Ground floor use timber need to have good water proofing, if not, heart sick later.  Tiles are the most sensible.  Bedrooms upstairs if use timber wld be nice.

I think both of you looking for trouble.

Ground floor, always have water vapour seeping out of the concrete, thus worse for laminated flooring as de-lamination  will 100% occur. Ignore what the manufacturer claim, unless they are willing to give you a lifetime warranty against de-lamination. No glue is soooo good, the heat and cold cycle inside our house will cause the glue to degrade over the years. Don't understand ?? easy, same as any good expensive pair of shoe, the sole will de-laminate after a few year.... hot and cold cycle. Heat from our feet and cool down when you take off your shoe. Ask any good shoe sales person.

Just for your understanding re solid wood flooring, thickness and length do matter on cost.
All solid timber costing is calculated from either per M3 or MT ( volume ton = 1.416 m3 ), so whatever your contractor quote you, work out the cost per m3 or mt to compare.
Eg : 16mm x 95mm @ rm12/m run = 1 / (0.016 x 0.09 ) x rm12 = rm8333 / m3 . Use only 0.09 instead of 0.095 cos 5mm is eaten up by the tongue&groove (T&G).
For ground floor, best to use only 18mm up thickness, too much traffic, unless the batten is placed very closely.

As for the length of 3ft to 6ft, this are majority imported from Indonesia, Finish product like flooring is still legal to be exported. Cost is around usd1200-1400/m3, KD with or without T&G. WHERE GOT SO MUCH MERBAU IN MALAYSIA except from Sabah.

As for waterproofing the ground floor, ask any good tiling supplier, there is already in the market waterproofing coating chemical to coat over the existing tile as waterproofing. Ask around, you are paying for heartache if not.   

Merbau is super for flooring if you can afford it.

There are lots of other cheaper good Malaysian timber suitable for flooring, why use the expensive Merbau ? Check with MTIB ( Malaysian Timber Industry Board ).

Then i show him the number of MCB i got, 2 DB box, and only few looping of socket, he keep quiet 

Niro still got warehouse sale? i like the cement type tiles they offer.

For other local suitable timber for flooring, ask MTIB opinion and go and see the sample. Individual taste on color, grain . etc ,etc. American loves red colored wood, same as Chinese, Japanese and European prefer light yellowish color. So, personal taste.