Hardwood Flooring Estimates: Real Costs and What You Get in Writing

What We Estimate

What a Hardwood Flooring Estimate Should Contain

Whoever you hire, hold every estimate to the same standard. A useful one is written, itemized and specific:

• Measured square footage, from a tape or laser at your home, not your guess repeated back to you.
• The scope in plain words: which rooms, which work (install, refinish, repair), and what happens to thresholds, transitions and trim.
• Materials by name on an installation: species, grade and format, so bids can actually be compared.
• Prep and removal as their own lines: tearing out old flooring, subfloor repair and leveling, and disposal are real costs, and burying them in one number is how surprises happen.
• Stairs listed per step, because tread-and-riser work is priced by hand labor, not floor area.
• Who moves the furniture, in writing, before the start date.
• A schedule, including when you can walk on the floor and when furniture can come back.

A vague "around $3,000" does not cut it, and neither does a contractor who will not put a license number on paper. AG Construction MD LLC is MHIC licensed, #104041, verifiable on the Maryland state register, and everything above is standard in our estimates rather than an upgrade.

The Numbers to Sanity-Check an Estimate Against

These are the published Maryland ranges we quote against. Any bid far outside them, in either direction, deserves a question.

• New hardwood, installed: materials run $6 to $12 per square foot and professional labor adds $3 to $8, so a realistic installed total is $9 to $20 per square foot. A standard 500 square foot living room lands around $4,500 to $10,000. Our installation cost guide breaks the number down by species and complexity.
• Refinishing the floor you own: $3 to $8 per square foot, roughly $3,000 to $8,000 for a typical 1,000 square foot main level. The full breakdown lives in our 2026 Maryland refinishing cost guide.
• Sanding and staining: the same $3 to $8 band with the color step included; our sanding and staining cost page itemizes the components.
• Repairs, luxury vinyl and carpet: quoted per job after an assessment, because condition and prep swing these more than area does.

One honest caveat: ranges are for orientation, and the cheap end of a range is not a promise. The floor that gets the $9 installation is flat, dry, empty and simple. The estimate exists to find out which floor you have.

How to Get a Fast, Realistic Number

You do not need a site visit to get a direction. Send three things through the contact form or by phone: the approximate square footage, a couple of photos of the floor taken with light coming across it, and roughly when you want the work done. With that we can usually tell you a realistic range and whether the job is what you think it is, before anyone books a walkthrough.

The firm number still comes from the visit, and there is a good reason: wear layer, subfloor condition, moisture and layout are things a photo cannot settle, and they are exactly the things that move a price. The visit is free, it takes under an hour for most homes, and you get the written estimate rather than a verbal one. We book Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 5pm.

Hardwood Flooring Estimates by County

Montgomery County, MD. The county we are asked about most. From Silver Spring and Bethesda up through Rockville, Gaithersburg and Damascus, the housing stock runs from 1940s colonials with original oak worth saving to new builds getting their first real floor. See flooring in Montgomery County.

Howard County, MD. Columbia, Ellicott City, Clarksville and the Route 29 corridor sit minutes from our Woodbine base, so scheduling an estimate here is usually fast. See flooring in Howard County.

Fairfax County, VA. We estimate and work across Fairfax, Vienna, McLean, Annandale and the surrounding communities. See flooring contractors in Fairfax and the Northern Virginia hub.

We work Montgomery, Howard, Frederick, Anne Arundel, Carroll, Prince George's and Baltimore Counties in Maryland and Fairfax, Arlington and Loudoun Counties in Northern Virginia. We do not travel to the Eastern Shore or the Delaware beaches. The full service area page lists every community we cover.

Why Two Estimates for the Same Floor Can Be Thousands Apart

When homeowners collect three bids and get three very different numbers, the difference is usually scope, not greed. One bid includes subfloor prep, the next assumes the slab is perfect. One prices two finish coats, another three. One includes tear-out and disposal, another leaves it to you. The cheapest number often describes the smallest job, and the difference surfaces as change orders after the crew is in your house.

The defense is boring and effective: compare estimates line by line, not bottom line by bottom line, and ask each contractor what happens to the price if the subfloor needs work. You should also check the license: Maryland home improvement contractors carry an MHIC number and Maryland lets you verify it online. Ours is #104041, and we would rather lose a bid on a fully described scope than win one on a number that cannot survive contact with the floor.

Free Means Free

The estimate costs nothing, obligates nothing, and does not expire the moment the visit ends. Plenty of the estimates we write are for projects that start months later, or for homeowners building a budget before deciding between refinishing and replacement. That is a normal use of a free estimate, not an abuse of it, and commercial buyers doing the same for a board or a budget year get the same treatment through our commercial flooring process.

When you are ready, call 240-246-4561 or use the quote form. You will get a visit from the owner, a written scope, and a number you can hold us to.

Why Work With AG Construction MD

• MHIC #104041, licensed and insured. That is the license Maryland requires, and it is verifiable on the state register.
• Owner Aaron Goodman has over 10 years of hands-on flooring experience across the DMV and personally oversees every project.
• Free, written, no-obligation estimates on every commercial project, including budget numbers for work that is not approved yet.
• One contractor for hardwood, sanding, staining, refinishing, restoration, luxury vinyl, laminate and carpet, so nobody is pointing at somebody else mid-job.
• A service-area business, not a showroom. We come to the property, and there is no retail markup on the quote.
• Scheduling built around your operating hours wherever the job allows. Office hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 5pm.

AG Construction MD LLC is based in Woodbine, MD 21797 and is a service-area business. Call 240-246-4561 for a free estimate or request a quote online.