How to Choose a Timber Flooring Installer in Sydney: 9 Questions to Ask Before You Sign

A timber floor is one of the few parts of a renovation you'll walk on every day for decades. It's also one of the easiest to get wrong. A floor laid over a damp subfloor, fixed the wrong way or finished badly at the doorways can look fine on day one and give you trouble for years.

I'm a flooring installer, so read this knowing that. These are the questions I'd want answered if I were hiring someone for my own house, and they're the ones I'm happy to answer at every quote. Ask them of anyone you're considering, including me.

Why the quote is the easy part to compare

Most people end up with two or three quotes and compare the totals. The trouble is, the work that decides how a timber floor performs is the part you can't see once the boards are down: the subfloor checks, the moisture readings, how level the floor is and how the boards are fixed.

Two quotes for the same rooms can describe very different jobs. The questions below help you work out which one you're actually getting.

The work that matters most is the work you'll never see once the boards are down.

1. Who will actually be doing the work?

Some businesses quote the job and then pass it to a subcontractor you've never met. That isn't automatically bad, but you should know before you sign. Ask:

• Will the person quoting be on site during the job?
• If it's a team or a subcontractor, who's in charge on site and who do you call if something's wrong?

2. Will you come and look before giving a price?

A firm price from photos alone is a warning sign. An installer needs to see the existing floor, the subfloor where there's access, the doorways, the stairs and how the rooms connect. Without that, the price is a guess, and guesses tend to grow once work starts.

3. How will you check moisture and the subfloor?

Timber and moisture don't mix well. A floor laid over a damp slab or a poorly ventilated crawl space can cup, gap or lift later. Ask how the installer checks moisture, both in the subfloor and in the boards, and what happens if the readings aren't right.

Ask about flatness too. A floor that isn't flat enough for the chosen product needs preparation first, and that should be in the quote.

4. Which installation method will you use, and why?

There are three main ways to lay timber flooring: nailed or secret-nailed to joists or battens, glued directly to the subfloor, or floating over an underlay. The right one depends on the product, the subfloor and the manufacturer's instructions, and sometimes on building rules in apartments.

A good answer explains why that method suits your floor. "That's how we always do it" is a weaker answer. If you're weighing up engineered timber, our guide to glue-down versus floating engineered timber covers the main differences.

5. What exactly is included?

This is where quotes differ the most. Check that each quote covers the same things:

• Removal and disposal of the old floor.
• Subfloor preparation, such as levelling, grinding or patching.
• The boards, plus the underlay or adhesive if needed.
• Skirting, scotia, trims and thresholds at doorways.
• Stairs, if you have them.
• Sanding and coating, for raw timber.
• Moving furniture, and the final clean-up.

The cheapest quote is often the one with the most left out.

Our guide to what affects a timber flooring quote goes through how to compare quotes line by line.

6. What happens if you find something under the old floor?

Some problems only show up once the old flooring is lifted: rotten boards, termite damage, damp, an uneven slab. That's normal. What matters is how it's handled. Ask how extra work will be explained and priced, and agree that nothing outside the written scope goes ahead without your OK.

7. Can I see recent work and read reviews?

Look at Google reviews, and read the recent ones rather than just the star rating. Look for reviews that mention the type of job you're planning, and see how the business responds to a bad one. Ask to see photos of recent jobs similar to yours, especially if you want something specific like herringbone or chevron or timber stairs.

8. What warranty do I get, and who's behind it?

There are usually two warranties, and they cover different things:

• The product warranty comes from the manufacturer. It usually covers defects in the boards, often with conditions about installation, humidity and care.
• The workmanship warranty comes from the installer. It covers how the floor was laid.

Ask for both in writing, and ask what could void them. Many product warranties depend on the floor being installed to the manufacturer's instructions, which is another reason question 4 matters.

9. Are you insured, and is the work covered by the right paperwork?

Ask about public liability insurance. Where the work needs a licence in NSW, ask for the licence number and check it on the NSW Government's licence check service. Get a written contract or quote that sets out the scope, the price and the payment terms. NSW Fair Trading publishes plain-English guidance on home building contracts and deposits that's worth a read before you sign.

Red flags to watch for

• A firm price without anyone seeing the floor.
• Pressure to sign on the day, or a discount that disappears tomorrow.
• A big upfront payment before any work or materials arrive.
• A one-line quote with no detail on what's included.
• "We can lay it over anything", with no mention of moisture or flatness.
• Not being able to tell you who will do the work.

Comparing two quotes

How we answer these

Here's how Design Timber Flooring answers the questions above, so you have something to compare against.

Jimmy has worked on Sydney timber floors since 2006. It's a family-run, owner-operated business, so he quotes the job, works on it and signs it off himself. Every quote is free and on site, because there's no honest way to price a floor without seeing it. Once the scope is clear, you get a fixed-price written quote that sets out what's included and how anything found under the old floor will be handled.

We're a mobile business working across Sydney, from the Northern Beaches and Eastern Suburbs to the Hills District and Western Sydney. Our supply and install service explains how a project runs from selection to handover.

If someone else answers these questions better for your job, hire them. If you'd like us on your shortlist, we'd be glad to be there.