The short answer
Quick answer
Replacing all the flooring in a typical DMV home runs about $8,000 to $17,000 all-in for a 2,000 square foot house, depending on material. At our all-in prices, that is laminate at $4 a square foot ($8,000), luxury vinyl plank at $5.50 ($11,000), or hardwood at $8.50 ($17,000). Carpet is $3.25 a foot and refinishing existing hardwood is $4.50. Every one of those numbers already includes the material, professional installation, and tearing out and hauling away your old floor. Most real houses mix materials, so your actual number lands between these. The two things that move it most are the material you pick and how much subfloor prep the house needs.
This is the question nobody gives you a straight answer to. Search "flooring cost" and you get a per-square-foot range with no idea what your actual house comes to, or a big-box "starting at" price that triples by the time it is installed. After 20-plus years flooring homes across Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, and the rest of the DMV, here is how the whole-house number actually adds up, with our real prices, so you can budget before anyone steps in your door.
What drives whole-house flooring cost
Quick answer
Three things set the price: how many square feet you are covering, which material you pick, and how much prep the subfloor needs. Square footage and material are easy to estimate up front. Prep is the one you cannot fully see until the old floor comes up, which is why an honest quote accounts for it instead of pretending it is not there.
Square footage is the base. Material is the multiplier, and it is the biggest lever you control: the same house is $8,000 in laminate or $17,000 in hardwood. Prep is the variable that surprises people, and it matters more in the DMV than most places because of how old a lot of our housing stock is. A 1950s Alexandria colonial or an Arlington Cape Cod can have subfloor issues a new-build in Ashburn never will. We cover prep in its own section below because it is the honest wildcard in any whole-house number.
Whole-house cost by home size
Quick answer
Using our all-in luxury vinyl plank price of $5.50 a square foot, a 1,000 square foot condo runs about $5,500, a 1,500 square foot townhouse about $8,250, a 2,000 square foot colonial about $11,000, and a 3,000 square foot home about $16,500. Swap in laminate to spend less or hardwood to spend more. These cover finished living space; bathrooms are usually tile and priced separately.
Here is the whole-house cost at each common DMV home size, using LVP as the middle-of-the-road material. Note that "flooring square footage" is smaller than the home's total square footage, because it excludes bathrooms (tile, quoted separately) and any garage or unfinished areas.
| Home type | Finished flooring area | LVP all-in ($5.50/sq ft) |
|---|---|---|
| Condo / 1-2 bedroom | ~1,000 sq ft | ~$5,500 |
| Townhouse (Reston, Arlington) | ~1,500 sq ft | ~$8,250 |
| Colonial single-family | ~2,000 sq ft | ~$11,000 |
| Larger colonial | ~2,500 sq ft | ~$13,750 |
| New-build / McLean-size | ~3,000 sq ft | ~$16,500 |
💡 Key takeaway
Measure your actual flooring area before you trust any online estimate. Multiply the length by the width of each room you are redoing, add them up, and that number times the per-foot price is your ballpark. It beats a "cost to floor a house" average every time, because your house is not the average.
Cost by material for a 2,000 sq ft home
Quick answer
For a 2,000 square foot home, all-in: carpet is about $6,500, laminate about $8,000, luxury vinyl plank about $11,000, and hardwood about $17,000. Refinishing hardwood you already have is about $9,000, roughly half the cost of replacing it. Material is the single biggest lever on your whole-house budget.
| Material | All-in price / sq ft | 2,000 sq ft home | What's included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carpet | $3.25 | ~$6,500 | Material, padding, install, old carpet removal |
| Laminate | $4.00 | ~$8,000 | Material, install, demo/removal |
| Luxury vinyl plank | $5.50 | ~$11,000 | Material, install, demo/removal |
| Hardwood | $8.50 | ~$17,000 | Material, install, demo/removal |
| Refinish existing hardwood | $4.50 | ~$9,000 | Sand, stain, seal (no new material) |
Two things worth calling out. First, if you already have solid hardwood under old carpet or a tired finish, refinishing at $4.50 a foot is close to half the cost of replacing it, and you keep the real wood. Our hardwood refinishing cost guide and refinish vs replace breakdown walk through when that is the smarter money. Second, these are all-in prices. To see how each material's cost is built, we have detailed pages for hardwood, vinyl plank, laminate, and carpet.
A real mixed-material DMV example
Quick answer
Most homeowners do not floor a whole house in one material. A common DMV setup is hard surface on the main level and carpet in the bedrooms. For a 2,200 square foot Alexandria colonial, that looks like about $5,500 for LVP on the main level, about $2,600 for carpet in the bedrooms and hall, plus stairs and bathrooms quoted on top, landing the hard-surface-plus-carpet portion around $8,100.
Here is how a realistic whole-house job actually breaks down, because almost nobody puts one material everywhere. Take a 2,200 square foot colonial in Alexandria, a house type we work in constantly:
| Area | Material | Approx. area | All-in cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main level (living, dining, kitchen path) | LVP $5.50 | ~1,000 sq ft | ~$5,500 |
| Bedrooms + upstairs hall | Carpet $3.25 | ~800 sq ft | ~$2,600 |
| Staircase | Hardwood / runner | ~13 steps | Quoted separately |
| Two bathrooms | Tile | ~150 sq ft | Call for pricing |
The hard-surface-plus-carpet portion lands around $8,100, with the stairs and baths quoted on top. Splitting materials this way is how a lot of DMV families get a durable, good-looking whole-house result without going straight to the $17,000 all-hardwood number. Stairs are their own line because they are labor-heavy; our hardwood stairs cost guide covers why. Bathrooms stay tile and get their own quote because layout and prep drive the price.
