Flooring Estimate

1. I have replaced a lot of parquet floors with 3.25 inch wide plank maple
2. my tenants really like the floor because it is bright and enhances its rooms

3. my last floor about 3 1/2 years ago cost me about $3.50/ft for the floor
4. plus plywood underbase which attaches to the underfloor, probably about 30-50 cents/ft

3. labor was probably about 2-3 dollars/floor
4. lots of people specialize In floors and will compete for your business on price

5. so about 10-11 thousand dollars all inclusive seems like a reasonable budget
6. beware Manhattan contractors

7. many charge 10x or more what a job would cost a knowledgeable owner

>1. I have replaced a lot of parquet floors with 3.25 inch wide plank maple

congratulations. This is a big accomplishment. When you die, this will be in your eulogy and obituary.

You should just hire RB's contractor, because there is absolutely no way that anyone will do a floor in Manhattan at anything like those prices, and no contractors are competing for your business these days -- you are lucky to get them to return your calls. 50 cents per square foot would not even cover the cost of buying a sheet of 3/4" tongue and groove subflooring, which costs about $30 per 4x8' sheet.

It is difficult to compare the cost to manually cut and install herringbone flooring -- that is very labor intensive. You might also consider looking at pre-cut herringbone floors. The $14K labor number is very high if it just for the install of a straight floor, but perhaps a little closer to realistic if it includes tearing out and carting the existing floor, removing and preserving casings and moldings, and installing the subfloor, and 3 coats of finish. Even then, $12+ sq ft is still rather crazy (and I assume the hardwood area is materially less than 1100 sq ft).

Materials costs will vary widely depending upon species, width, lengths and quality, and depending on whether you are doing the herringbone or something else. Herringbone materials to be cut on site will not be very expensive because they are narrow and short, but there is a lot of waste. For strip or plnk floors, could be $3 sq ft to north of $20 sq ft. Some places to go for higher end (probably $8-$20 sq ft), are LV Floors in the east 20s and Carlisle in the D&D Building. If you drop the herringbone and want wide planks in long lengths, you can try Heritage, part of Riverhead Building Supply on Long Island. We bought our wide plank floor from Hull Forest Products, a mill in Connecticut. Talk to Jon Ramos there -- very helpful and fair prices.

Thank you!

There are many wood specie could be milled for herringbone flooring both for solid & engineered , walnut ,teak ,acacia are nice wood I want to propose. We mill the hardwood for many years in our fatory.You can source it under 3usd/s.q.f from http://acacia-depot.com/herringbone-acacia.htm