"How long will you be in my house?" is usually the second question people ask, and the honest answer has two parts: the install itself is short, and everything around it is longer than expected.
Here is the whole timeline, stage by stage.
Stage 1 — the in-home appointment: about an hour
We come to you with samples, look at the rooms, measure, and check what the existing floor is sitting on. An hour covers most houses. A whole-house project with stairs takes longer.
You get a written proposal from this. There is no charge and no obligation attached to it.
Stage 2 — choosing: as long as you want
This is the stage people underestimate, and it is the only one that is entirely in your hands.
Because we bring the samples to the house, you can leave three candidates on the floor of the actual room and look at them in morning light and again under lamps at night. Colour reads differently at home than in any showroom, and a day or two of living with the options prevents the one regret we hear most.
Stage 3 — ordering: one to three weeks
Once you choose, the material has to arrive. Stocked products can be days. Special orders, wide-plank hardwood and anything imported run longer, and this is the stage that decides your date.
If you are working to a deadline — a holiday, a baby, a house going on the market — say so at the appointment. It genuinely changes what we recommend, because some floors can be here next week and some cannot.
Stage 4 — acclimation: nothing to three days
Wood products need to sit in your house and come to its temperature and humidity before they are installed. Solid hardwood needs the most, engineered less, and luxury vinyl plank and carpet effectively none.
Skipping this on a wood floor is how you get gaps in February on a floor that was tight in August.
Stage 5 — the install itself
For a straightforward job over a sound subfloor:
- Carpet, one to three rooms: one day
- Luxury vinyl plank or laminate, 500 to 800 sq ft: one to two days
- Hardwood, 500 to 800 sq ft: two to three days
- A flight of stairs: half a day to a full day on its own
- Whole first floor, 1,000+ sq ft: three to five days
Removal of the old floor is part of that, and so is standard furniture moving.
What adds time
Three things account for nearly every job that runs longer than the estimate.
**Subfloor work discovered on day one.** Soft sheathing, old adhesive, or a floor that is further out of flat than it looked. Levelling compound also has to cure before anything goes over it, which is usually where the extra day comes from.
**Layers.** Pulling up carpet and finding two previous floors under it changes both the labour and the finished height.
**Access.** A second-floor job with a narrow stairwell, a full house that has to be worked around, or a single bathroom that cannot be out of service all move the schedule.
What you need to do
Not much, and less than people expect.
Standard furniture moving is ours. What we need from you is the small stuff cleared — lamps, books, electronics, anything breakable — and pets somewhere else for the day. Doors will be open and there will be tools on the floor.
Appliances, pianos, pool tables, aquariums and built-in units are worth mentioning at the appointment so they are planned for rather than met on the morning.
When you can walk on it
- Carpet: immediately
- Luxury vinyl plank and laminate, floating: immediately
- Glue-down vinyl: usually 24 hours before furniture goes back
- Prefinished hardwood: immediately, though give it a day before dragging heavy furniture across it
Because we install prefinished flooring rather than sanding and finishing on site, there is no waiting for a finish to cure and no need to leave the house.
The realistic total
For most houses, three to five weeks from the first appointment to the finished floor, with only one to three of those days involving anyone in your home.
If your project has a date attached to it, tell us at the start. Ordering is the long pole, and knowing the deadline up front is what lets us steer you toward something that will actually be here in time.
