How Much Does LVT Cost Fitted? What a Quote Includes

Ask what LVT costs fitted and you will get a per square metre figure from one place, a wildly different figure from another, and no way of knowing whether either of them covers the same work. That is the real problem with pricing LVT. The product range is enormous, the preparation varies house to house, and the phrase "supply and fit" is used to describe everything from a genuinely complete job to a materials price with a fitter’s day rate bolted on.

This guide sets out what should sit inside a proper supply-and-fit LVT quote, what the free measuring visit is actually checking, and which costs tend to surface late if nobody has looked at your floor. Once you know the components, comparing two quotes becomes straightforward, even when the headline numbers look nothing alike.

What "fitted" should mean

A materials-only price tells you the cost of the planks or tiles and nothing else. It is a useful starting point and completely useless for budgeting, because on an LVT installation a meaningful share of the total sits in preparation and labour rather than in the product itself.

A complete fitted quote should tell you, in writing:

• The LVT itself, named by range and colour, with the area allowed including wastage.
• Any ancillary products the installation method requires. That means adhesive for dryback, or an LVT-specific underlay for click systems.
• Subfloor preparation, either priced or clearly flagged as conditional on what is found when the old floor comes up.
• Removal and disposal of the existing floorcovering, if you want that done.
• Fitting labour, including cutting to room shape, working around fixed obstacles and finishing edges.
• Trims, thresholds and door bars where floors meet other rooms or other floor levels.
• Whether doors need easing to clear the new floor height.

If a quote is a single figure with no breakdown, you cannot tell which of those items are in and which will appear later as an extra. Ask for the lines.

Click LVT and dryback LVT: why the method changes the price

LVT comes in two broad installation types, and the difference matters more to your final bill than the pattern you choose.

Click LVT has a rigid core with a locking edge profile. It floats over the subfloor on a thin underlay, held in place by its own weight and the interlocking joints. Because it is not bonded down, it tolerates a slightly less perfect subfloor, and it goes down faster. The trade-off is that the material itself tends to cost more per square metre, because you are paying for the engineered core and the locking system as well as the wear layer and the decor.

Dryback LVT is a thinner, flexible plank or tile glued directly to the subfloor with adhesive. The material typically costs less per square metre than the click equivalent in the same range. What it demands in return is a genuinely flat, sound, clean and dry surface, because every ripple and every screw head will read through a 2mm plank once it is bonded down. That usually means levelling compound or a plywood overlay, and it always means more labour time: setting out, spreading adhesive, rolling the floor, and waiting for the right open time.

So the honest answer to "which is cheaper fitted?" is that it depends on your subfloor. On a sound, flat, level base the gap between the two narrows considerably. On a tired suspended timber floor or an uneven old screed, dryback can end up the more expensive route once preparation is included, even though the box price looked lower. The reason to choose dryback is usually the finished result: thinner build-up, a very flat floor, and the ability to work patterns like herringbone or to use borders and feature strips.

Rather than publish a per square metre table that cannot account for any of this, we price from the measure. You can browse the products, formats and installation methods in Boundary’s luxury vinyl tile (LVT) range first so you know which look you are pricing.

What the free measuring visit is actually checking

The measure is not just a tape measure exercise. It is the point at which a rough estimate becomes a price you can rely on, and it is where most of the late surprises get caught. Expect the person measuring to look at:

Subfloor type and condition. Concrete or screed, chipboard, floorboards, or an existing floor that could be overlaid. They are looking for movement, damp, height differences between rooms, old adhesive residue and anything that will need attention before LVT goes down.

Flatness. This is the single biggest driver of preparation cost, particularly for dryback. A floor that looks fine to the eye can still be well outside tolerance for a bonded vinyl plank.

Doorways and thresholds. Every doorway needs a decision: what trim, what height, and whether the door will still clear the new floor. Internal doors often need taking off and trimming, and that is a job with a cost attached.

Room shape and layout direction. Bays, chimney breasts, kitchen islands, alcoves and radiator pipes all add cutting time. The direction of the planks affects both the look and the amount of waste.

Wastage. Nobody fits LVT with zero offcuts. Simple rectangular rooms waste little. A run of awkward shapes, a diagonal layout or a pattern that has to repeat across a threshold will need a larger allowance. That allowance is a real cost and it should be visible in the quote rather than absorbed quietly and then blamed for a shortfall later.

The costs that get missed until later

Three items account for most of the gap between a cheap-looking quote and a final invoice.

Subfloor preparation. Latex levelling compound, plywood overlay, lifting loose boards, screwing down squeaky chipboard, treating damp. None of this is optional if you want the floor to look right and stay right, and none of it is visible until the old covering comes up. A good retailer will either price it after the measure or tell you plainly that it is conditional and give you the rate.

Old flooring removal. Lifting carpet and gripper rod is quick. Lifting an old bonded vinyl, or ceramic tiles, or a laminate with foam underlay across a whole ground floor, is not, and the waste has to be taken away and disposed of legally. Check whether removal and disposal are inside the fitted price or outside it. This single line is often why two quotes differ.

Underlay for the right product. Click LVT needs a thin, dense underlay designed for LVT. The thick, springy foam sold for laminate is the wrong product under a rigid core floor and can cause joints to work loose. If a quote does not mention underlay at all on a click installation, ask what is being allowed for. Dryback does not use underlay, so seeing it listed there is a sign the quote has been put together carelessly.

Retailer supply and fit versus a separately hired tradesperson

Buying the LVT from one place and paying a separately hired tradesperson to fit it can work out cheaper on paper. What you take on is the coordination and the risk.

With separate arrangements, you are responsible for calculating the quantity, ordering the right batch, storing it so it acclimatises properly, and buying the correct adhesive or underlay. If the floor runs short, the reorder may come from a different batch. If there is a fault in the product, the supplier and the hired tradesperson can each reasonably point at the other, and you are in the middle of it. You are also the one chasing the delivery date so it lands before the fitting date.

With a retailer supply-and-fit quote, one company measures, calculates, supplies, fits and stands behind the result. If quantities are wrong, that is not your problem. If a plank is faulty, there is one conversation to have. The quote should also be a fixed price for defined work rather than a materials bill plus however many days the fitting takes.

Neither route is automatically better value. What matters is comparing like with like. Add the materials, the underlay or adhesive, the removal, the preparation and the labour together before you decide which is cheaper, and check whether the hired tradesperson route leaves any of those items unaccounted for.

Questions to ask before you accept a fitted quote

• Is this price fixed, or an estimate subject to what you find under the old floor?
• Which specific LVT range and colour is priced, and what is the wear layer?
• Is it click or dryback, and why is that the right choice here?
• What subfloor preparation is included, and what happens if more is needed?
• Is lifting and disposing of the old floor included?
• What underlay or adhesive is allowed for?
• Are trims, door bars and thresholds priced, and in which finish?
• Will doors need easing, and who does that?
• How much wastage has been allowed, and what happens if the floor runs short?
• Who fits it, and what happens if something is not right afterwards?

A quote that answers all of those confidently is a quote you can compare. One that cannot is a number, not a price.

If you would like a firm figure for your own rooms rather than a range from a table, the next step is a measure, where the subfloor, doorways and wastage can all be priced properly before you commit. Get in touch to arrange a home measuring visit and we will put the whole job in writing, line by line.