Carpet Installation Cost in Melbourne 2026 (And Why a Single Per-Metre Price Is Impossible)

By The Flooring Centre Technical Team

Quick Answer (the honest ranges)

In Melbourne in 2026, carpet installation packaged with quality underlay typically sits in the order of around $25 to $35 per square metre, with the carpet itself priced separately per square metre. As a rough guide, expect to add about $8 per square metre to move and replace bulky furniture, about $8 per square metre to take up and remove old carpet and underlay, and on average around $30 to $40 per step for stairs. Apartment and high-rise jobs typically attract a further surcharge. The reason no honest installer publishes a single all-in figure is that the variables — carpet weight, underlay quality, stairs, furniture, removal of old flooring, access — change the number on every job.

This is the practical guide to what you'll actually pay, why each line on the quote is there, and what changes the price.

How carpet pricing changed (and why "just give me a per-metre price" no longer works)

For decades, carpet was sold as a single broadloom price that bundled the carpet, the underlay, and the installation into one figure quoted per square metre or per "broadloom metre" (the running length of a roll). It made comparison easy in a single product category, but it made comparison across product categories — carpet versus hardwood, carpet versus tile, carpet versus hybrid — almost impossible, because every other floor type was already priced as supply-only per square metre.

The industry moved. In 2026, the standard at any reputable Melbourne retailer is carpet priced per square metre, supply only, with installation and underlay quoted as a separate package. That's how hardwood, tile, hybrid, and laminate have always been quoted, and aligning carpet to the same convention means a buyer can compare apples to apples across the whole floor-finish category.

It also means the per-metre carpet price you see on the rack is not the all-in price. The quote you receive after a measure will add installation, underlay, and any applicable surcharges. None of those add-ons are hidden — they're simply line items that vary by job, which is exactly why a single sticker price would mislead you.

What's actually inside the installation price

The packaged installation figure of around $25 to $35 per square metre isn't an arbitrary range. It covers a defined set of work:

• Underlay supply. A quality underlay rated up to 10mm thick at 120kg/m³ density. Higher-density underlay is more expensive and lifts the per-metre installation figure toward the upper end of the range.
• Smoothedge (gripper rod) supply and fitting. The narrow timber-or-metal strips with angled pins that hold the carpet around the perimeter of every room.
• Carpet preparation and cutting. Measuring, planning the seam layout to put joins in low-traffic areas, and trimming carpet to the room's geometry.
• Power-stretching the carpet. The Australian/New Zealand standard for carpet installation, AS/NZS 2455.1, specifies that all wall-to-wall carpet must be power-stretched (not knee-kicked alone) to avoid wrinkling and premature wear. This is non-negotiable on professional jobs.
• Seaming. Hot-melt seam tape and an iron to bond carpet edges where joins are necessary, with the seam direction planned to be as discreet as possible.
• Tucking and finishing. Carpet is cut and tucked along the smoothedge for a clean edge against walls, doorways, and built-in joinery.
• Final vacuum. At The Flooring Centre, our installers vacuum the room when they finish. It's a small detail but it matters — you walk into a room that's ready to use, not one that needs another half-hour of work before you can enjoy it.

Two factors push the installation price within that approximate band:

• Underlay quality. A standard 8mm 70kg/m³ underlay sits at the lower end. A premium 10mm 120kg/m³ underlay — denser, longer-lasting, with better acoustic and thermal performance — sits at the higher end. The upgrade is usually worth it because underlay is the part of the system you can't replace later without taking the carpet up.
• Carpet weight. Heavyweight carpets (typically dense wool, premium triexta, or thick loop-pile constructions) take more time to handle and install. Fewer square metres go down per day, and many jobs require a second installer just to manoeuvre the rolls. The labour load is real, and it appears on the quote.

The four common surcharges

These are the line items that the cheap-headline quotes (the ones advertising a single low per-metre figure) usually leave out and then bill at the end. We list them up front because they're predictable.

Apartment and high-rise surcharge

If your job is in an apartment or high-rise dwelling rather than a standalone house, expect a surcharge. Access is harder — building managers, lifts, restricted hours, longer carries from the loading dock — and the metres are almost always smaller per job, which means installer overhead is spread over fewer square metres. The surcharge is generally a flat additional fee or a per-square-metre uplift, depending on the building.

