Laminate flooring installs at $3 to $9.50 per square foot in Canada and vinyl plank at $4 to $9 per square foot, across the ranges Canadian companies publish. Subfloor levelling adds $1 to $3 per square foot and tile removal $2 to $5 per square foot, so the subfloor moves the bill more than the plank does.
Here is the trap almost every Canadian homeowner walks into on this job. You spend three weekends in showrooms agonising over laminate versus vinyl plank, you finally pick one, and the quote comes back thousands higher than the number you had in your head. Nobody lied to you. The floor you spent three weekends choosing is separated from the other one by at most about a dollar a square foot, and the concrete slab underneath it that nobody looked at can add up to three dollars a square foot. Choosing the plank is the part of this job you can research. Everything under the plank is the part that decides the invoice, and you cannot see any of it until the old floor comes up.
• Laminate is published installed at $3 – $8 per square foot in Vancouver, $3 – $7 in Ottawa and $4.50 – $9.50 in Ontario by a flooring retailer.
• Vinyl plank is published installed at $4 – $9 per square foot in Vancouver and $4 – $8 in Ottawa.
• The gap between the two floors is $1 per square foot on both pages that publish a straight side-by-side range.
• Tile removal is published at $2 – $5 per square foot, two to five times that gap.
• A Toronto retailer prices a 1,000 square foot main floor at about $2,590 in laminate and about $3,140 in SPC vinyl, material plus starting installation only.
• Ask what the quote assumes about the subfloor. An Ontario retailer prices levelling compound, vapour-barrier underlayment and old-floor removal as three separate lines; a Vancouver company prices subfloor repair, a moisture barrier and removal as three more.
• Get the old floor looked at before you sign. A quote written without lifting a corner is a guess with your name on it.
How much does laminate flooring installation cost in Canada?
The table below shows what three Canadian flooring companies publish for laminate and for vinyl plank, in Canadian dollars per square foot, with the scope recorded as published. Every one of these figures is a range for the floor itself, and every one of them excludes at least one preparation line that appears further down this page.
The Ontario retailer is the one worth reading twice, because it explains its own spread instead of just publishing it. The retailer's stated position is that the plank moves a quote inside the $4.50 to $9.50 range while the labour does not move at all, since everything it sells is click-together and an AC5 board is laid for the same money as an AC3 one. On that retailer's own account, the laminate tier you pick sets the range and the condition of your existing floor decides where inside that range you land.
Is it cheaper to install laminate or vinyl plank in Canada?
Three of the four Canadian flooring companies on this page publish a price for both floors, and all three put laminate at or below vinyl plank. The Vancouver renovation company publishes $3 to $8 per square foot for laminate against $4 to $9 for vinyl plank. The Ottawa flooring company publishes $3 to $7 against $4 to $8. A Toronto flooring retailer prices its laminate example at about $1.09 per square foot for material against about $1.64 per square foot for its SPC vinyl example, with installation starting at about $1.50 per square foot for both. The Ontario flooring retailer publishes no price for a vinyl floor of its own and answers the comparison in words instead: laminate is cheaper "slightly, on average, at equivalent quality tiers", and the difference is small enough that it should not decide the choice.
On the two pages that publish a straight side-by-side range, the gap is exactly $1 per square foot at the bottom of the range and $1 per square foot at the top. Set that dollar against the preparation lines the same companies publish. Tile removal alone runs $2 to $5 per square foot, two to five times the whole material gap. Subfloor repair runs $1.50 to $4 per square foot and subfloor levelling $1 to $3 per square foot, and each of those two starts at or above the gap. Picking the cheaper plank changes the quote by a dollar a square foot. What is under the old floor can change it by five.
How much does it cost to install 1,000 square feet of flooring in Canada?
A Toronto flooring retailer publishes its own worked examples at four floor areas. Read the scope carefully: each cell is material plus starting installation only, before old-floor removal, baseboards, levelling, transitions, delivery and taxes.
The Toronto retailer states the arithmetic that follows its own worked examples, and the arithmetic is the whole lesson. On a 1,000 square foot SPC vinyl project starting near $3,140 for material plus installation, removal of the existing floor could start around another $1,500 on its own. Add trim, levelling and transitions and the quote climbs again from there. A number that started around $3,140 in a showroom starts around $4,640 before anyone has discussed baseboards.
What does subfloor preparation add to a Canadian flooring quote?
Below are the preparation lines two Canadian flooring companies publish beside their per-square-foot floor prices, with the stated trigger for charging them. Costs are per square foot of floor area unless the row says otherwise.
Two preparation lines on a Canadian flooring quote deserve a flag of their own. Tile removal at $2 to $5 per square foot is, in the Ontario retailer's own words, frequently larger than the whole spread between the cheapest laminate it sells and the dearest. The concrete slab is the second flag. A slab needs vapour-barrier underlayment at $1 to $3 per square foot and an uneven floor needs levelling compound at $1 to $3 per square foot, and the retailer names subfloor preparation as the most commonly missed cost in a laminate quote, precisely because neither line shows up in a quote written without looking under the existing floor.
If the room in question is a basement, what it costs to waterproof a Canadian basement is worth pricing before a floor goes over the slab.
What is not included in a Canadian flooring installation quote?
The per-square-foot rate covers the plank and the labour on most of these price lists. The seven items below are published separately by the same Canadian companies, and any of them can land on your invoice after the old floor comes up.
