Pay by the foot not the hour. What takes one guy 5 days to complete may only take a day and a half by a professional.

As Cinar says....and the going rate for a trades person in my neck of the woods (excluding plumbers and electricians) is $50/hour. I'm in Vancouver BC Canada. Our rates/wages rate as "expensive" by most USA standards. Chicago area can be quite expensive as well.

If I were to see a $35/hr rate from a contractor/installer in my area, I would wonder why they are so CHEAP.

Good luck. Flooring Professionals (ie. the people who make careers out of being flooring installers and believe it is their *calling in life) will quote per square foot and will include a quote for SUBFLOOR PREPARATION with a breakdown of costs in that way.

$50 Canadian equals $38.16 American, and so the rates are not that different. Rates in California and New York tend to be higher than Chicago.

Flooring should be by square foot of installation - not by the hour. We got a quote for the entire job.

Sorry....but you don't need to change the Canadian dollars to US dollars. In Canada we are paid in $CND. We pay our bills in $CND. We do not "translate" our money to anyone else's money when looking at costs. A dollar is a dollar is a dollar.

So too in the USA. They are paid in $USD. They pay their bills in $USD. A dollar is a dollar is a dollar. There is no need to translate the money into someone else's currency. It "works out" to feel the same at the end of the day.

$50 USD paid by a US citizen in the USA is going to *feel the same way $50 CND paid by a Canadian in Canada will feel. There is no difference as to how much it *hurts financially.

And I speak from experience after living in Germany for 5 years....50 Euro out of my pocket in Germany feels the same as $50 CND out of my pocket in Canada. It all FEELS the same.

Only while on vacation will it "feel" different. Only because you HAVE to exchange money when you go and then comeback does it *feel different.

This is helpful. Thanks everyone!