Carpet Installation Cost Per Square Metre in Australia 2026

Carpet is the one flooring job where the advertised price and the invoice almost never match. A retailer quotes "$39/m² installed", you sign, and then the underlay, the old carpet removal, the stair wrap and the subfloor levelling all land as separate lines.

Carpet installation cost per square metre in Australia in 2026 is $25–$45/m² for labour only, or $45–$120/m² supplied and laid for most residential jobs. Budget synthetic carpet in a straightforward rectangular bedroom sits at the bottom of that band; wool blends over premium underlay in a Sydney or Melbourne terrace sit well above it. All figures here include GST and are indicative only.

This guide splits the number into its actual parts — labour, carpet supply, underlay, removal and prep — then converts it into room totals and whole-house totals, so you can read any carpet layer's quote line by line. If you'd rather skip straight to getting priced, you can send your job details through Leadkit's free flooring quote form and let a local tradie come back to you.

Last updated: August 2026

Key takeaways

• Carpet installation costs $25–$45 per square metre for labour only in Australia in 2026, averaging about $33–$35/m².
• Carpet supply and install cost runs $45–$120/m² for most homes, and $150–$250/m² for pure wool or designer ranges.
• Carpet price per m2 to supply alone: $25–$45 budget polypropylene, $45–$90 mid-range nylon, $90–$150 wool blend, $150–$250+ pure wool.
• Underlay cost in Australia is $5–$15/m² for foam and $10–$25/m² for rubber, with acoustic-rated underlay for apartments reaching $25–$40/m².
• Carpeting a 3-bedroom house (about 70 m²) costs roughly $3,200–$6,500 supplied and installed, with most jobs landing near $4,000–$5,200.
• Stairs are priced per step, not per m² — allow $15–$35 per step (more for winders and landings).
• Old carpet removal and tip disposal adds $3–$8/m², and it is very often excluded from the headline price.

This is a price indication only. Your tradie will confirm the final price after assessing the job.

Table of contents

• How much does carpet installation cost per square metre?
• What does carpet cost per m2 to supply?
• How much does underlay cost in Australia?
• What is the carpet supply and install cost by room and house size?
• How much does carpet laying cost in each Australian city?
• What extras get added to a carpet quote?
• What drives carpet price per m2 up or down?
• How do you compare carpet quotes properly?
• Is it cheaper to lay carpet yourself?
• How does carpet compare to timber, laminate and vinyl?
• FAQ
• Get carpet quotes from local flooring tradies

How much does carpet installation cost per square metre?

Carpet installation costs $25–$45 per square metre for labour only in Australia in 2026, with the national average sitting around $33–$35/m². That labour rate covers setting out, laying smooth edge, joining seams, power-stretching the carpet and trimming to the perimeter — but not the carpet, not the underlay, and usually not the removal of whatever is on the floor now.

Most flooring retailers advertise a supply-and-install price instead, which bundles carpet, underlay and labour into a single per-metre figure. That's the number worth comparing, and it's the number in the table below.

Ranges are compiled from current Australian retail and installer pricing for 2026, structured around the same job variables Leadkit's flooring tool collects. This is a price indication only. Your tradie will confirm the final price after assessing the job.

Methodology and transparency note: these ranges are market rates, not output from a Leadkit pricing engine. Leadkit's flooring tool is an enquiry calculator — it collects the job details and hands them to the tradie, who does the pricing. In Leadkit's own library, 112 of the 202 live calculators are enquiry-style rather than instant-quote, precisely because trades like flooring need to see the subfloor before committing to a number. Leadkit is our product, so treat this as a vendor-published guide and sense-check it against your own quotes.

What does carpet cost per m2 to supply?

Carpet costs $25–$250 per square metre to supply in Australia, with most households buying in the $45–$90/m² band. Fibre type is the single biggest lever — more than colour, more than brand, and more than the pile height that showroom staff tend to talk about first.

Two pieces of showroom vocabulary are worth knowing before you walk in.

Solution-dyed nylon means the colour is added to the fibre while it's still liquid, so the pigment runs all the way through rather than sitting on the surface. It costs more per metre and it's the reason a hallway still looks acceptable after five years of bleach spills and sunlight.

Face weight is the grams of pile fibre per square metre, excluding the backing. Two carpets can look identical on the shelf while one has 600 g/m² of pile and the other 1,200 g/m² — and that difference is what you're actually paying for. Ask for the face weight and the Australian Carpet Classification Scheme star rating, which grades carpet for residential and heavy-duty use. Local manufacturers like Godfrey Hirst and Feltex publish both.

