DeGol vs Big Box

The Big Box stores use a lot of flashy advertising geared to fool consumers into thinking they are getting a great deal. Let’s go over some of the tactics they use and explain how they compare to DeGol Carpet:


Do you think Big Box Stores can afford to give you the installation for the whole house for free? Of course they can’t do that or they would lose money. They use subcontractors to do their labor and some of the subcontractors they use we use as well and they do not work for free or $39. What they do is charge slightly more for the many other things involved in a flooring install to make up for it. They can charge extra for tear up of the old flooring, disposal of the old flooring, any prep work that needs done on the flooring, miscellaneous items like tack strip that we do not charge for, the padding, and of course the carpet. There are a lot of things that they can add $0.50-$2.00 per yard for each and voila they built the labor cost into the rest of the job and the grand total comes out the same but you think you got your install for FREE. We had one customer show us their quote and they charged $3.00 SY to install padding! Needless to say that customer bought their flooring from us. We think of this as deceptive advertising and do not follow these principles. We would rather educate the customer so they know exactly what they are getting and not try and trick them.


The Big Box stores pay their subcontractors very well and here is why. When you come in to look at flooring and decide to have a quote done who comes to measure for your flooring? The installer (subcontractor) does. He has to take time out of his day to do this measure and may or may not get the job. Because of this the price of the install goes up because he has to make money for his time to measure your floor. For standard things the install of the new floor their prices are pretty much set but when there is any custom work such as steps, cutting around spindles, wrapping steps, new subfloor, or anything that will make the job go longer than normal WATCH OUT! This is where they have to put a number to something just like we do. Would you rather have the installer saying how much that extra work is going to cost or the store telling the installer what a fair price would be? The installer can charge as much as he wants and the Big box store just marks it up so they make more money and gives you the price. At DeGol Carpet, we have a full time employee with 30+ years’ experience who only measures. We tell the installer how much is fair for extra work saving the customer from getting excessive extra charges. Because we measure all our own jobs you can be assured they will be accurate and with the least amount of waste possible. This also allows us to pay the installer less to install because they do not have to measure and we pass that savings on to the customer. So would you rather have “FREE” installation from a Big Box or an HONEST installation from DeGol Carpet?


What does this mean? I am asking you because it is not explained on the Big Box websites yet they claim this guarantee. They can claim lowest install price because like you read above they just build the cost into the material and other labor items that are not considered part of the install. Ask if they offer lowest install price and material price both…I highly doubt it. They claim lowest total project price but how can you compare their price to another flooring stores price. You would think you can walk in the door to another flooring company or another Big Box and say I want a price on the same carpet. Sorry, that won’t happen. The Big Box stores have special names on all their flooring so that you can’t go home and shop them online at other stores. We might have the same carpet but you will have to search for it because the name will be completely different making it impossible to compare prices. So of course they can guarantee the lowest price on the carpet you want…they are the only ones that have that carpet.


If I heard it once I have heard it a thousand times. “The Big Box store has laminate and ceramic for $0.89 a square foot, how come yours is $3.99?” If you are on a very low budget and are not worried about some potential issues with your new floor then I suggest shopping at the Big Box stores or other clearance outlets. Some situations are perfect for these types of products and those stores are the ones that can help you. You get what you pay for and we cannot carry products that are that low of quality because we would spend more time fixing floors than installing them. Most of our installers will refuse to fix floors that people bought from a Big Box store because when they fix them and the floor fails again the consumer thinks it is the installers fault. Occasionally we will have excellent deals on quality products that we have left over from big commercial jobs that we can sell cheap but we do not buy bottom of the barrel products that are poor quality. Some of the products are made at a lower quality on purpose specifically for Big Box stores so the price will be cheaper. This does not apply to just flooring either. I found out my brand name sink faucet had all plastic internal parts that won’t last long rather than metal parts that will last from the Kitchen and Bath store down the street in the same brand. The cheaper made versions are made just for the Big Box stores. Are all products at Big Box stores poor quality? Of course not, they have plenty of high quality products like we do and they are priced similar to ours as well. Just be cautious when buying things that seems too good to be true. You could be going down a road of endless problems.