Flooring profit margin benchmarks
The IRS reports what one-owner businesses filing Schedule C earn, by sector. Flooring falls under Specialty trade contractors. For tax year 2023, 2,521,516 returns reported $257.8 billion in receipts, $80.4 billion in cost of sales and $40.5 billion in net income less deficit (the table gives thousands of dollars):
| Benchmark | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross margin | 68.8% |
| Net margin, owner pay included | 15.7% |
| Average receipts per return | $102,220 |
| Average net income per return | $16,054 |
The owner's own draw is not an expense on a Schedule C, so that net margin is mostly the owner's wage, not profit on top of it.
Where the money goes in flooring
Flooring is materials and labor, with prep work on the subfloor as the hidden cost.
Where flooring margin leaks, and how to win it back
- Subfloor leveling not priced
- Waste factor too low
- Furniture moving
- Transitions and trim left off
- Returns for moisture problems
Ways flooring installers raise margin: price subfloor prep from a measured check; use a waste factor for the material and pattern; charge for furniture moving; price transitions and stairs per piece.
Check your flooring prices against the costs
The typical national prices from our sourced calculators are a check on whether your prices leave room for margin:
| Service | Typical | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Luxury vinyl plank | $9.00 | $3.00 to $15.00 a sq ft |
| Laminate | $8.50 | $3.50 to $13.50 a sq ft |
| Engineered hardwood | $11.75 | $5.50 to $18.00 a sq ft |
| Solid hardwood | $15.50 | $6.00 to $25 a sq ft |
| Tile | $17.50 | $15.00 to $20 a sq ft |
| Carpet with pad | $7.25 | $3.50 to $11.00 a sq ft |
Work out the margin on each line of your menu, not just the big jobs. The usual flooring menu: luxury vinyl plank; laminate; engineered hardwood; solid hardwood; tile; carpet with pad; remove old floor; subfloor replacement; self-leveler; stairs; transitions and trim; furniture moving.
Overhead comes out of the margin before profit. In flooring it includes general liability insurance, which Insureon's customers who are flooring installers pay an average of $77 a month for; commercial auto at $208 a month on the same figures.
Work out your own margin
Put one recent flooring job into the calculator above, or switch it to "My margin for the year" to set your year next to the IRS benchmark. A 50% markup is a 33% margin; the markup calculator shows the rest.
Sources
- IRS Statistics of Income: Nonfarm sole proprietorships, Table 2, income statements by industrial sector, tax year 2023, checked October 9, 2026
- IRS: SOI tax stats, nonfarm sole proprietorship statistics, checked October 9, 2026
- Insureon: Insurance cost for flooring installers, checked October 9, 2026
- HomeAdvisor, flooring installation cost, checked October 8, 2026
- Bob Vila, flooring installation cost, checked October 8, 2026
- Modernize, flooring installation cost, checked October 8, 2026
- This Old House, flooring cost, checked October 8, 2026
- Thumbtack, flooring prices, checked October 8, 2026
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (state and national files), checked October 8, 2026
- US Census Bureau, 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Area to county relationship file, checked October 8, 2026
Last checked October 9, 2026. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and differ by state and city, so confirm with the agency named before you act.