How much does underlay cost in Australia?

Underlay costs $5–$15 per square metre for foam and $10–$25 per square metre for rubber in Australia in 2026, with acoustic-rated underlay for apartments running $25–$40/m². Installation of the underlay is normally included in the carpet layer's labour rate rather than charged separately.

Underlay is the cheapest upgrade in the entire job and the one most people skip. Doubling your underlay spend on a 70 m² house adds roughly $500–$700 — and it extends the carpet's usable life, softens the feel, and improves insulation.

If you're in a strata apartment, check your by-laws before you order. Most Australian strata schemes set a minimum acoustic rating for floor coverings, and replacing non-compliant underlay after installation is an expensive lesson. Brands such as Dunlop publish acoustic ratings for exactly this reason.

Comparing flooring options? The timber flooring cost guide covers the same breakdown for solid and engineered boards.

What is the carpet supply and install cost by room and house size?

Carpeting a standard bedroom costs about $700–$1,300 supplied and installed, and a 3-bedroom house costs roughly $3,200–$6,500. The table below uses mid-range solution-dyed nylon over rubber underlay at $65–$95/m² all-in, which is where the majority of Australian residential carpet jobs land.

This is a price indication only. Your tradie will confirm the final price after assessing the job.

A word on measuring. Carpet is manufactured in broadloom width — a 3.66 m roll is the Australian standard — so your room is cut from that width, not from a perfectly economical shape. A room measuring 4.2 m across needs two widths joined, and you pay for the offcut. This is why a 20 m² room can be quoted at 24 m² of carpet, and why two quotes for the same room can differ by 15% before anyone has discussed price.

Ask every quote to show the laid area and the ordered area separately. A quote that only shows one number is hiding the wastage assumption.

How much does carpet laying cost in each Australian city?

Carpet laying cost across Australia varies by roughly 20% between the cheapest and most expensive capital cities, driven by installer availability, travel time and tip fees rather than by the carpet itself. Carpet is bought from national retailers, so supply pricing is fairly consistent nationwide; labour is where the gap shows.

Inner-city apartment work carries its own premium. Lift bookings, restricted loading dock hours and carrying rolls up stairs all add hours that a suburban ground-floor job doesn't. Expect $150–$400 on top for a high-rise install in Sydney or Melbourne.

Broader cost pressure has been steady rather than dramatic. The Australian Bureau of Statistics tracks furnishings and household equipment within the CPI, and floor coverings have tracked close to general household inflation — meaning a quote from 2024 is out of date, but not wildly so.

What extras get added to a carpet quote?

The most common carpet quote extras are old carpet removal, subfloor preparation, stairs, door trimming and furniture moving — and together they can add 20–35% to a headline supply-and-install price. These are the lines to hunt for before you sign anything.

• Old carpet removal and disposal — $3–$8/m². Some installers roll it into the price; most charge separately because tip fees are real. On a 70 m² house that's $210–$560.
• Subfloor preparation — $10–$30/m². Squeaky or uneven particleboard, damaged ply, or a concrete slab needing self-levelling compound. Not visible until the old carpet comes up, which is why a fixed price before lifting is rare.
• Stairs — $15–$35 per step. Winders (the wedge-shaped steps on a turn) can be double a straight step because each one is cut and wrapped individually.
• Door trimming — $25–$60 per door. Thicker carpet and underlay can raise the floor by 15–20 mm, and internal doors need to be taken off and planed.
• Furniture moving — $150–$400 per job. Many installers will shift light furniture free and charge for beds, wardrobes and anything with a piano in the name.
• Smooth edge and door bars. Standard inclusions — if a quote lists them as extras, that's a flag worth questioning.

Across the flooring enquiries that come through Leadkit's tools, the two fields that most change a tradie's price are the approximate area in square metres and whether the existing floor needs removing — which is exactly why both are on the form before any contact details are asked for.

What drives carpet price per m2 up or down?

Fibre type, face weight, room shape and subfloor condition account for most of the variation in carpet price per m2. Here's how each one moves the number, roughly in order of impact.

Fibre type — up to 10× swing. Polypropylene to pure wool is $25/m² to $250/m². Nothing else in the job has that range.

Face weight and density — 30–60% swing within a fibre type. A heavier, denser nylon costs more per metre and lasts appreciably longer in a hallway. In bedrooms, where traffic is low, paying for density is often wasted money.

