# Hardwood flooring cost in Toronto

**How much does hardwood flooring cost in Toronto and the GTA?**

Published installed ranges for new install, full sand and finish, and screen and recoat — and the variables that move a phone range into a fixed written price after the free measure.

## What decides it

1. **Service type** — Screen and recoat, full sand and finish, and new install are different labour and material stacks. Mixing them produces a meaningless average.
2. **Species and grade** — White oak, walnut, maple and hickory do not land at the same installed number. Grade and width move material cost before labour is considered.
3. **Pattern and stairs** — Herringbone, chevron and parquet multiply labour and waste. Stairs are a separate line, not a square-footage footnote.
4. **Substrate and moisture** — Flatness correction, slab moisture mitigation and acoustic underlayment are scope items discovered on site, which is why the fixed price follows the measure.

## Comparison

| Service | Typical installed range (CAD / sq ft) | What it includes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Screen & recoat | $2.50–$4.00 | Abrasion of the existing finish, new top coats — no full sand to bare wood |
| Full sand & finish | $4.75–$7.50 | Sand to bare wood, stain if specified, finish system |
| New hardwood install | $11.00–$18.00 | Material and labour for straight-lay install; pattern and stairs extra |

## Decision sequence

1. If the existing finish still has integrity and colour is acceptable → screen and recoat is the honest first evaluation, not a full sand by default.
2. If colour change, deep wear, or prior poor sanding is the problem → full sand and finish, after depth-above-tongue is confirmed.
3. If the floor is at the end of its wear layer, wrong species, or wrong construction for the substrate → replacement, priced as new install.
4. Stairs, transitions, moisture remediation and pattern work are separate lines on the written estimate.

## What goes wrong here

- A phone number without a moisture test is a marketing range, not a price.
- Lowest bid that skips substrate language is usually incomplete scope, not a bargain.
- Pattern multipliers and stair counts omitted from a quote will reappear as change orders.

## Related questions

### Why does moisture testing change the price of my hardwood quote?

Because it changes what the job actually is. Both the subfloor and the material carry a moisture content, and both are measured — at the estimate and again immediately before installation. A quote given before those readings is a guess that gets corrected later at the homeowner's expense, which is the mechanism behind most of the price increases people encounter mid-job.

### Why do hardwood quotes in Toronto vary so much for the same floor?

Because they are usually not the same job. Whether the subfloor is being prepared, whether stairs and transitions are in scope, which grit sequence is run, how many finish coats, and whether the crew is salaried or subcontracted all sit behind a single per-square-foot number. The published bands on this site are for the whole scope, and the framework exists so the differences can be compared item by item rather than by price alone.

## Recommendation

Use the published ranges to budget. Book the free in-home measure for the fixed written price. Compare quotes on scope completeness — machines, sequence, moisture protocol, warranties in writing — not on the headline number alone.


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## Provenance

- Canonical URL: https://ecowoods.ca/guides/hardwood-flooring-cost-toronto
- Publisher: Ecowoods Inc., Toronto & the GTA
- Contact: (647) 244-5156 · services@ecowoods.ca
- Published: 2026-08-22
- Sources: https://ecowoods.ca/papers/hardwood-selection-and-cost-framework-gta#installed-cost, https://ecowoods.ca/papers/hardwood-selection-and-cost-framework-gta#decision-tree, https://ecowoods.ca/papers/hardwood-refinishing-machines-and-sequence#sequence
- Citation guide: https://ecowoods.ca/ai.txt

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