to install your carpet until
they show up at your door with your new carpet. Are they qualified? Will they
do a good job? And what if something goes wrong and your carpet is installed poorly? Who do you call?
Who will accept responsibility? Can you get a quick remedy or will it
take weeks of calling and calling?
I've heard
from many homeowners who ended
up with a poor installation job and their horror stories about the runaround
they got when calling the store to get a remedy. I don't want this to happen
to you. If you have a problem with your carpet or installation you need to
get a quick remedy. But if you only pay $39 for installation and you are not satisfied
with the outcome will
you just get a $39 refund? That's how much you paid for
the installation, right?
Carpet Sales Gimmicks
Many new carpet sales gimmicks have
been offered
up lately by the big box warehouses and some nationally advertised "shop at
home" flooring retailers. Their claim of deep discounts on carpet or installation
are designed to lure you
into thinking you have a chance at getting a really good deal. No matter what their current sales gimmick is,
their goal is to make you think they are giving away the farm. If it sounds
too good to be true....
Have you watched those quirky shop-at-home for carpet TV commercials that offer next day
installation? Did you know that their salespeople are independent contractors? They are
paid solely on commission and are basically free to charge you as much as they
think they can get away with. That means
if you live in a nicer home and have an expensive car in the driveway, you
might be quoted a higher price.
And what about the products they sell? Are
they well made and as durable as you might expect? You will not be happy if you buy
a cheaply made carpet at inflated prices. You must decide for
yourself if this is the way you want to go. I suggest you do a quick google search on any carpet retailer
you are considering to see if they are reputable, and see what their
previous customers have to say. It could open your eyes!
Even if you are tempted to buy from a big
box retailer, you would be wise to get several bids to compare
prices on similar carpet, pad and installation. There is no standard markup
for carpet and pad. An identical carpet can vary in price at every carpet
store you visit. Any dealer can price their carpet, materials and labor any way they want.
How Much Does
Carpet Cost?
Carpet Installers and Extra Fees
I totally respect carpet and flooring
installers. Most work very hard to earn their money by providing an honest days
work, often implementing strenuous physical demands and following strict legal
state licensing and insurance regulations. Installing carpet or other
residential or commercial flooring is very difficult and time consuming and
requires significant hard work and attention to detail. I think flooring installers are
often taken for granted, underpaid and under
appreciated.
Whole house installation for $39.00? No professional carpet installer is willing to work for free
or is willing to install a house full of carpet at a huge discount. Surprise!
Your carpet installation will likely NOT fall within their "basic" guidelines
so there WILL be some extra fees and charges and you should expect that from the
big box retailers who lure you with this sales gimmick.
Recent email from a reader:
"I
just had (a home improvement warehouse) give me a measure and quote for
carpet. The basic installation is $99, then it is an additional $195 for
tack strips, and an additional $85 because it is a mobile home. I've
called other carpet installers and they charge less for padding ($3 vs. $5.65)
and more for installation ($4/yard), and it will cost me $250 less than the
home improvement warehouse!"
What is considered a "basic" installation?
Does the price include removing the old
carpet and padding? dump fees? haul away fees, recycling charges? What about
transitions, are they included? Some stores charge for measuring, but this
should be a part of their service and not an extra fee. I would never agree to
pay for measuring because plenty of local carpet dealers offer free estimates
and measuring.
Extra for measuring, extra for delivery, extra for removing
the old, extra for stairs, extra for transitions, extra for tackstrip, extra
for just about everything.
Isn't is obvious to you that they hide the added cost of low-cost installation
by charging extra for every little thing AND inflating the price of your
carpet and pad too? Do you know how much they mark- up carpet and pad? There is more
profit in carpet than
you might think.
The average going rate for carpet installation in the USA is
about $4.25 per yard. It's a little higher in the northern states and a little
lower in the southern states. There is almost always an extra fee for stairs, furniture
moving and transitions where the carpet meets vinyl or hardwood flooring. They
have a long list of fees for services that do not fall under their
"basic" installation description.
Is this really true? If you think I am making all this up,
take two minutes and do a google search of "carpet complaints'
and see for yourself. You will have plenty of reading to keep you busy. When you
are done reading all that, come on back and let me help you make wise and informed carpet buying
choices.
I
support Locally Owned Carpet Dealers
Some carpet
installation specials are a really
good deal for consumers, especially those offered by locally owned and family run carpet
retailers. Reputable carpet retailers may advertise discounts on carpet, padding or specials on installation
similar to the big box stores, but without all the fine print!
Times are tough and to earn your business some
local retailers have lowered
their prices to stay in business. But be careful who you buy from, it's easy to
fall prey to a carpet scam these days and that's why I have been
compiling a special list of locally owned carpet dealers for my preferred carpet dealer directory.
Take a peek and see if I have a preferred carpet dealer near you.
For these reasons and many more, I would never buy carpet
from Home Depot or Lowe's or recommend that you do. I think you need to
buy from a reputable locally owned carpet retailer that has your complete
satisfaction in mind and will treat you right from to start to finish AND after the sale! Read
my answer the question: Should
I buy carpet from Lowe's or Home Depot?
Alan,
why do you only recommend locally-owned Carpet Dealers?
