Three Flooring Options for One Apartment: A Worked Life-Cycle Comparison

Installed price is only part of what a floor costs. This illustrative calculation compares three finishes over ten years, including maintenance and periodic work.

Choosing a floor on installed price alone ignores the part of the cost that arrives every year afterwards. This worked example takes one illustrative apartment and compares three finishes over a ten year hold, adding routine maintenance and the periodic interventions each material needs, then repeats the comparison over five years. Every figure is an invented assumption used to demonstrate the method, not a quotation or a market rate.

The situation

An owner is finishing a 110 square metre apartment that will be occupied by the family rather than let, and is choosing between three floor finishes for the whole of the dry area: a good quality porcelain tile, an engineered timber, and a natural stone. The three differ substantially in installed cost, and the owner wants to know how the ranking changes once routine maintenance and the periodic work each material needs are included over a realistic holding period.

Assumptions (illustrative)

• Area to be finished: 110 square metres, treated as one continuous floor with no change of material.
• Porcelain assumed at 210 SAR per square metre installed, with routine maintenance of 3 SAR per square metre a year and no periodic intervention.
• Engineered timber assumed at 380 SAR per square metre installed, with routine maintenance of 9 SAR per square metre a year and one sand and refinish in year seven at 70 SAR per square metre.
• Natural stone assumed at 620 SAR per square metre installed, with routine maintenance of 14 SAR per square metre a year and resealing every three years at 25 SAR per square metre.
• Holding period assumed at ten years, with a second comparison over five years.
• All figures exclude value added tax and any substrate upgrade that an individual material might require.

Step 1: Price the installation of each option

Porcelain: 110 multiplied by 210 gives 23,100 SAR. Engineered timber: 110 multiplied by 380 gives 41,800 SAR. Natural stone: 110 multiplied by 620 gives 68,200 SAR.

At installation the stone costs almost three times the porcelain. This is the only figure most owners see, and on its own it frames the decision as a straightforward question of budget rather than as a question about what the floor will demand afterwards.

Step 2: Add routine maintenance over ten years

Porcelain: 110 multiplied by 3 multiplied by 10 gives 3,300 SAR. Engineered timber: 110 multiplied by 9 multiplied by 10 gives 9,900 SAR. Natural stone: 110 multiplied by 14 multiplied by 10 gives 15,400 SAR.

Routine maintenance separates the options further rather than bringing them together. The ratio between the cheapest and the most demanding maintenance regime is close to five to one, which reflects the real difference between a surface that needs ordinary cleaning and one that needs specific products and care.

Step 3: Add the periodic interventions each material needs

Porcelain needs none. Engineered timber needs one sand and refinish: 110 multiplied by 70 gives 7,700 SAR. Natural stone needs resealing in years three, six and nine: 110 multiplied by 25 gives 2,750 SAR each time, which over three occasions is 8,250 SAR.

Periodic work is the line most often omitted from a comparison because it sits years in the future. It is also the line that is hardest to avoid, since skipping a reseal on a porous stone or deferring a refinish on timber usually converts a maintenance cost into a replacement cost.

Step 4: Total each option over ten years

Porcelain: 23,100 plus 3,300 gives 26,400 SAR. Engineered timber: 41,800 plus 9,900 plus 7,700 gives 59,400 SAR. Natural stone: 68,200 plus 15,400 plus 8,250 gives 91,850 SAR.

The gap widens once the whole period is counted. At installation the stone was 2.95 times the porcelain; over ten years it is 3.48 times. Maintenance does not level the field between finishes, it amplifies the difference, because the materials that cost more to install generally also cost more to keep.

Step 5: Express the result as an annual cost

Dividing by ten years gives 2,640 SAR a year for porcelain, 5,940 SAR a year for engineered timber and 9,185 SAR a year for natural stone.

An annual figure makes the decision legible against the household budget rather than against the construction budget. It also makes the comparison honest, since a floor is a service the household consumes over years rather than a one-off purchase.

Step 6: Repeat the comparison over a five year hold

Porcelain: 23,100 plus 1,650 gives 24,750 SAR, which is 4,950 SAR a year. Engineered timber: 41,800 plus 4,950 with no refinish needed gives 46,750 SAR, which is 9,350 SAR a year. Natural stone: 68,200 plus 7,700 plus one reseal of 2,750 gives 78,650 SAR, which is 15,730 SAR a year.

A shorter holding period punishes the expensive installation heavily, because the capital is spread over fewer years while the maintenance saving never arrives. If the apartment might be sold or re-let within five years, the stone costs more than three times the porcelain per year of use, which is a very different decision from the one the installed prices suggested.

What changes the answer

• If a material needs a better substrate, for example a flatter screed for a large format, the installed figure rises before any finish is laid.
• If the household does not follow the maintenance regime, the effective life of the timber and the stone shortens and the comparison moves further towards the porcelain.
• If the apartment is let rather than occupied, damage and change of tenant work add cost to the softer finishes disproportionately.
• If water hardness is high, stone and some sealed finishes need more frequent attention than assumed here.
• Prices, tax treatment and product requirements change, so confirm current rates with suppliers and the value added tax position against the published headline rate of 15% with ZATCA before relying on any figure.

What the numbers tell you

• Compare floors on installed cost plus routine maintenance plus periodic work, over the period you will actually hold the property.
• Maintenance generally amplifies rather than narrows the gap between a cheap and an expensive finish.
• A short holding period strongly favours the lower installed cost, because the capital is spread over fewer years of use.
• A maintenance regime that the household will not follow turns a durable material into a short-lived one, so specify for the care that will actually be given.
• Rules, rates and requirements change over time, so confirm current prices, tax treatment and conformity requirements with your suppliers, ZATCA and the relevant authority when you commit, and take any contractual or tax question to a licensed adviser rather than relying on an illustrative model.

Limits of this example

Every figure above is an illustrative assumption used to show the method, not a quote, valuation or market rate. Costs, rates, fees and regulations change and must be confirmed with the relevant authority, lender or supplier before you commit.

Domira designs and delivers interiors as part of the building, not after it: the finishing schedule, the joinery and the services coordination that decide whether a space looks built or assembled. Share the space and Domira will tell you what it would specify and what it would leave out.