Every plank, set by hand.

The workhorse, and the one we install most. Fully waterproof, warm and quiet underfoot, and genuinely forgiving, you can drop a pan on it, spill a drink and leave it, and it shrugs. The Luma range we stock is 2.5 mm with a 0.55 mm polyurethane-reinforced surface and a P3 slip rating, so it is rated for commercial use as well as residential.

Where it wins, kitchens, laundries, hallways, rentals, and anywhere a wet floor is a matter of when rather than if. Where it does not, if you want the acoustic deadness and underfoot solidity of a thicker board, look at hybrid instead.

• Waterproof
• Quiet
• Warm underfoot
• P3 slip rated
• Easy to repair a single plank
• Best value per m²

A rigid SPC core with a pre-attached acoustic underlay. Thicker than vinyl at around 6.5 mm, which means it bridges minor subfloor imperfection better, feels more solid, and is noticeably quieter to walk on. Still 100% waterproof.

Hybrid is what we recommend when the subfloor is old concrete with a bit of movement in it, when the floor runs through a whole level and you want it to feel substantial, or when there is a bedroom under a living area and footfall noise matters.

• 100% waterproof
• SPC rigid core
• Pre-attached underlay
• Quietest of the click floors
• Handles slab movement

The value option, and an honest one. A high-density fibreboard core with a printed decor and a hard wear layer, AC4 rated in the range we use, which is a commercial rating. It scratches less easily than most people expect and it costs meaningfully less per square metre than hybrid.

The trade-off is water. Modern laminate is water-resistant, not waterproof, a spill wiped up promptly is nothing, standing water for a day is a problem. We will not put it in a laundry or a bathroom, and we will tell you that before you have paid for it.

• AC4 commercial wear rating
• Best price per m²
• Water-resistant
• Not for wet areas
• Great in bedrooms & living

Engineered oak, a real oak wear layer over a stable ply core. It is the only floor on this list that is actually timber, and it looks it, the grain is genuine, it takes light differently through the day, and it develops a patina rather than simply wearing.

The practical advantage over solid timber is stability. A 3 mm oak veneer over ply moves far less with Gold Coast humidity than a solid board does, and it can still be sanded and recoated once or twice in its life. It is the most expensive option here and the one people are happiest with ten years on.

• Real oak veneer
• Sandable & recoatable
• Matt UV-oiled
• Ages rather than wears
• Most stable form of real timber

Still the right answer for bedrooms, stairs and anywhere you want the room to sound soft. We install broadloom carpet with proper underlay, and solution-dyed nylon carpet tiles for offices, home offices and rentals.

Carpet tiles are worth knowing about even for a home. When one tile gets ruined, and in a home office under a chair, one will, you lift it and drop in a spare. No re-stretch, no visible repair, no whole-room replacement.

• Broadloom & tiles
• Solution-dyed nylon
• Replaceable tile by tile
• Best for stairs & bedrooms
• Heavy commercial options