In 2015, there was a litigation against a national flooring operations that resulted in $2 MM settlement and a new disclosure guideline for flooring measurement. The case was established based on the fact that most consumers are not aware that flooring products ordered are more than SF installed on net floor area covered, but installation charges are based on the ordered amount instead of the net area. The national operations failed to systematically disclose that information to consumers while advertising a low per square foot installation price, but quoting with lump sum amount.

Under the settlement Agreement’s new disclosure guidelines, prior to any consumer becoming bound to an installation contract, the Operation shall fully disclose how its “per square foot” installation charges are calculated, including but not limited to, identifying the actual square footage of the project, the actual square footage of the materials required, and the square footage upon which the installation charges will be based.

This same risk has been posed for all other flooring retailers and installation companies, especially those use manual approach to estimate flooring quantity and quotes. The good news is that flooring measure software already exists, and they runs on mobile devices like iPad or Windows tablets, even integrated with laser meters to get accurate measurement efficiently, and software creates final report that complies with the disclosure guidelines as established in that case.

Above is a sample generated by Measure Square software that a flooring retailer can reference to (even if you do it manually on a sketch paper). It shows a clear breakdown of individual product usages as well as its actual area, thus a clear disclosure.