Affordable Flooring

That is our 2.5mm luxury vinyl plank: $85.80 a box, and each box covers 3.90m². Divide one by the other and you get $22.00 per square metre. The dearest floor here is the 4.5mm herringbone vinyl at $39.95. Four tiers, 38 colours, everything else in between.

Cheap flooring is cheap for two separate reasons, and it is worth knowing which one you are buying. The first is the board: a thinner wear layer and a simpler core cost less to make. The second is everything loaded on top of the board price before it reaches you.

We do not run a showroom. No retail lease, no display fitout to amortise, no floor staff on commission. That is a structural saving rather than a sale, which is why these rates hold every day of the year instead of appearing for a long weekend. The reasoning is in why we refuse to open a showroom.

What you genuinely give up

• Refinishing. None of these four ranges can be sanded back and recoated. When the wear surface is gone the floor is replaced, not restored. Our 14.3mm engineered Australian hardwood at $113.28 per m² is the range that can be.
• Subfloor forgiveness. The 2.5mm vinyl is thin, so every dip and ridge in the slab reads through it. The 12mm laminate and 6.5mm hybrid hide far more, and a poor subfloor can quietly wipe out the saving.
• Wet areas, on the laminate. Laminate is timber-based. It is the one tier here that is not 100% water resistant, so keep it out of bathrooms and laundries.
• Attached underlay. Only the 6.5mm hybrid arrives with underlay bonded to the back. Both vinyl ranges glue straight down, so adhesive and preparation are part of the cost.

What you do not give up

• Choice. Thirty-eight colours across the four tiers, twelve in each of the two largest ranges.
• Seeing it first. Free samples on every range at our samples page; you only cover the postage.
• The same warehouse. These ship from the same Brisbane warehouse, on the same freight network, as our dearest timber.
• A published price. Every figure here is on the product page too. No quote-to-reveal step, and no pricing that shifts depending on who is asking.

• Bedrooms, lounges and hallways: Urban Laminate 12mm at $24.90 per m². Dry rooms are what a thick laminate is for. Background in our Australian laminate buyer's guide.
• Kitchens, laundries and whole-house jobs: SPC 6.5mm hybrid at $33.99 per m². 100% water resistant with underlay attached, so one floor runs through every room without a transition strip at the kitchen door.
• Rentals, unit refits and large areas on a budget: LVP 2.5mm at $22.00 per m². The lowest rate we stock, 100% water resistant, glued down so it sits flat and quiet.
• Entries and feature rooms: LVP Herringbone 4.5mm at $39.95 per m². A herringbone lay changes how a room reads more than any colour choice will, and still costs less per m² than our plain 9.5mm hybrid.

Still deciding? Our guide to flooring on a budget compares the options, and what vinyl flooring costs in Australia goes deeper on vinyl.

A flooring showroom is a large tenancy in an expensive retail precinct, fitted out with display panels, staffed through trading hours and paid for out of the margin on every box that leaves the building. The customer carries that cost whether or not they ever walk in.

We took the other path from the start. Stock sits in a Brisbane warehouse, prices are published rather than negotiated, and the money that would have gone into a display floor stays out of the box price. What replaces the showroom is a free sample of any board, so you judge the colour in your own light. To talk it through, call 0431 311 633.