Empire Carpet for our basement

[pnutmnm]

We are in the final phase of finishing our basement and called for the first of our estimates for the carpeting.

We chose a berber with the squares in the pattern and upped the padding from the lowest to the next level (we have berber in the house and thought a bit more cushion on the concrete would be a good idea).

They quoted us $2100 for a 925 square foot area (including the staircase). This would be financed with no interest for a year.

I have Luna coming next week to give a alternate estimate. I was also told to check with a Luna dealer that I have in the area that I work with - who is an independent Luna dealer - and was told they may give me a fire department discount...of which I can only hope.

I am just curious to see if this is a good price from Empire or not. I also heard that I should wait a bit to contact Empire and they will come down on their price. Any advice with either company would be appreciated.

 

[r&kmommy]

800-5-8-8-2-300 Empire. TODAY!!

(lol... couldn't resist!!)

That sounds like a reasonable quote though. And I also heard that if you get a quote from someone that's lower than Empire's quote they will do their best to match (check us last, you'll love us, is their motto right?)

*keeping an eye on this thread because I want to replace our bedroom carpet!!*

 

[Jenn4615]

I just did Next day floors... in my Great room... they did an awesome job... I did top of the line carpet and pad... But I was happy with the price... and the job they did!

 

[nan214]

we used them @ 3 yrs ago. Our quote for stairs + 990 sq feet was @ $4000. This was not berber rug though...it was higher end carpet b/c it was for our upstairs/bedrooms. We ended up going with home depot which was $3200. we used empire to do our hard floors on our 1 st floor, and we are very happy with them. Definetly bargain with them. we did and got the price @ 25% lower than the initial quote. hopes this helps

 

[Swimalie]

Do you have a Costco near you? We used them for our main floor carpet. You get a free pad upgrade. We went with a high-end recycled carpet and it was $2200 for about 800 sq feet. It's not next day but they were still good and they have berber to chose from, I believe.

 

[Disneydonnam]

We called Empire and got an estimate. We called Flooring Direct and they took 15% off of Empire's price. They also had a lot more colors to chose from.

 

[momejay]

Home Depot guys put in our basement carpet. They did a good job. It was 10 years ago. We had no problems with them.
They came to do our kitchen floor however & we had to have it redone a year later. They used a "bad glue."
Empire replaced the kitchen floor. I don't remember the exact price (it was very reasonable). The service was fantastic!

 

[Darcy03231]

When we carpeted our basement we went with a small local guy. He ended up giving us the best quote (and advice). He recommended a berber that has a foam back that is specially made for basements. The foam backing is treated to be mold and mildew resistent. It was a lot less expensive that what we were originally looking at and I can say enough good things about it. Our basement flooded and we were able to dry it out using shop vacs and fans. No mold or mildew issues. When we flooded again several years later we ended up pulling it up because we did an interior french drain system to fix the water issues. There was no mold or mildew under it and it still was in great condition (it killed me to pull it all up). Once the work was done we recarpeted with the same stuff.

 

[bettymae1121]

A friend of my brother's is a carpet installer. I asked him about Empire out of curiosity (growing up in Chicagoland, I learned their phone number before my own! ). It started at "rip off" and went down hill from there. He said he'd only recommend them if you need new carpet ASAP and are willing to pay the price for it. This was about 5 years ago, so I don't know if they've become more competitive since then.

 

[bonoriffic]

A friend received a quote from Empire and was surprised at how high it was. They basically asked what he thought a fair price was. The amount of negotiation room seemed very high. If you like to haggle you almost certainly can get a better price. I prefer to get an honest quote the first time.