Thanks.
The area to be done is 460 square feet -- which includes a living room, 2 small bedrooms, and 2 closets.
One hardwood floor company looked at it a while back before I had decided what I was going to do and they said that if I buy the materials, the cost for them to do the installation would be $700.
Two other people that I know said what the companies that they use charge for installation only. One company charges $1.30 a square foot and the other company charges $1.55 a square foot. I am pretty sure that both companies said those were their prices for a minimum of 500 square feet. So, my guess is they will say about $650 ($1.30 times 500 sq. ft.) and $775 ($1.55 times 500 sq. ft.) respectively.
I actually have a contractor person that I use on an ongoing basis who could do the installation. I pay him on a time and materials basis for most jobs. He and his brother installed the new hardwood floor in the apartment below this one and it came out fine. I can't remember for sure, but I think it took them about 2 days to do it from start to finish. With this apartment, I am thinking of paying a hardwood flooring company that almost exclusively does hardwood floor installations every day to do this installation. The reason is that I would just like to see exactly how they do it, how they figure out the transitions from room to room so that everything lines up correctly, etc. And, I would probably have my person there either helping or doing other things in the apartment in the kitchen and bath so he can see and learn whatever tricks of the trade the regular hardwood floor installers use.
I am not sure how long it would take for a hardwood flooring company to do the installation, but my guess is that with two people doing the work they could probably finish it in one day. Does that sound about right?