Worked examples at $5 a square foot
Floor area is length times width. Closets, doorways and cutting waste are not added, so the measured count can run a little higher. Each line is labor plus the 6.625% New Jersey tax on that labor, before material.
| Room | Labor | With NJ tax |
|---|---|---|
| Bedroom, 12 × 14 ft12 × 14 ft = 168 sq ft × $5 | $840 | $895.65 |
| Kitchen, 12 × 12 ft12 × 12 ft = 144 sq ft × $5 | $720 | $767.70 |
| Living room, 15 × 20 ft15 × 20 ft = 300 sq ft × $5 | $1,500 | $1,599.38 |
| Basement, 20 × 30 ft20 × 30 ft = 600 sq ft × $5 | $3,000 | $3,198.75 |
| Rental unit, 800 sq ft800 sq ft of floor = 800 sq ft × $5 | $4,000 | $4,265.00 |
| 1,000 sq ft1,000 sq ft of floor = 1,000 sq ft × $5 | $5,000 | $5,331.25 |
| Whole first floor, 1,200 sq ft1,200 sq ft of floor = 1,200 sq ft × $5 | $6,000 | $6,397.50 |
The basement line is the 20 × 30 ft example from our basement finishing cost guide, which adds the drywall, lighting and a bathroom. The rental-unit and whole-floor lines are where our price does the most. The labor per square foot is the same, so a bigger floor is simple multiplication.
Adding the material: what the planks cost
We don't publish a material price, because you choose the floor. For planning, these are 2026 market ranges for the planks alone, before installation:
- Luxury vinyl plank: $2.50 to $7.00 a square foot (Estimators.us, June 2026). Entry-level $1.50 to $3.00, mid-range $3.00 to $5.00, rigid-core SPC or WPC $6.00 to $12.00 and up (NEDES Estimating).
- Laminate: $1 to $5 a square foot, with 6 to 7 mm boards from $0.60 and 11 mm and thicker from $2.00 (HomeGuide).
- Underlayment where the floor needs it: $0.30 to $0.60 a square foot (NEDES), up to $1.50 (Estimators.us).
So a 12 × 12 ft kitchen at our $720 labor plus $47.70 tax, with a $3.50 plank, is about $1,272 all in, before any tear-out. Order about 10% extra for cuts; the calculator above adds that for you.
Vinyl plank or laminate? Room by room
Both install at the same $5 a square foot with us. The difference is water. Luxury vinyl plank is plastic through; laminate has a wood-fiber core. What the industry bodies and makers say:
- Basements. Vinyl plank is the usual pick on a slab. Laminate can go over concrete below grade, with conditions. The slab must be fully cured, under a 6-mil vapor barrier plus underlayment, and you must "be vigilant about moisture". A floor with a drain is not a laminate floor (NALFA). The basement finishing page covers the waterproofing that comes first.
- Kitchens. Either. Laminate is "perfect for almost any room inside your home, from living room and den to kitchen" (NALFA). Vinyl plank shrugs off the spill under the dishwasher.
- Bathrooms and laundry rooms. Vinyl plank designed for wet rooms, installed to the maker's instructions (Shaw Floors). Laminate is not suitable for areas with excessive moisture such as bathrooms unless the manufacturer specifies it as waterproof (NALFA). For a full bath we usually tile.
- Bedrooms, living rooms, hallways. Either, on budget and look. Thicker laminate resists dents and carries less sound (NALFA). Vinyl runs 20 to 25 years with care, by wear layer and traffic (Shaw Floors).
- Stairs. Both can be done, with matching stair nosing, but it is slow, cut-by-cut work. National guides price stairs at $40 to $100 and up a step on top of the flat floor (NEDES). If your job has stairs, we tell you at the estimate what they add.
Rigid-core vinyl comes two ways. WPC has a foamed core, so it is thicker and quieter underfoot. SPC has a solid polymer core and is more rigid; it suits commercial floors and works in homes too (Shaw Floors). Either locks together the same way.
What can move the price above $5
These jobs come up often. Whether any of them adds to our $5 depends on the room; we tell you at the estimate, and the written proposal lists anything extra. The market ranges below are what national guides published in 2026, not our quotes:
- Taking up the old floor and disposal. $0.50 to $2.00 a square foot to remove, and about the same to dispose (Estimators.us). Carpet removal runs $0.70 to $1.60 a square foot (HomeGuide). Carpet always comes out; an old flat vinyl or tile floor can sometimes stay.
