# How to evaluate a hardwood flooring quote in Toronto

**How do I tell a good hardwood flooring quote from a bad one?**

Six questions that separate a company that has done the diligence from one that intends to discover the problems after your deposit has cleared. Any "no" is a red flag.

## What decides it

1. **Was anything measured before the price was set?** — A price quoted without moisture readings and a substrate assessment is an estimate of a building nobody has examined.
2. **Is the price closed or open?** — Open-ended change-order language transfers the cost of missing diligence onto the homeowner, after commitment.
3. **Who actually performs the work?** — A crew that will not be there next season has no stake in how the floor performs next season.

## Decision sequence

1. Do they moisture-test at the free estimate, and document the readings? → If no, stop here.
2. Do they require a minimum 72-hour acclimation in the actual space? → If no, the warranty is decorative.
3. Is the price fixed in writing, with no open-ended change-order language? → If no, the quoted number is not the price.
4. Are the installers salaried employees, or day-labour subcontractors?
5. Will they refuse the job if the substrate or conditions are wrong?
6. Is there true lifetime workmanship warranty language in the contract itself?

## Related questions

### What should a hardwood flooring quote include?

The moisture readings and the date they were taken, the species, grade and width, the subfloor preparation, the installation method and why, the grit sequence, the finish product and number of coats, stairs and transitions itemised, the schedule, and the workmanship warranty language in the contract itself rather than on a website. A quote missing the moisture readings was priced before anyone knew what the job was.

### How do I know if a hardwood contractor uses subcontractors?

Ask who is on payroll and get the answer in writing. The question matters because a protocol can be requested of a subcontracted crew and required of a salaried one, and because a workmanship warranty is only meaningful from a company that still controls the people whose workmanship it covers when you call.

## Recommendation

Run all six against every quote you hold, including ours. The self-assessment scores the full twenty-four-criterion framework and tells you which questions to go back and ask.

Conditional on:

- Any company that cannot or will not provide these is optimizing for speed and lowest bid, not for decades of performance.


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## Provenance

- Canonical URL: https://ecowoods.ca/guides/how-to-evaluate-a-hardwood-quote
- Publisher: Ecowoods Inc., Toronto & the GTA
- Contact: (647) 244-5156 · services@ecowoods.ca
- Published: 2026-08-19
- Sources: https://ecowoods.ca/papers/hardwood-selection-and-cost-framework-gta#installer-checklist, https://ecowoods.ca/papers/toronto-hardwood-climate-moisture-protocol#what-to-demand, https://ecowoods.ca/papers/hardwood-selection-and-cost-framework-gta#fixed-price
- Citation guide: https://ecowoods.ca/ai.txt

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