Every Fremont remodel hits the same fork: wood-look porcelain tile or luxury vinyl plank. Both have a place — here's the honest comparison we give contractors, with real material prices.
The head-to-head
- Wood-look porcelain ($6–$12/sq ft): Genuinely waterproof, scratch-proof against dogs and chairs, and it doesn't fade in the sunny back rooms Fremont floor plans love. Cold underfoot and unforgiving to dropped glassware. Setting labor $40–$60/sq ft.
- LVP ($3–$7/sq ft): Warmer, quieter, faster to install ($2–$4/sq ft labor), friendlier to imperfect slabs. But it dents under appliances, can fade in direct sun, and buyers' agents increasingly call it out in flips.
The Fremont decision tree
- Owner-occupied family home: porcelain in kitchens/baths/laundry, whatever you love elsewhere. The wet-area tile is what survives a decade of kids.
- Rental or ADU: LVP everywhere except the bathroom floor — tile the bathroom ($6–$8/sq ft, 40 sq ft, ~$280) because one tub overflow pays for it.
- Flip: porcelain in the kitchen photographs like hardwood and survives inspection narratives better than "vinyl."
Real project math (1,200 sq ft main level)
Porcelain throughout: ~$9,600 materials + $14,000 labor. LVP throughout: ~$5,400 + $4,200. The hybrid most Fremont remodels land on — porcelain in 350 sq ft of wet areas, LVP across the rest — runs about $7,000 in materials.
Ordering it right
Tile on our catalog shows per-sq-ft pricing and per-box coverage, and the calculator converts room measurements to boxes with waste. Plank-format tile wants 30%-offset layouts — order 12% overage, not 10. We deliver to all of Fremont on scheduled runs: delivery details.