CalcBritain

Carpet Cost Calculator

Estimate the cost of carpeting a room, carpet, underlay, gripper and fitting, from your room dimensions or a known floor area.

Estimate only. This is an indicative estimate, not a quote. Get quotes from local carpet retailers and fitters for your exact room and chosen carpet.

Enter your room dimensions

Your carpet, underlay, fitting and total cost appear here as you type.

How carpet cost is estimated

The area to carpet is your room's floor area plus a wastage allowance, extra material lost to pattern-matching, offcuts and pile direction, typically around 10% for a simple rectangular room (more for awkward shapes or bay windows). That area is then priced per square metre across three elements: the carpet itself (budget, mid-range or premium), underlay, and gripper rods plus fitting labour. Stairs are usually quoted as a fixed job rather than by area, and doorbars/thresholds are priced individually where carpet meets another floor covering. For an exact price, measure carefully or have a fitter measure for you, and get a few quotes, carpet and fitting prices vary significantly by retailer and region.

Why a carpet quote is always more than the carpet

Carpet is advertised per square metre and bought as a fitted job, and the gap between those two numbers is where the surprise lives. In the example below, the carpet itself is £320.76 of a £656.78 total. Less than half.

The rest is underlay, fitting, grippers, door bars and the stairs. None of it is optional or padding, and none of it appears on the price ticket in the showroom.

That is why a per-square-metre price comparison between retailers tells you very little. What you want is a fitted price for your actual rooms, and the useful question to ask a supplier is what the quote includes rather than what the carpet costs.

Wastage, and the roll-width problem nobody mentions

Carpet comes on rolls in fixed widths, almost always 4 metres and sometimes 5. Your room is whatever width it is, and the difference is offcut you pay for.

The consequence is not proportional. A room 3.8 metres wide takes a 4-metre roll with very little waste. A room 4.2 metres wide needs a 5-metre roll, or two pieces and a seam, and the waste jumps sharply. Two rooms of near-identical area can differ by a lot on this alone.

A 10% wastage allowance is a reasonable planning default, and this calculator uses it, but it is an average rather than a prediction. Awkward shapes, bay windows, chimney breasts and stairs all push it higher.

Before ordering, ask the fitter to template the room rather than working from your measurements. A supplier working from a sketch will order generously, because running short is far more expensive than over-ordering.

Underlay is worth more than the next carpet grade up

It is the most common place people economise and the one where it shows soonest. Underlay is what the carpet feels like underfoot, and it is what stops the pile crushing where you walk.

Good underlay under a mid-range carpet generally outlasts and outperforms cheap underlay under an expensive one, because the underlay is absorbing the wear. It also adds real thermal and acoustic insulation, which matters in a flat or on a suspended timber floor.

At around £5 a square metre in this example, upgrading it is one of the cheapest meaningful improvements available on the whole job.

Underlay also has to suit the floor. Underfloor heating needs a low-tog underlay or the heat never reaches the room, which is an expensive mistake to discover after fitting.

The costs that turn up on the invoice

Uplift and disposal of the old carpet is usually charged separately, and disposal is a tip fee the fitter passes on. Ask whether it is included; it frequently is not.

Gripper rods are replaced as a matter of course on a proper fit, and door bars are needed wherever the carpet meets another floor covering. Both are small sums that are easy to leave out of a comparison.

Doors may need trimming if the new carpet and underlay are thicker than the old, which is a joiner's job rather than a fitter's on some quotes. Furniture moving is sometimes included and sometimes charged.

Stairs are priced separately from rooms and cost more per square metre than anything else, because fitting them is slow, skilled work. A flight adds a fixed sum to almost every quote, £120 in the example below.

Choosing the carpet itself

Wool wears well, feels better and resists crushing, and costs more. Polypropylene is cheaper, and is genuinely stain-resistant in a way wool is not, which makes it sensible for children and pets. Wool-mix blends aim at the middle and are the most common choice for living rooms.

Match the construction to the room rather than the budget. Twist pile suits stairs and hallways because it hides footmarks; loop pile is durable but catches pet claws; saxony feels luxurious and shows every mark in a busy room.

