I thought I would come straight to the pros for some advice. I tried to do a search, but the search function finds 'brand' too common...?!

Seems everyone hates bellawood, so I was wondering if you could tell me:

a) what's your favorite brand to work with (under $8/sq ft)?
b) what brands do you think are the most DIY friendly?

Up here in Canada, I know a lot of installers really like the Vintage brand.

Cheers!

Scott

Hello fellow Canuck, best bang for the buck up here is the "Superior" brand. Three grades available: Select and Better, Select, Character
Select is like most manufacturers top grade, nice lengths, no knots, and costs less than 5 bucks most places. (We sell at $4.70 for most items at that grade level.) Dont let that low price scare you off, it is absolutely the best milled product I have ever encountered, with the possible exception of Mirage.
Down side to Mirage is an unusually low average length so requires a greater skill level to make a good looking install. Comparative price quality to quality, equivalent Mirage will be about $1.50 more than the Superior product.
They have Red oak, White oak, Maple, Hickory, Ash, Walnut, Cherry.
Note that Walnut and Cherry are two grades only, and unusually high priced compared to some other manufacturers, but certainly a beautiful product.

Thanks Dennis - I've seen Superior at a few places I've been to, and the samples looked great (but don't they all?!).

I'm looking to spend $5.65/sq ft or less (taxes in), so it sounds like Superior is probably the way to go if I stick with solid hardwood.

Any suggestions on engineered? I got a sample from build direct of a handscraped engineered oak that was VERY nice, but I'm sure it's made in China so I'm a little leary (also don't want to have to ship it up from the states)...

Yup, Vintage is the way to go for most engineered. The raw material is manufactured overseas (Malaysia, I beleive)under Vintage's guidance, and finished here. Product is fully warranted and has local representation of course since Vintage is here in Toronto.