Might be worth going to a big shop and picking a carpet first. Then you can ask for that to be quoted for and easily compare like for like.

Options are - supply and fit or fit only (you buy carpet separately)

We had three quotes a couple of weeks ago. One from a guy I found recommended on next door to fit only, one from a local independent to supply and fit and one from a big company. Cheapest option overall was the first man, second was the big company and third the local independent.

I've personally used a carpet fitter where they supply the carpet, always found it cheaper than the high street stores.
Maybe pop along to a store and get an idea what you're after. Then speak to some fitters letting them know what you like and they can supply samples and quote.

Oh! The blissful smell of a brand new fitted carpet!
Am excited for you 🤗
Haven't had a new one for years.
Last used Carpet right. Lots to choose from lurk with sole intention of sniffingNot sure if they are a national company?

May not be suitable for all rooms OP if you have a tight budget but if this is a house you intend to stay in highly highly HIGHLY recommend Brintons bell twist which is very hard wearing as well as luxurious.

We put in our house because my granny had this in hers and it lasted 50 + years and still looked fine.

It's like the sort of product no one makes any more - good quality that lasts.

I think all of Brintons carpets are great but the bell twist is particularly good for high traffic areas in a home in my experience.

www.brintons.co.uk/carpet-ranges/bell-twist

What's your budget- that's kind of relevant?

Following because I hope to be shortly choosing new carpet for upstairs for first time in 25 years, and am on a tight budget.

Their website also has a room visualiser where you can upload a photo of your room and test out the look of their carpets.

www.brintons.co.uk/view-in-a-room

I've just had a quote this morning from an independent shop. Stairs and landing £510, and an lvt floor in the hall and lounge in a herringbone style £1,700.

The shop is known for being reasonably priced but I really like them and the work they have done for us before so I don't bother to get quotes elsewhere now - I used them for a 'cheap' carpet in the kids rooms and used an expensive independent for our own bedroom carpet, and several people have thought the cheaper carpet is better quality 🤷 maybe ask on a local FB group who people would recommend

We've just had some fitted and are really pleased with it. We went with 80/20 in the end. We bought from a local independent shop which was fine and very helpful when purchasing (and cheaper than big independent shop and Carpet Right!).

What was noticeable though was that they didn't employ their own carpet fitters, we had to pay them separately. They wanted cash, which I wasn't overly happy about, and it was hard to get messages passed between the two to make sure we got what we wanted ie once they'd got our order in the shop weren't very interested in dealing with us as it got passed onto the fitter.

We went with a local fitter who measured up and told us how much carpet we needed to buy. He supplied underlay as he said he could get a better price/quality than that from the big carpet barns (as he called them). We then shopped around for the carpet we wanted - got a good end of line clearance deal from a big barn.

Something else to think about that just occurred to me which may or may not matter to you depending on where you live is carpet moths.

Synthetic carpets are not eaten by carpet moths whereas wool carpets are tasty to them.

Generally unless you are super-infested it only matters if you have dark bits in the room as they like dark places. Open areas like hall ways in the light aren't attractive to moths beetle things but down the back of a bed pushed into a corner against a wall where its away from a light source and dark may need a bit of antimoth spray if you have wool.

We've just spent about £3.3k on carpets and underlay for 3 big rooms, 2 flights stairs and an enormous landing.
Fitting was £500.

We went for a mid-range carpet and not the luxury versions.

We got ours from John Lewis it was actually reasonable, £18 a square metre, the gutters did a good job and we got interest free credit. We know this is not our forever home though so went for a fairly cheap carpet. if we knew we were staying we would've upgraded in terms of quality but we would've still got it from John Lewis.

I've just had carpet fitted, stairs and bedrooms, I went for pure wool, berber, best underlay I could afford. Carpets around £40 per sq m. Wool is more environmentally friendly than synthetic.

Carpet moths aren't an issue to me, and if they were, you just need these microscopic wasps. I'm serious www.dragonfli.co.uk/products/clothes-moth-egg-sachets

... and I went to an independent family run shop, rather than a chain. Better service and knowledge, plus their fitters have worked for them for years, rather than chains who sub contract to fitters who may not care about doing such a good job.

I've just had my stairs, landing and a small bedroom done by a local independent company. I chose the carpet that you can clean with bleach .
I had new underlay and threshold thingies, old carpet taken up and disposed of, fitting new carpet came to £746.

I've done 2 bedrooms and stairs and landing this year. One large bedroom and one double cost £1200 inc fitting and underlay. Stairs and big landing cost £700 all in. Bedroom 1 was around £25 per sq m, bedroom 2 was an offer for around £10 per sq m, landing was around £15 per sq m. The £25 is Abingdon, looks more luxurious, the others are similar standard, nice, hard-wearing, not cheap and nasty just normal carpet, if that helps!

Both times we got the carpet shop people out to measure then went into the shop to choose and book fitting.

We had a small room carpeted recently. It’s a single bedroom and not often used, so we had less expensive carpet which was about £350. The living room, which is 15x17 was £1200.

I prefer small independent shops because you know exactly what you’re paying for upfront. Big companies like Tapi and Carpetright often have hidden costs. You might think underlay or fitting is included , but it turns out it’s not always. We have a good local one.

Underlay is important. Good underlay extends the life of a carpet. It’s possible to get the same sort of carpet in different quality, so you can have the more expensive one for heavier traffic areas.

I'd take a quote from John Lewis.

We got a new living room carpet last year.

It could have cost anything from £400 to £4,000 deleting the carpet we chose.

We went into a few shops. Asked loads of questions.

We were able to get a few samples to take home to see how they looked.

I also used a visualiser (all the retailers have this on their website) to upload photos and then see how the carpets looked.

After that you then pick the best carpet you budget can afford.

@SilentHedges

have you ever used those wasp things that kill the carpet moths? It sounds great as a chemical free solution but I'm not sure I like the idea of thousands of invisible wasps.

I know this maybe a bit of an odd question to ask you - but how come I've never heard of it? I've looked alot for moth killer stuff but never come acros this before. How did you find out about it?

Have you used it before?

I need new carpets for 2 relatively small rooms. I went to a small independent business that has a showroom but nothing flashy and for really nice carpet, underlay and fitting it's about £600. So very reasonable.

Do not buy wool. I had moths for years and they wrecked it. Buy decent underlay as it helps the carpet last. Do not let them charge you for delivery.

I bet there are lots of smaller businesses near you and you could go in to have some ballpark quotes. Ask for a discount as you are having so much done. Even £1 or £2 off per square meter adds up!

Also ask for recommendations on Facebook!