Ask five suppliers for a price on oak flooring and you will get five answers spread across a factor of four. That range is real, and most of it has nothing to do with the wood. Here is what you are paying for, item by item.
The range, honestly
Across our catalogue, engineered oak starts around 36 €/m² and solid oak in large formats runs past 130 €/m². Both are oak. The gap is explained by four things, in this order of weight.
1. Wear layer thickness
This is the single biggest driver on an engineered board. A 2.5 mm wear layer allows roughly one sanding; 3.2 mm allows two; 6 mm allows four or five. You are buying decades of future life, not just a surface.
A board with a 6 mm wear layer costs substantially more than one with 2.5 mm — and it should, because there is more than twice the noble timber in it.
2. Format
Width and length drive price hard. A 220 mm wide, 2.2 m long board requires larger, straighter, older trees than a 120 mm strip. Wide boards are not a marketing upgrade: they are a different raw material.
3. Grade
Grade describes appearance, not quality. A Prime grade with almost no knots and even colour requires far more selection — and generates far more rejected timber — than a rustic grade. That selection is what you pay for.
4. Finish
An unfinished board is cheapest but needs finishing on site, which costs more than the saving. A factory-applied UV oil or lacquer, cured under controlled conditions, is more durable than anything applied on a building site.
What the headline price hides
Three costs are routinely left out of a quoted price per square metre:
- Waste. 5-8 % on straight plank, 10-15 % on herringbone or chevron. That is not optional — it is the material you will physically need.
- Delivery. Flooring travels on a pallet by specialist carrier. Nobody delivers 900 kg for free.
- Installation. Fully bonded costs more than floating, and both may need levelling compound first.
A floor advertised at 40 €/m² that needs 12 % waste, delivery and levelling is not a 40 €/m² floor.
Why the same board costs double elsewhere
This is the part nobody prints. A board leaving a European mill typically passes through an importer, then a wholesaler, then a retailer. Each takes a margin, each carries stock, each pays for showrooms and staff. By the time it reaches the customer, the price has often doubled — for exactly the same board, from exactly the same mill.
Buying direct removes those steps. That is the whole point, and it is worth 30 to 50 % on identical goods.
How to compare two quotes properly
- Compare wear layer in millimetres, not “engineered” vs “engineered”.
- Compare total thickness and width.
- Compare grade, and ask to see the actual grade, not a stock photo.
- Add waste, delivery and installation to both quotes before deciding.
Prices you can check
Every price on our catalogue is shown per square metre, and samples are free apart from €3.90 postage. If a price looks too good against a competitor, compare the wear layer first — that is usually where the difference hides.