Clients comparing LVP and hardwood almost always start with material cost per square foot. The bid usually turns on labor.
Click-lock LVP installs faster
Floating click-lock LVP typically installs at a materially faster production rate than nail-down or glue-down hardwood, because it skips fastening, sanding and finishing entirely when factory-finished.
Hardwood carries finishing labor LVP doesn’t
Site-finished hardwood adds sanding, staining and multiple coats of finish — each a separate labor pass with its own dry time built into the schedule, on top of the install itself.
Where the labor gap changes the decision
On a small residential job the labor delta might not move the bid much. On a multi-unit project, that per-square-foot labor gap compounds fast — which is why we break out material and labor separately on every flooring takeoff, so the comparison is apples to apples.
Comparing flooring systems for a bid?
We’ll break out material and labor separately so the comparison is clear.