Room shape and joins — 10–20% swing. Rectangular rooms narrower than 3.66 m are the cheapest possible carpet job because they come off a single broadloom width with no join. L-shaped rooms, bay windows and open-plan spaces need seams, and seams need skill.

Subfloor condition — $0 to $30/m². Concrete slabs in good condition need nothing. Old particleboard with movement, water damage or level changes can add more than the carpet does.

Stairs — always a separate line. Per-step pricing exists because a staircase is genuinely 5–10× the labour per square metre of a flat floor.

Timing and access. Empty houses between tenancies are the cheapest to carpet. Occupied homes with furniture, pets and school-hours-only access cost more, and every installer prices that in.

How do you compare carpet quotes properly?

Compare carpet quotes on the total installed price for your whole job, not the per-square-metre rate — and make sure every quote uses the same ordered area. Two quotes with identical $/m² rates can differ by $800 on a 3-bedroom house purely because one assumed less wastage.

Ask each supplier for these six things in writing:

1. Carpet name, fibre type and face weight — so you're comparing like for like.
2. Underlay type and thickness — the easiest place for a quote to be quietly downgraded.
3. Laid area and ordered area in m² — exposes the wastage assumption.
4. Whether removal and disposal are included — and the tip fee if not.
5. Subfloor preparation allowance — and what happens if more is needed once the old floor is up.
6. Stairs priced per step, with winders identified separately.

Under Australian Consumer Law, the work carries statutory consumer guarantees — it must be done with due care and skill and be fit for purpose. The ACCC sets out what those guarantees cover, and NSW Fair Trading (or your state equivalent) explains when a written contract is required for residential work. Installation should also follow AS/NZS 2455.1, the Australian standard for textile floor covering installation practice — worth naming in your enquiry, because installers who know it tend to quote it.

Want a straight comparison against hard flooring? The laminate flooring cost guide runs the same numbers for click-lock boards.

Is it cheaper to lay carpet yourself?

DIY carpet laying saves the $25–$45/m² labour but rarely works out well, because stretching and seaming carpet needs tools and technique most homeowners don't have. Hiring a knee kicker and a power stretcher costs $60–$120 a day, and smooth edge, adhesive and a carpet knife add another $80–$150.

The problem isn't cutting the carpet — it's tension. Carpet that isn't power-stretched relaxes within a season and develops ripples across the room. Fixing that means lifting, re-stretching and re-trimming, which costs more than the original labour would have.

Where DIY genuinely stacks up is carpet tiles. At $30–$80/m² supplied, self-adhesive or tab-locked tiles go down over a clean, flat subfloor with a chalk line and a utility knife. Home offices, kids' playrooms and garage conversions are ideal candidates, and Bunnings and the major flooring retailers stock them.

For anything broadloom — bedrooms, lounges, hallways, and absolutely anything with stairs — pay the installer.

How does carpet compare to timber, laminate and vinyl?

Carpet is generally the cheapest floor covering to supply and install in Australia at $45–$120/m², but has the shortest life at 8–15 years. Hard flooring costs more upfront and lasts longer, so the right answer depends on how long you're staying.

Most Australian homes end up mixing them — carpet in bedrooms for warmth, hard flooring through living zones and hallways. That's usually the cheapest sensible outcome, because you're only paying premium rates for the metres that need them.

For the full picture on the alternatives, see the vinyl flooring cost guide and the tiling cost per square metre guide.

FAQ

Q: How much does carpet installation cost per square metre in Australia?

A: Carpet installation costs $25–$45 per square metre for labour only in Australia in 2026, averaging around $33–$35/m². Supplied and installed — carpet, underlay and labour together — most residential jobs run $45–$120/m², with budget synthetic at the bottom and pure wool at $150–$250+/m². Complex layouts with multiple joins push labour toward $40–$60/m². Those rates cover smooth edge, seaming, power-stretching and trimming, but not old carpet removal ($3–$8/m²) or subfloor preparation ($10–$30/m²). This is a price indication only. Your tradie will confirm the final price after assessing the job.

Q: What is the average carpet supply and install cost for a 3-bedroom house?

A: Carpeting a 3-bedroom house costs roughly $3,200–$6,500 supplied and installed, with most jobs landing around $4,000–$5,200. That assumes about 70 m² of carpeted area — three bedrooms, a lounge and a hallway — in mid-range solution-dyed nylon over rubber underlay at $65–$95/m². Add $210–$560 if the old carpet needs lifting and disposing of, and $450–$900 if there's a staircase. Homes with open-plan living areas wider than the 3.66 m broadloom width will carry more wastage. Measure each room wall-to-wall at its widest point, add the hallway, and get every quote priced off the same set of numbers.

