Home Depot charges from 69¢ per sq ft to install carpet: that is its published “starting at” rate “for basic carpet installation”. The carpet ($1 to $4 per sq ft) and pad ($1.01 per sq ft) are bought on top, and furniture moving, removal and disposal are priced separately. Source: Home Depot's Carpet Installation Cost Guide, checked 13 October 2026.
Current offer, checked 5 November 2026: Home Depot's carpet installation page says “Basic carpet installation is free on carpet and pad purchases of $699 or more,” with removal and haul-away of your existing carpet listed as part of the service. No end date is shown, and its promotions page still shows installation from 69¢. On 13 October 2026 its carpet estimator showed “Installation starting at 49¢ per sq. ft.” Offers change, and local prices can differ, so confirm the terms on your written quote.
Wording as published on homedepot.com, 13 October 2026; the free install and removal wording re-read 5 November 2026. The cost guide says furniture moving, removal and disposal are priced separately; the installation service page lists moving basic furniture and removal and haul-away as included. Get each shown on the written quote, as included or priced.
Total installed cost for carpet and pad at Home Depot's published prices, plus 10 percent extra for cutting waste, plus installation on the floor area. Removal, furniture moving and stairs are not included on either side.
| Job | Home Depot at 69¢ | Home Depot at 49¢ offer | Independent installer (estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12x12 room (144 sq ft) | $420 to $890 | $390 to $860 | $420 to $1,020 |
| 1,000 sq ft | $2,900 to $6,200 | $2,700 to $6,000 | $2,900 to $7,110 |
How we worked it out: carpet $1 to $4 and pad $1.01 per sq ft (Home Depot's cost guide), times 1.10 for waste, plus labor. Home Depot labor is its published 69¢ rate or the 49¢ estimator offer. Independent labor is our range of $0.69 to $1.60 per sq ft: no independent installer publishes a rate, so the low end is Home Depot's own 69¢ and the top is our estimate (that rate scaled by the BLS 90th to 10th percentile carpet-installer wage ratio). The independent column uses the same carpet and pad prices as a stand-in for comparable material from a flooring dealer. Totals are rounded to the nearest ten dollars. Because the labor range starts at Home Depot's rate, this table cannot show an independent coming in cheaper. That is a limit of published data, not a finding, and a real quote can come in lower.
Home Depot's two main carpet pages do not say quite the same thing, so this table gives each page's own wording. Treat anything marked “may qualify” or “priced separately” as a line to see on your quote before you sign.
| Line item | What Home Depot publishes | What to ask for |
|---|---|---|
| Installation labor | From 69¢/sq ft “for basic carpet installation”; estimator offer from 49¢ | The per sq ft rate on your quote and what “basic” leaves out |
| Carpet | $1 to $4/sq ft in the cost guide; the service page says carpet costs range from $1 to $6 per sq ft | The carpet line, its face weight and its own warranty |
| Pad | $1.01/sq ft in the cost guide, “depending on thickness and density” | Pad type and density by name. Memory foam pad listed at $0.47 to $1.06/sq ft on homedepot.com |
| Measure | “FREE Flooring Measure” (cost guide). The High Point, NC page says “Your measurement fee will be applied to the price of your installation.” | Whether your area charges a measure fee, and whether it is credited |
| Furniture moving | Priced separately (cost guide). The service page lists “Basic furniture moving” as included. Its installers will not move “extremely large, heavy or fragile items” such as safes, delicate antiques, pianos, pool tables and aquariums | Which items are “basic”, and the charge for anything else |
| Old carpet removal and disposal | Priced separately (cost guide). Service page (5 November 2026): “Removal and haul-away of your existing carpet” listed as included with free basic installation; the same page's FAQ (13 November 2026) says your purchase “may also qualify for” rip up and haul away | Removal and haul-away on the quote, as included or as a priced line |
| Stairs | Custom or spiral stairs need additional labor not included in basic installation (service page, 5 November 2026); no per-step price published | The stair charge per step and the wrap style (waterfall or cap-and-band) |
| Carpet bought elsewhere | Not installed: “We cannot install carpet that has not been purchased as part of an installation package.” | Use an independent installer if you supply the carpet |
Home Depot headlines a “Lifetime Install Warranty”. Its installation service page spells it out: “All our carpet installations are also covered by a lifetime labor warranty, including seams, restretches and stairwork.” That is the installation. The carpet has its own product warranty, “ranging from 5 to 25+ years of coverage for stains and wear and tear”, and Home Depot notes that stairs are covered by the carpet warranty only on its LifeProof and LifeProof with PetProof Technology lines.
The product warranties come with conditions worth knowing before you buy. Home Depot says “Professional cleaning every 12 to 18 months is required for warranty coverage.” The carpet warranty terms it links to add that you must keep receipts for that cleaning, that the stain, wear and texture warranties apply only to carpet in owner-occupied homes (rentals are excluded, which matters if you are carpeting a rental property), that stain and wear cover is prorated in later years, and that the texture warranty excludes carpet laid over pad not bought from Home Depot.
Home Depot calls its installers “our install partners” and “Service Providers”, and says “All of our Service Providers are local, licensed, insured and undergo a thorough background screening process.” Its local service pages describe them as “licensed and insured contractors”. They do not say whether a given crew is employed by Home Depot, so at the measure ask for the name of the company doing your installation and its license number for your state.
Home Depot says “Most carpet installations can be completed within one working day”, and offers express installation of select carpets “in as little as 5 to 7 business days after measurement and payment in select areas.” Its service page showed a program rating of 4.4 out of 5 from 246,739 verified reviews, with 85 percent of customers recommending it, on 13 November 2026. That is Home Depot's own count, across every area it serves; the installer you get is local, so read the reviews for your ZIP code on the same page.
Home Depot's carpet installation page carries a price match: “We are committed to offering a competitive price for ‘like for like’ product and installation. If you find a lower price, we'll match it.” Ask the associate whether it applies to your carpet line and to the installation, and get the answer in writing.
Either way, the rule is the same as for any carpet job: get one Home Depot quote and two independent quotes, each priced on the same carpet weight, the same pad and the same square footage, and let the spread tell you which way to go. Financing is available too (Home Depot advertises “Monthly payments as low as $100”), but compare total prices first and financing second.
Send it over and a person reads it. We answer what we can answer, and every answer names what it rests on, whether that is a pad manufacturer’s specification, a wage series, or a retailer’s own published price sheet.