Furniture move

Typically around $8 per square metre to have the installers move and replace your bulky furniture (bed bases, wardrobes, lounges, dining tables). At that kind of rate the installer brings an extra hand on the job specifically to do the furniture work. The alternative — moving everything yourself before they arrive and back after they leave — is real work and the wrong week to discover you can't lift a buffet on your own. Most of our customers opt for this and let the team handle it.

Old carpet and underlay removal

Typically around $8 per square metre to take up and remove the existing carpet and underlay and take it away from site. This is straightforward work most of the time, but every now and then it isn't.

The hidden surprise: bonded rubber underlay

Older homes — typically anything carpeted in the 1970s, 80s, or 90s — sometimes have rubber underlay that has flattened and bonded chemically to the subfloor over the decades. When that happens, the underlay can no longer be lifted in sheets. It has to be hand-scraped off the timber or concrete subfloor before new underlay can go down, and that's time-consuming work. Expect an additional charge on top of the standard removal fee. There's no way to know whether your underlay has bonded until the old carpet comes up, which is why this one shows up as a contingency on most quotes for renovations or older homes.

Stairs

Carpet on stairs is a per-step surcharge, not a per-square-metre figure, because every step needs the carpet wrapped, fitted, and tucked individually. As a guide, budget on average around $30 to $40 per step, depending on how many steps you have and how complex the staircase is. Open-tread, curved, or wraparound staircases tend to sit at the higher end. A standard straight run typically sits at the lower end.

What carpet installers don't do (and what to plan for)

This catches people on the day, so it's worth knowing in advance.

Door heights and thresholds

When new carpet and new underlay go down, the total floor build-up is usually thicker than the old carpet you're replacing — particularly if you're going from worn flat-pack underlay to a 10mm 120kg/m³ premium underlay. That additional thickness can mean a door no longer clears the new carpet and won't open or close properly.

Cutting doors down is not the carpet installer's responsibility. It's a carpenter's job. Carpet installers can remove a door before laying so they can finish the carpet under the threshold, but they're not licensed or equipped to plane or trim a door to size and rehang it. If you suspect any of your internal doors are sitting close to the existing carpet, plan for a carpenter to come in after the installation to trim and rehang any doors that need it. Two to four hours of carpenter time is usually enough for a typical home.

Skirting board and architrave damage

Older skirting boards sometimes get marked when old carpet is pulled away — particularly if the old smoothedge has been over-nailed. Touch-up paint is the homeowner's responsibility, not the installer's. We always recommend keeping a small tin of your skirting paint handy for a touch-up day or two after the install.

Subfloor repairs

If a section of subfloor has been damaged, has soft spots, or has unresolved squeaks, the carpet installer will lay carpet over it but won't repair the structural issue. That's a builder or carpenter's job, ideally done before the carpet day.

Worked examples (typical Melbourne 2026 quote shapes)

The shape of a quote — what the line items look like and how they relate to each other — is more useful than a single dollar total when you're planning a budget. The actual numbers vary with carpet choice, underlay grade, access, and the suburb. Every job is measured before quoting.

The bottom-line figures change considerably with carpet choice. Premium wool can roughly double the carpet supply line compared with a mid-range synthetic. Entry-level synthetics on a more basic underlay can pull the installation package toward the lower end. The shape of the quote stays the same — only the totals scale with the choices you make.

Why we won't quote a flat per-metre number over the phone

Every job is different. The same 30m² lounge in a Hawthorn East apartment, a Templestowe house, and a Toorak heritage home all measure differently because the carpet roll width (typically 3.66m) doesn't divide neatly into the room dimensions, the access varies, the existing flooring is different, and the staircase versus single-level layout changes the labour profile entirely.

This is also why carpet is priced on the carpet width that's actually used, not just the visible floor area. If your room is 4.0m × 3.0m (12m² of floor), the carpet you'll be billed for is 3.66m × 4.0m (14.64m²), because that's the width of the roll that has to be cut and laid in a single direction. The off-cut might be useable for hallways or stairs, or it might be too small to use elsewhere — but you'll receive any usable remnants as part of the job.

When we measure your home, we work out the optimal layout to minimise off-cut waste, plan the seam directions to put joins in the lowest-traffic positions, and quote accordingly. That's the work that turns a per-metre price into a real number, and it's why we always offer a free measure and quote.

Standards and accreditation

Professional carpet installation in Australia is governed by AS/NZS 2455.1 — Textile floor coverings - Installation practice. The standard covers power-stretching requirements, seam construction, smoothedge fitting, transition treatments, and acceptable subfloor conditions. Reputable installers work to it as a baseline.