Carpets carry a wear rating for light, general or heavy domestic use. Putting a light-domestic carpet on a staircase is how a cheap carpet becomes an expensive one two years later.

Get at least three fitted quotes, and check whether the price includes VAT. Fitting-only prices from an independent fitter, with the carpet bought separately, frequently beat a bundled retailer price, though the retailer usually carries the risk if something goes wrong.

Worked example: a 4.5m by 3.6m living room with stairs

A mid-grade carpet with a 10% wastage allowance, one flight of stairs and two door bars. These are the exact figures this calculator returns.

Room size4.5m × 3.6m
Floor area16.2 m²
Area including 10% wastage17.82 m²
Carpet£320.76
Underlay£89.10
Fitting£106.92
Stairs£120.00
Door bars (2)£20.00
Total£656.78

The carpet is £320.76 of a £656.78 job, under half the total. Note the room width too: at 4.5 metres it does not fit a standard 4-metre roll, so it needs a 5-metre roll or a seam, and the wastage is real rather than notional. A room 3.8 metres wide would waste far less for almost the same floor area.

Frequently asked questions

How much does carpet cost per square metre in the UK?
The carpet itself is usually the smaller half of the job. In the example above a mid-grade carpet works out at about £18 a square metre, with underlay around £5 and fitting around £6 on top, before stairs and door bars. A fitted total of £656.78 for a 4.5m by 3.6m room with stairs contains £320.76 of actual carpet, so comparing suppliers on the ticket price alone is misleading.
How much carpet wastage should I allow?
Around 10% is a reasonable planning default, but it depends heavily on room width rather than area. Carpet comes on 4-metre and sometimes 5-metre rolls, so a room 3.8 metres wide wastes very little while one 4.2 metres wide needs a wider roll or a seam and wastes a great deal. Bay windows, chimney breasts and awkward shapes push it higher again.
What is included in a carpet fitting price?
It varies, which is why quotes are hard to compare. Ask specifically about uplift and disposal of the old carpet, gripper rods, door bars, door trimming if the new floor is thicker, furniture moving, and whether VAT is included. Stairs are always priced separately from rooms and cost more per square metre, because fitting them is slow, skilled work.
Is expensive underlay worth it?
It is usually the best value upgrade on the whole job. Underlay determines how the carpet feels and absorbs the wear that would otherwise crush the pile, so good underlay under a mid-range carpet typically outlasts cheap underlay under an expensive one. It also adds thermal and acoustic insulation. If you have underfloor heating, you need a low-tog underlay or the heat will not reach the room.
How much does it cost to carpet stairs?
Stairs are charged as a separate item, £120 for a flight in this calculator, and cost more per square metre than any room because the fitting is slow and skilled. Landings are usually priced with the stairs. Use a twist pile rather than a saxony: stairs take the heaviest wear in most houses, and a carpet rated for light domestic use will not survive there.
Wool or synthetic carpet, which is better?
Wool wears well, feels better and resists crushing, at a higher price. Polypropylene is cheaper and genuinely stain-resistant in a way wool is not, which makes it the sensible choice with children or pets. Wool-mix blends sit in the middle and are the most common living-room choice. Match the wear rating to the room as well: light domestic on a staircase is a false economy.
Is it cheaper to buy carpet and fitting separately?
Frequently, yes. An independent fitter charging for fitting only, with the carpet bought elsewhere, often beats a bundled retailer price. The trade-off is where the risk sits: with a bundled supply-and-fit price, one company is responsible if the carpet is faulty or the fit is wrong, whereas separating them can leave each blaming the other.
Should I measure the room myself?
Measure to get a budget figure, but have the fitter template the room before anything is ordered. Suppliers working from a customer's sketch order generously, because running short mid-fit is far more expensive than over-ordering, and you pay for that caution. A proper template also picks up the out-of-square walls that most rooms actually have.

Also known as: carpet calculator · carpet cost per square metre · carpet cost · new carpet cost · carpet quote · average carpet cost · carpet price per square foot

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