Updated November 2026 · Checked against lowes.com

Lowe’s Carpet Installation Cost: What Lowe’s Publishes, and the Sum

Q: Does Lowe's have free carpet installation?

Not in any offer we read. The offer on Lowe's carpet installation page when we read its terms on 5 November 2026 was 45 percent off special order Style Selections, STAINMASTER and STAINMASTER PetProtect carpet for purchases from 5 November to 11 November 2026. Its terms say the discount "excludes labor, transitions, underlayment, pad, and all products other than the carpet itself" and that "minimum labor charges may apply".

Q: Is the Lowe's carpet measure free?

Lowe's describes the in-home measure as free. Its offer terms also say a "measure deposit is credited toward the final project purchase", so ask at booking whether your store takes a deposit and how it is credited. Lowe's also notes that additional mileage fees may apply for homes 20 miles or more from a store.

Q: Lowe's or Home Depot for carpet installation?

Home Depot publishes its starting rate ($0.69 per sq ft) and prices furniture moving, removal and disposal separately; Lowe's publishes no rate and quotes after the measure. Lowe's page says its installation comes with a one-year warranty; Home Depot advertises a lifetime labor warranty. Get both written quotes for the same carpet weight, pad and square yards, with removal as its own line, and compare totals.

Lowe’s publishes no carpet installation price: its carpet installation page offers a free in-home measure and then a quote for product and labor (checked 13 October 2026). What it does publish is its carpet: from $0.88 per sq ft. On that carpet, with 6 lb pad and labor at Home Depot’s published $0.69 up to our $1.60 estimate, a 12x12 room comes to $280 to $530 installed. That total is our arithmetic, not a Lowe’s quote.

Installation rate	Not published; quote after the measure
Measure	Free in-home measure; a measure deposit is credited toward the project
Published offer	45% off special order carpet, carpet only, purchases 5 November to 11 November 2026 (terms read 5 November 2026)
Pad, labor, transitions	Excluded from the offer
Distance	Mileage fees may apply 20 miles or more from a store
Warranty wording	Installation “comes with a one-year warranty”

A 12x12 room on Lowe’s own carpet

Carpet at Lowe’s listed price, pad from Home Depot and Lowe’s pad listings, both plus 10 percent for waste, plus labor from $0.69 to $1.60 per sq ft. Removal and furniture moving are not included.

Lowe’s carpet	Carpet per sq ft	Installed per sq ft	12x12 installed
Style Selections Believer polyester, 6 lb pad	$0.88	$1.94 to $3.68	$280 to $530
STAINMASTER PetProtect nylon at the sale price (45% off to 11 November 2026), 8 lb pad	$2.46	$3.77 to $5.42	$540 to $780
The same nylon at its regular price, 8 lb pad	$4.48	$5.99 to $7.64	$860 to $1,100

The sale row and the regular-price row are the same carpet, both read on lowes.com on 5 November 2026: the 45 percent offer, for purchases to 11 November 2026, cuts the carpet line and leaves pad and labor where they were, which is why the installed total falls by less than 45 percent. Outside an offer, the regular-price row is the one to use. Read the offer terms before the measure, because the discount applies to special order carpet only.

What to ask for on a Lowe’s quote

The carpet price per sq ft or sq yd, the square yards ordered, the pad, labor as its own line, removal and disposal, stairs, transitions and any mileage fee. With those lines you can check the quote in the carpet cost calculator (enter the removal rate from the quote) and against Home Depot’s published rates.

Questions

How much does Lowe's charge to install carpet?

Lowe's does not publish a per sq ft installation price. Its carpet installation page (checked 13 October 2026) describes a free in-home measure followed by a quote that includes product and labor. For comparison, Home Depot publishes $0.69 per sq ft for basic installation. On Lowe's cheapest carpet listing ($0.88 per sq ft) with 6 lb pad and our labor range of $0.69 to $1.60 per sq ft, a 12x12 room comes to $280 to $530. That is our arithmetic, not a Lowe's quote.

Does Lowe's have free carpet installation?

Is the Lowe's carpet measure free?

Lowe's or Home Depot for carpet installation?

Sources and method. Lowe's, Carpet Installation (no published per sq ft install price; quote follows a free in-home measure; checked 13 October 2026); Lowe's, special order carpet offer terms (PDF linked from its carpet installation page) (45 percent off special order carpet, on the carpet only, for purchases 5 to 11 November 2026; checked 5 November 2026); Lowe's, carpet listings (nylon and polyester) (per sq ft prices of nylon and polyester carpet; checked 13 October 2026); Lowe's, carpet padding listings (per sq ft prices of rebond, fiber and foam pad; checked 13 October 2026); The Home Depot, Carpet Padding listings (per sq ft prices of 6 lb and 8 lb pad, memory foam and moisture-barrier pad; checked 13 October 2026); The Home Depot, Carpet Installation Cost Guide (average cost per sq ft: carpet $1 to $4, padding $1.01, installation $0.69 for basic install; furniture moving, removal and disposal priced separately; checked 13 October 2026); The Home Depot, How to Calculate Square Footage (order 5 to 10 percent more material for waste; checked 13 October 2026); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025, Carpet Installers (47-2041) (national and state hourly wages, read through the BLS public data API; checked 13 October 2026). Room totals are our arithmetic: one Lowe's carpet price, plus the pad range for its grade (6 lb or 8 lb rebond listings, high end lifted to Home Depot's $1.01 installed-job pad price), both times 1.10 for waste, plus labor from $0.69 per sq ft (Home Depot's published basic rate) to $1.60 (our estimate: $0.69 scaled by the BLS 90th to 10th percentile installer wage ratio), on 144 sq ft, rounded to the nearest $10. Lowe's publishes no labor rate, so the labor range is not Lowe's.