New carpet - various questions

[The General]

Hi We need new carpet for our entire house - looking for some tips and advice.

I am in Southampton, Hampshire so any supplier recommendations appreciaed.

Basically, I need someone to supply and fit new carpet and underlay for a cheap price.

The carpet I am looking at will probably be fairly cheap, just something nice and basic I guess. Last time we did the hosue we used foam backed carpet without underlay so this should be a step up.

rather than go direct to Carpet Right or indeed any other carpet shop I have approached a couple of fitters who also supply their own carpet.

Can these guys match places like carpet right in terms of price? most of them claim to get their stuff 'direct from the manufactuerer' and can therefore offer cheap prices...i am unsure however.

Secondly, I notice that some online sites and even on eBay you can buy Cloud

9 underlay for much cheaper than you can get in the shops - do the fitters normally allow you to bulk buy underlay and then fit their own carpet on top - do you think they would pricematch?

Any recommendations of good suppliers?

What other services can I expect from a decent fitter? I noticed one suppliers site (outside of my area unfortunatley) mentions cutting doors so that they still work proeprly incase the new carpet is high and it also mentioned fixing floorboards - do many fitters offer these extra services and what sorta prices am I lookign at?

How far can I haggle with these guys?

Woudl i be better of just buying bulk underlay and carpet from online and then gettign a small time fitter to do all the fitting for me?

Finally, what are your thoughts on Cloud 9 and is ther any particular carpet I shoudl be targettign at the budget end of the scale? Our house has quite heavy use.

[geoff]

In message , The General writes

Sounds like you want good quality at bargain basement prices

ain't going to happen is it ?

[News Groups]

Cheap carpet for quite heavy use? Are you planning to move soon, or are you renting out to students? Regarding Cloud 9, are you comparing like with like? There are 5 grades depending on the thickness.

See

[News Groups]

Try alt.consumers.uk-discounts.and.bargains

[Lobster]

Your average fitters provides labour only anyway, ie that's where he makes his money. Typically they are self-employed, subcontracted by the likes of Carpetright who provide all the materials and calculate the fitting fee which is then paid in cash on the day direct to the third-party fitter. So they are well used to jobs where they are not providing any materials - if they can do so and make an extra profit, then they are obviously happy.

Price up your materials online, then ask the fitter for his prices for similar and do the maths. Can be difficult though especially with underlay, because there is huge variation in price and quality, and unless you know exactly what's being quoted for, it's almost impossible to compare like with like. (eg I recently deliberately bought some really cheap online underlay, and it was just like the sort of expanded foam you'd use as packing in a parcel - totally useless).

Certainly as far as the big carpet warehouses go, they prune their carpet prices to a minimum to attract the punters, then having reeled them in, add on hideously-priced underlay, gripper rods etc. I buy carpet locally and then source the rest far far cheaper online - pisses off the local carpet salesman but hey...

David

[The General]

I got a quote today which was only 200 quid more than what I waat to pay - i might try bargaining.

I was VERY surprised to hear that a 2 day job on a 4 bedroom house (6 rooms in toal plus stairs/landing) would only cost around £300 in labour.

This definitley makes me think sorucing my own udnerlay/parts/carpet might save me some dosh

i might get a fitter only person to come round and tell me how much carpet to buy and then just get them to install it.