1. Old floor removal: $0.50 – $1.50 per sq ft for carpet, $1 – $3 for hardwood or vinyl and $2 – $5 for tile (Ontario retailer), or from $1.50 per sq ft (Toronto retailer).
2. Underlayment: from $0.80 per sq ft basic, rising to $1.50 – $3 per sq ft for a combination acoustic and vapour product (Ontario retailer).
3. Subfloor levelling: $1 – $3 per sq ft (Ontario retailer), or subfloor repair at $1.50 – $4 per sq ft (Vancouver company).
4. Baseboards and trim: from $2.80 per linear foot (Toronto retailer), or $1 – $3 per linear foot (Vancouver company).
5. Furniture moving: $30 – $50 for several large pieces (Vancouver company).
6. Waste disposal: $50 – $150 depending on project size and material type (Vancouver company).
7. Delivery and taxes, which the Toronto retailer states sit outside every example figure on its page.
Baseboards and trim are the quiet item on a Canadian flooring quote. Baseboards are priced per linear foot while the floor is priced per square foot, so a room with many corners can carry a trim bill that has nothing to do with its area. Ask for the trim allowance as its own line and ask whether painting is in it, because the Toronto retailer states that painting, wall condition and corner count all move that number.
Should you put laminate or vinyl plank in a Canadian basement or kitchen?
Water is the deciding factor once price stops separating the two floors, and all four Canadian companies on this page say so. The Vancouver renovation company describes vinyl plank as 100% waterproof and suitable for kitchens or basements. The Ottawa flooring company calls vinyl waterproof and low maintenance, ideal for basements, kitchens and high-traffic areas, and states plainly that laminate is not as water-resistant as vinyl. The Toronto retailer states that vinyl can be a better fit for moisture-prone spaces. The Ontario retailer names moisture tolerance and feel underfoot as the real deciders.
Waterproof laminate exists and is worth understanding before you pay for it. The Ontario retailer's stated position is that a waterproof core is a real premium in the board and nothing at all in the installation, which makes it worth paying for in a kitchen or a mudroom and wasted in a dry bedroom. A Canadian basement adds one more line either way: the Vancouver company recommends a moisture barrier at $0.50 to $1 per square foot for basements and condos, and the Ontario retailer prices vapour-barrier underlayment at $1 to $3 per square foot over any concrete slab.
How do you get flooring quotes in Canada without paying lead fees?
Before you compare a single quote, understand how lead-selling directories make their money. The directory charges the installer for your enquiry, and the same enquiry can be sold to more than one company at a time. Nothing about that is illegal. Lead-selling is a model in which the installer's customer is the platform, not you, and money spent buying your details before anyone says hello has to come back out of something. The cost of buying your details comes back out of your quote.
TaskRight runs the opposite model. Pros pay one flat subscription and TaskRight takes 0% commission, so the installer keeps 100% of what you pay for the job. No per-lead fees, so nobody buys your request and nobody resells it to a queue of companies who all phone you at dinner. You describe the floor once, every installer who quotes gets the same description, and you compare them on the same seven exclusions. Free to you, no contract, no obligation to hire anyone.
TaskRight is a verified, zero-commission home services platform in Canada. Post the flooring job once, say what is on the floor now and whether the room sits over concrete, and get quotes that price the subfloor instead of quotes that discover it.
👉 Get flooring quotes in Canada →
Laminate and vinyl plank flooring in Canada: frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to install laminate or vinyl?
Laminate sits at or below vinyl plank on every Canadian source compared on this page. A Vancouver renovation company publishes $3 to $8 per square foot for laminate against $4 to $9 for vinyl plank, and an Ottawa flooring company publishes $3 to $7 against $4 to $8. An Ontario retailer prices no vinyl floor of its own but calls laminate slightly cheaper at equivalent quality tiers.
How much should I charge for labor to install laminate flooring?
Laminate installation labour starts at about $1.50 per square foot on a Toronto retailer's published rate for Toronto and the GTA, which applies to laminate and to SPC or LVP vinyl plank alike. An Ontario retailer publishes installation labour at $1.50 to $3 per square foot on its Ontario laminate cost guide, a range it attributes to layouts running from simple to complex.
How much for 1,000 sq. ft of laminate flooring?
A Toronto flooring retailer prices 1,000 square feet of laminate at about $2,590 in its published worked example. Read the scope before you budget from it: the figure is material plus starting installation only, and old-floor removal, baseboards, levelling, transitions, delivery and taxes all sit outside it on the same page.
How much does it cost to install 1,000 square feet of vinyl plank flooring?
A Toronto flooring retailer prices 1,000 square feet of SPC vinyl plank at about $3,140 for material plus starting installation. The same retailer states that removal of an existing floor could start around another $1,500 on a project that size, before trim, levelling or transitions are added to the quote.
How much does someone charge to lay laminate flooring?
Canadian companies publish laminate laid at $3 to $8 per square foot in Vancouver, $3 to $7 per square foot in Ottawa and $4.50 to $9.50 per square foot by an Ontario retailer that puts most projects between $6 and $7. Two of the three quote subfloor preparation and old-floor removal as separate lines, and the Ottawa company names both as extra costs on top.
Last updated: August 2026. Canadian flooring prices are checked against published sources every six months.
Related reading:
Flooring and tiling pros in Canada — compare verified installers with no lead fees.
Carpentry and interior pros in Canada — baseboards, trim and transitions after the floor goes down.
Basement waterproofing cost in Canada — what to fix before a floor goes over a slab.