The Flooring Centre is a member of the Carpet Institute of Australia Limited (CIAL) and the Australasian Timber Flooring Association (ATFA). Our installers work to the AS/NZS standards and the Carpet Institute's installation code of practice. Power-stretching every wall-to-wall job is a default for us, not an upgrade. So is the post-install vacuum.

If a quote you've received doesn't make any reference to power-stretching, AS/NZS standards, or industry accreditation, that's a fair signal to ask why.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to carpet a three-bedroom house in Melbourne?

A typical three-bedroom Melbourne home with around 90m² of carpeted area, a mid-range carpet, and a standard installation-and-underlay package usually lands somewhere in the low-to-mid five figures all-in, including furniture move and old-carpet removal. Premium carpet, premium underlay, or a complex staircase will push the figure higher. Entry-level synthetics will pull it lower. The only honest way to land on a real number is a free measure and quote — every job is different.

Is underlay extra, or is it included?

In current Melbourne pricing, underlay is included in the installation package, which typically sits in the order of around $25 to $35 per square metre. The installation figure covers the underlay supply, the smoothedge, the labour, and the finishing. The separate cost is the carpet itself, priced per m² supply-only.

Do the installers move my furniture?

Yes, if you ask for it. As a guide, budget around $8 per square metre for the furniture-move service, which usually includes an additional installer on the day to handle the bulky pieces. Smaller items (bedside tables, lamps, decorative pieces) are normally cleared by the homeowner before the install team arrives.

Will the installers take away my old carpet?

Yes — typically as a separate line item in the order of around $8 per square metre. The team will lift the old carpet and underlay, roll it, and remove it from site for disposal. The exception is when older rubber underlay has bonded to the subfloor and needs hand-scraping; that work is charged additionally because it takes considerably longer.

Why does carpet on stairs cost so much more?

Each step is wrapped, fitted, and tucked individually, which is roughly five times the per-metre labour of a flat room. As a guide, budget on average around $30 to $40 per step. A standard straight staircase of around 13 steps typically comes in at a few hundred dollars for the stair labour alone, on top of the carpet supply.

Will I need a carpenter as well as the carpet installer?

Sometimes. New underlay and new carpet can lift the floor build-up enough that an internal door no longer clears the carpet. Cutting doors down is a carpenter's job, not the carpet installer's. If your existing doors sit close to the floor, plan for a carpenter to trim and rehang them after the carpet is in.

What's the difference between a quoted per-metre installation price and a "broadloom" price?

A "broadloom" price is the older convention of bundling carpet, underlay, and installation into a single per-metre figure — useful when you're only comparing carpet to carpet. The modern convention is carpet supply per m² and installation+underlay per m² as separate lines, which lets you compare carpet against hardwood, hybrid, and tile on equal terms. Both conventions describe the same finished room — it's just a question of how the cost is presented.

Is power-stretching really necessary?

Yes — and it's specified by AS/NZS 2455.1 as the standard for wall-to-wall installation. Knee-kicking alone leaves slack in the carpet that develops into wrinkles within a year or two and accelerates wear at the high-traffic edges. A power-stretched carpet stays tight for its full service life.

The Bottom Line

Carpet installation in Melbourne in 2026 typically sits in the order of around $25 to $35 per square metre for the installation-and-underlay package, with the carpet itself priced separately per square metre. The four predictable surcharges — apartment access, furniture move, old carpet removal, and stairs — appear on most jobs, and the bonded-rubber-underlay surprise appears on a small fraction of older homes. The only thing that changes between competent retailers is how transparently those line items show up on your quote.

What no honest installer will give you over the phone is a single per-metre number that covers everything regardless of job. The variables are real, and the better practice is a free measure with a quote that lays out each line so you know exactly what you're paying for.

Visit our Nunawading or Hawthorn East showroom to see the carpet in your hand, with the actual underlay options underneath, and in lighting that matches a real home. We'll measure your floor for free, walk you through the line items on the quote, and give you a real number you can trust.

Call (03) 9894 4688 for our Nunawading flagship or (03) 9696 9998 for our Hawthorn East store. Two showrooms, no forms, no high-pressure follow-up — just an honest conversation about the right carpet for your home and what it will cost to put it down properly.

For deeper reading on the products and specifications mentioned here, see our wool vs synthetic carpet guide, the Triexta carpet fibre explainer, our best carpet for bedrooms guide, and the carpet underlay guide for a deeper look at why underlay quality drives so much of the long-term performance.