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I got an estimate from Empire Today when they had their famous sale last month - buy two rooms get the rest free, and the price was really high even for the five rooms, let alone two. Now I want to go with one of these three (Costco, Lowe's, or Home Depot) because I am new to the area (NJ) and don't know of any reliable small business. Any thoughts on their quality for the product? The guy I talked to at Home Depot suggested Martha's Living, however, he didn't seem to know the answer to any of my questions, kept having to check, and plus, I am not a fan of Martha's (although I know it is not relevant here). I want nylon, good quality carpet with a 15-20 yrs warranty, and stain protection. 4 bedrooms and a long hallway, 1280 sq feet.
I would get several estaimates, and while I would not completely rule out any "discount club" or "big box stores" you should know that those kinds of operations generally "farm out" the whole process to "real" carpet stores that pay a premium for the referral. That referral gets tacked on to your bill OR resullts in some "house brand" or carpet that is of a lower quality with the "big box" betting that you won't make a warranty claim before you move...
When you are new to an area it does take more leg work to track down a true "we did business with them and they did good" testimonial, and even then I still suggest getting estimates from at least two or three such truly refered for their good work type firms...
Carpet One is a reputable franchise/co-op in my area, (I think they're pretty much indie stores pooling resources to get bulk discounts and provide quality control guidelines) and doesn't turn up many negative responses when you google them on the web in general. They also carry a nice mix of mid-level to higher end product.
Indeed, the big box stores just farm out their installation to a local shop, so odds are you'll be paying more than if you went direct to that local shop in the first place.
I would get several estaimates, and while I would not completely rule out any "discount club" or "big box stores" you should know that those kinds of operations generally "farm out" the whole process to "real" carpet stores that pay a premium for the referral. That referral gets tacked on to your bill OR resullts in some "house brand" or carpet that is of a lower quality with the "big box" betting that you won't make a warranty claim before you move...
When you are new to an area it does take more leg work to track down a true "we did business with them and they did good" testimonial, and even then I still suggest getting estimates from at least two or three such truly refered for their good work type firms...
Yes, I know the big ones sub-contract, however, I have a lot of trust in Costco and Lowes. If something goes wrong, they will stand up for me with the little guys... I am always running around, and in the few months we've been here I haven't had a chance to meet my neighbors... I really want to do the carpet, so I can get bedroom furniture next. The rooms are bare now, just beds - it's a terrible feeling...
Do not buy carpet or anything else that needs to be installed from big orange, big blue, or any other big box store. They just want your little green. Hit the internet, do a search for carpet installers in your area, call them, and ask for references, both good and bad (get a reference number for a job they had to go back on, in other words). Then call those references and see what the people think.
Unless you have massive amounts of disposable income and don't care about the quality of the carpet, I don't really understand why you would be willing to use those big box stores over the local businesses just to save some time.
I have to say that the contractor who did the installation for Lowes on my mother in law's home did a great job. I have also seen terrible jobs from independent shops. Most at at least here use the same installer contractors.The contrator is the key to a great install as witmostthings.
Yes, the contractor is the key, but you end up paying more by going through the big box stores than you would by going directly through the contractor. Hence why most of us say don't use the big box stores.
We've had Home Depot carpet installs and numerous appliance installs and never has a single problem or complaint with any of them.
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