Q: How much does underlay cost in Australia?

A: Underlay costs $5–$15/m² for foam and $10–$25/m² for rubber, with acoustic-rated underlay for strata apartments at $25–$40/m². Laying the underlay is almost always included in the carpet layer's labour rate, so the quoted figure is supply only. On a 70 m² house, upgrading from basic foam to a quality rubber underlay adds around $500–$700 — the cheapest meaningful upgrade in the whole job, and the one that most affects how the carpet feels and how long it lasts. If you're in an apartment, check your strata by-laws for a minimum acoustic rating before ordering.

Q: Does carpet price per m2 include underlay?

A: Only if the quote says so. A "supply and install" price from a flooring retailer normally bundles carpet, underlay and labour, but the underlay grade is often the cheapest foam available unless you specify otherwise. A labour-only carpet laying rate of $25–$45/m² includes laying the underlay but not supplying it. Always ask which underlay is included by name and thickness — swapping a 6 mm foam for an 11 mm rubber is a common upsell, and it's also a common silent downgrade when a competitor tries to win on price.

Q: How much does it cost to carpet stairs?

A: Carpeting stairs costs $15–$35 per step in Australia, covering the tread and riser as one unit. A standard 13-step staircase therefore runs $195–$455 in labour, or roughly $450–$900 supplied and installed with mid-range carpet. Winders — the wedge-shaped steps around a turn — cost more, often double a straight step, because each one is cut, wrapped and tucked individually. Stairs are priced per step rather than per square metre because the labour per square metre is five to ten times that of a flat floor.

Q: How much does it cost to remove old carpet?

A: Old carpet removal and disposal costs $3–$8 per square metre, which on a 70 m² house is $210–$560. That covers lifting the carpet and underlay, pulling the old smooth edge, loading it out and paying tip fees. Some installers include it in a supply-and-install package; many quote it separately, so check. If you lift the carpet yourself, most tips charge $30–$80 per cubic metre for mixed waste, and rolled carpet takes up more volume than you'd expect.

Q: Should I get carpet cleaned or replaced?

A: Clean it if the pile still stands up and the backing is sound; replace it if the pile is matted flat in traffic lanes or the carpet has delaminated. Professional cleaning costs a fraction of replacement and can add two or three years to carpet that's mainly just dirty. Once the pile has lost its spring, though, cleaning won't bring it back — that's structural wear, not soiling. The carpet cleaning cost guide has the per-room numbers if you want to compare the two options directly.

Q: How long does carpet installation take?

A: Most residential carpet installs take one day. A 3-bedroom house of around 70 m² is typically laid in six to eight hours by a two-person crew, including removing the old carpet. Add half a day if the subfloor needs levelling or ply sheeting, and allow a separate day for the compound to cure if self-levelling is required. Stairs slow things down noticeably — a full staircase can take two to three hours on its own. Carpet can be walked on immediately after laying, with no curing or acclimatisation wait.

Q: Do I need a written contract for carpet installation?

A: For most residential carpet jobs above a state-set threshold, yes — and it's sensible even below it. Each state sets its own rules for residential building work; NSW Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs Victoria and the QBCC in Queensland all publish the current thresholds and what a compliant contract must contain. At minimum, get the carpet name, underlay grade, ordered area, inclusions, exclusions and total price in writing before any deposit changes hands. Australian Consumer Law guarantees apply regardless of whether there's a formal contract.

Get carpet quotes from local flooring tradies

Carpet installation cost per square metre in Australia in 2026 comes down to four numbers: $25–$45/m² labour, $25–$250/m² carpet supply, $5–$40/m² underlay, and $3–$8/m² to get the old floor out. Add them for your actual area and you'll know within a few hundred dollars what a fair quote looks like before anyone sets foot in your house.

Ready to get priced on your job? Use Leadkit's free flooring quote form — pick carpet, enter your approximate area and suburb, say whether the old floor needs lifting, and a flooring tradie gets everything they need to come back with a real price. Takes about 30 seconds.

If you're a flooring tradie reading this rather than a homeowner, that form is the point: Leadkit lets you embed a quote or enquiry tool on your own site in about 60 seconds, so every visitor who's pricing carpet at 10pm becomes a lead in your inbox instead of a bounce.

All prices in this guide include GST and are indicative only. Actual costs depend on your carpet selection, room layout, subfloor condition and your tradie's own rates. This is a price indication only. Your tradie will confirm the final price after assessing the job.