- Leveling the subfloor. $1.00 to $3.00 a square foot (Estimators.us); $2.20 to $4.75 to repair or replace subfloor (HomeGuide). Click floors need a flat base, and old Essex County houses are rarely flat.
- Baseboard, quarter round and transitions. Trim and transition strips $8 to $15 a linear foot (Estimators.us); baseboard $6 to $9 a linear foot (HomeGuide). Shoe molding usually comes off and goes back on, and door casings get undercut so the planks slide under (Shaw Floors).
- Stairs. $40 to $100 and up per step (NEDES).
- Moving furniture. $25 to $75 a room when the installer does it (HomeGuide).
- The season. HomeGuide notes prices run higher in the fall before the holidays.
Sales tax on a new floor in New Jersey
New Jersey exempts most capital improvements from sales tax, with a short list of exceptions. Flooring is on it. The state's contractor bulletin lists "installing carpeting and other flooring" as a taxable capital improvement (S&U-3, revised May 2025). Its floor covering bulletin names click laminate, vinyl tile, glued-down vinyl and hardwood. The labor to lay them on a floor is taxable "whether or not the installation results in a capital improvement" (ANJ-5). The rate is 6.625%.
- On 600 sq ft of vinyl plank at our $5 labor, that is $3,000 of labor and $198.75 of tax. Every line in the table above shows it.
- A Form ST-8 capital improvement certificate takes the tax off the drywall, framing and electrical in the same basement. It does not take it off the floor.
- The floor covering itself is taxed where it is bought: a dealer charges sales tax on laminate, vinyl, tile or hardwood whoever buys it (ANJ-5).
- The same vinyl or laminate installed on a wall as a feature is a capital improvement and exempt; on the floor it is taxed. Floor covering stops at the height of a transition piece (ANJ-5).
No other result for this search shows the tax line, and it is not small: $331.25 on 1,000 sq ft. We show it on every proposal.
Do you need a permit for new flooring in New Jersey?
No. The state construction code lists "the repair, replacement, or installation of any flooring material with a new material" as ordinary building maintenance. Ordinary maintenance needs no permit, no inspection and no notice to the town (N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.7(c)). The rule covers one- and two-family homes and other buildings alike.
The exceptions are the jobs around the floor. Finishing a basement, moving plumbing, adding circuits or touching anything structural has its own permit rules. The basement guide and the drywall guide walk through those. Your town's construction office has the last word, and we check with it when a job goes beyond the floor.
Why published flooring prices disagree
What the pages Google showed for this search said on October 17, 2026, and what each number measures:
- Estimators.us (June 2026): LVP installed $4.50 to $12.00 a square foot, labor $2.00 to $5.00, material $2.50 to $7.00. National, with tear-out, prep and underlayment as separate ranges.
- Homewyse (May 2026): laminate installed $6.91 to $11.81 a square foot, a national average for basic installation. It leaves out general contractor overhead (add 13% to 22%), sales tax, permits and removing old finishes.
- HomeGuide: laminate installed $4 to $14 a square foot, labor $3 to $8, from costs its members reported.
- Really Cheap Floors (September 2026): a 1,000 sq ft vinyl plank guide with a regional table; Northeast planks $2.00 to $4.50, labor $3.00 to $5.00, combined $5.00 to $9.50 a square foot. Nothing on New Jersey.
- Home Depot's Union, NJ page (read October 17, 2026): three past jobs at $633, $1,048 and $1,190, with no sizes. No price per square foot can be read from it.
- AB Contracting & Design: $5 and up per square foot of labor for vinyl plank or laminate, from a contractor in Belleville, with the tax on the labor shown and the material you choose on top.
Most of these are national averages or models. Labor in New Jersey pays 30% above the national mean (BLS, May 2025). Whichever bids you get, compare them on the same three questions. Is the material in the number? Is the old floor coming out in it? Is the 6.625% tax on the labor shown?
Where we install vinyl plank and laminate
From our office at 65 Newark Ave, Unit 1 in Belleville, across all 22 Essex County towns: Belleville, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, East Orange, Nutley, Orange, Montclair, Newark, West Orange, Verona, Irvington, South Orange, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Maplewood, Caldwell, North Caldwell, Roseland, West Caldwell, Livingston, Millburn, Fairfield. We also work in Union and Passaic counties.
Our resilient flooring work includes whole commercial floors, such as the office fit-out pictured below.