What our price includes (and what big box hides)
Quick answer
Our per-foot price is all-in: material, professional installation, and demo and removal of your old floor. Big-box quotes usually advertise the material price alone, then add installation, underlayment, demo, disposal, and trim as separate lines, which is how a "$3 a foot" floor becomes $8 or $9 installed. On a whole house, those add-ons are thousands of dollars.
This is where whole-house budgets blow up. A low per-foot number that only covers material looks great until you get the itemized install estimate. Across a 2,000 square foot house, the difference between an all-in price and a material-only price plus a stack of add-on lines can be $4,000 to $6,000. We fold all of it into one number so what you are quoted is what you pay. Our hidden charges guide lays out every line big box tends to add after the headline price.
⚠️ Watch out
When you compare quotes, compare all-in totals, not per-foot prices. A $4.50-a-foot quote that excludes demo, disposal, and trim can cost more than a $5.50 all-in quote that includes them. Ask any contractor to put demo, haul-away, underlayment, and transitions in writing, or the number is not real.
Subfloor prep: the wildcard in older DMV homes
Quick answer
The one cost you cannot fully price until the old floor is up is subfloor prep. If the subfloor is flat and sound, prep is minimal. If it needs leveling or a soft or water-damaged section replaced, that adds to the job. Older DMV homes hit this more often than new builds. An honest quote flags it as a possibility instead of hiding it or pretending the floor is always perfect.
New flooring needs a flat, solid base, and a lot of DMV homes have settled over decades. Leveling a wavy subfloor or replacing a soft spot is real work with a real cost, and any installer who promises a firm whole-house price sight-unseen without mentioning prep is either padding the number or planning to surprise you later. We would rather tell you up front. Our floor leveling cost guide and our write-up on what we actually find under DMV floors show what this looks like in practice, so there are no surprises on install day.
How to bring the number down
Quick answer
Four honest ways to lower a whole-house total: mix materials (LVP in living areas, carpet in bedrooms), refinish hardwood instead of replacing it, phase the project one floor at a time, or use financing to spread an all-in job over 24 months. We offer 0% financing for 24 months if you qualify, so the whole house can get done now and paid over two years.
You do not have to choose between doing it right and doing it affordably. Mixing materials is the biggest lever, and it is what most families actually do. Refinishing instead of replacing is the next, if you have hardwood worth saving. Phasing lets you do the main level now and bedrooms later. And financing spreads the cost: we offer payments over 24 months at 0% interest if you qualify, paired with the same all-in price, never a marked-up "financing price." If you are weighing which materials to put where for the best return, our resale value guide is a good next read.
FAQs about whole-house flooring cost
How much does it cost to replace all the flooring in a house?
For a typical 2,000 square foot DMV home, all-in, it runs about $8,000 in laminate, $11,000 in luxury vinyl plank, or $17,000 in hardwood. Carpet is less at about $6,500, and refinishing existing hardwood is about $9,000. All of those include material, installation, and removing your old floor. Your exact number depends on your square footage, material mix, and subfloor prep.
How much flooring do I need for a 2,000 square foot house?
Less than 2,000 square feet of flooring, usually. Total home square footage includes bathrooms, closets, and sometimes garage or unfinished space that either get different flooring or none. Measure each room you are redoing (length times width), add them up, and that is your flooring area. It is often 15 to 25 percent below the home's listed square footage.
Is it cheaper to floor a whole house at once or room by room?
Doing it at once is usually a bit more efficient on labor and mobilization, so you often get a better per-foot rate. But room by room is easier on cash flow, and our 24-month 0% financing lets you get the whole house done at once and still pay over time. Either way our per-foot price is the same all-in number.
What is the cheapest way to floor a whole house?
Laminate at $4 a square foot all-in is our lowest hard-surface price, and carpet at $3.25 is lower still for bedrooms. The cheapest smart approach is mixing: laminate or LVP in living areas, carpet in bedrooms. If you already have hardwood, refinishing at $4.50 a foot beats replacing at $8.50.
Does your price include removing the old floor?
Yes. Every per-foot price we quote is all-in: material, professional installation, and demo and haul-away of your existing floor. That is the biggest difference between our number and a big-box "starting at" price, which typically covers material only and adds demo, disposal, install, and trim as separate lines.
Can flooring a whole house be done in one week?
Often, yes, depending on size and material. Most rooms install in a day, and our in-house crew (no subcontractors) can move through a whole house quickly when the subfloor is sound. Hardwood that needs site finishing and heavy subfloor prep add time. We give you a real schedule with the quote.
Do you offer financing for a whole-house project?
Yes. We offer 24-month financing at 0% interest if you qualify, paired with our standard all-in price. That lets you do the entire house now and spread the cost over two years instead of choosing between doing it right and doing it affordably.
Bottom line
A whole-house flooring project in the DMV lands roughly between $8,000 and $17,000 all-in for a 2,000 square foot home, set mostly by the material you choose. Laminate is the value pick at $4 a foot, LVP the popular middle at $5.50, hardwood the premium at $8.50, and refinishing at $4.50 is the smart move if you already have wood worth saving. Every number includes tearing out your old floor, and the honest wildcard is subfloor prep, which we flag up front instead of hiding. Most families mix materials and finance the job to get the whole house done now. If you want a real all-in number for your actual rooms, in Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, or anywhere in the DMV, get a free in-home quote and we will measure, check the subfloor, and give you one price with nothing hidden.