How much to pay a tiler?

Soldato
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I would appreciate some advice here, I have 750 to 800m2 to tile, of which 600m2 is on the floor.

I had a tiler quote me £15/m2 for labour only. I supplied all the materials.

I have been on holiday for the past week. The tiler has been working for around 8 days and has done a minimum of 200m2 so far (big flat open areas and long plank like tiles).

Unfortunately the tiler is not happy, the floor is not level so he has had to bed up the adhesive a lot. We are probably using 70% more adhesive than expected, so now he wants £20/m2.

So is this reasonable? or should I find someone else to work on a day rate? I would assume a good tiler would charge around £175 per day. I think the guy I have is doing a very good job but on the other hand I think he is making a LOT of money per day so I dont really think I should pay anymore?

So any tilers here want to give me some advice?
 
Permabanned
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"So is this reasonable?"

I'd say so, because he's having to essentially plaster the place to tile it for you.

If not, go get a quote for a plasterer on top and see if he's overcharging you then.
 
Soldato
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Surely he should have used a levelling compound on the floor prior to tiling it.

Its a quote so it can change. If you or he isn't happy you can pay him for what he has done and get someone else.
 
Associate
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Its a quote so it can change. If you or he isn't happy you can pay him for what he has done and get someone else.


Actually, if it's a quote then he can only charge more with your agreement. If it's an estimate then he can increase it as the job dictates.


To OP - really he should have anticipated the extra cost, but it may not be worth causing an argument if you want the job done properly - just negotiate a price in between the original and the extra if you can
 
Soldato
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Really he should have checked the floor before giving you a quote, and as above, if it was not level the solution is to level it with a self levelling compound first, it's standard practise.

Good tilers are hard to come by as it's one of the trades that many people get in to without any kind of training or apprenticeship so fire him with caution if you're happy with the quality (as long as you can afford it).

Personally I don't think an extra £5 a square meter is acceptable for applying more adhesive, he's chose to do it the hard way (i.e. not getting the floor level to start with).

The reason he is probably doing it this way is because if the floor was levelled he'd be out of work for the day, if he levels it as he goes along by using more adhesive he doesn't lose out, infact he is gaining by charging more..

It's a difficult one really, I would probably suggest getting the rest of the floor levelled before he does any more tiling. He's already been paid £3000? for 8 days so £375 a day, £1875 / 5day week. You are in London though? so I have no idea what acceptable pricing is in your area!
 
Soldato
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Thanks for the feedback.

The job is up north near sheffield so not london prices. Most trades charge me 100 per day here.

Yes we should have used a leveling compound but I did not know the floor was not flat before we started as its a floating floor so it should be really flat.

Edit. The extra fiver adds 4k to the job which is a lot. The adhesive is very expensive so the costs are getting out of control.
 
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Soldato
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I wouldn't say 'you' should have used levelling compound, 'he' certainly should have though.

Saying he want's to add £5/m2 is like a car salesman tactic giving you a loan over 10 years so the monthly figures sound really small and affordable. I'd still go down the floor levelling route but if you do go down the same route then say you will pay a flat rate of £500 extra for the job.

If the floor is just one big floor this type of job is a tilers dream as it's very repetitive and minimal cuts are needed which slow the job down.

As you say the £5 adds up to 4k, try adding the 70% extra adhesive on to that additional cost, if it's possible I'd be looking at getting the rest levelled before moving on.
 
Soldato
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I had very large square porcelain floor tiles laid in my kitchen and rectangular porcelain floor tiles in my bathroom last year, but by the builders who were doing extensive work throughout my place. I was on a tight budget, but with hindsight, wish I'd gotten a proper tiler to do it. While it's all 'ok' there's plenty of lipping in many places and varying grout spacing between tiles. When I mentioned it as they were laying tiles, they said the floors were not that even. I didn't know at the time that they should have used levelling compound. I'll never use general builders again for tiling! You can also try asking on this forum, it's quite a good place,

http://www.tilersforums.co.uk/
 
Soldato
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Thanks guys.

I will have a chat with him on tuesday when I get back. Hopefully he will see that he is making over £300 per day and that is more then enough.

Merlin, I actually found the guy on that forum which is why I did not post there as he would see my post.

I am just on may way to the airport now so will check this thread tomorrow.
 
Associate
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Flat out No!, don't pay him any more. He agreed a price with you (which is very good for the south yorkshire area) and should stick to it. You are already absorbing the extra adhesive costs.
Tell him the pay stays the same or he can walk, he won't go anywhere as he's on a good crack and he knows it.
 
Soldato
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Yes we should have used a leveling compound but I did not know the floor was not flat before we started as its a floating floor so it should be really flat.

Even floating floors are sometimes out,surely the tiler should have check the floor for levels, even before laying a single tile.

When I have laid floor tiles, checking level is your first job, then level floor if require, then work out where to start tiling, so you don't end up with slithers here & there.
 
Soldato
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Meet him half way, an extra £2.50 for the remaining 400m2 of floor.

That is a grands worth of incentive for the extra time he will have to put in, can't see it adding more than a few days in labour. He's got down to the finickity bit's after doing the long run.. if he has to prat about with extra adhesive on top of the finickity bits it does add to the laying taking longer.
 
Soldato
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£15 per m2 is pretty good tbh, I used to pay up to £19 in Glasgow and that was on new build where they were working to new and theoretically good surfaces.

Did they guy come and see your place before giving you a price? If so I'd be tempted to tell him tough titties, if he didn't then more fool him tbh. However, assuming you want this guy to actually come back you'll need to agree some sort of compromise. Have you actually looked at what he is having to do? An extra 5 quid per m2 for more time building up when you are supplying materials is not something I would entertain, but you should be able to find a position to go forward from.

PS don't go too much on how much he has made per day, if he is good at what he does then £1500 to £2k per week when the work is on is far from unheard of. Also remember they'll hit the easiest money first so don't pay too much just now especially if he is having a whinge. 85-90% of work done tops
 
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Caporegime
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Unfortunately the tiler is not happy, the floor is not level so he has had to bed up the adhesive a lot.

Ask him why he's using adhesive to level a floor and why he didn't check this in the first place.

Then tell him you've run out of budget and you only accepted his quote because it was within your budget. Tell him if he doesn't finish the job to your satisfaction and for the original quote, he's not getting any more money from you.

You don't have a good tiler, so don't worry about losing him tbh.
 
Soldato
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What Participant said. Also,..


Merlin, I actually found the guy on that forum which is why I did not post there as he would see my post.

..you can use that forum to your advantage. If he's at all interested in keeping or building a good rep and getting more customers via that forum, then you can threaten to post poor feedback and hopefully he'll do what he can to keep you happy. Other tilers there will probably be less likely to recommend anyone that doesn't seem to have done a great job.
 
Soldato
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@the op buy a tile cutter and do it yourself,i did mine and looks fab,its easy
You say that but a lot of diyers don't know how to leave a pro finish, you can always spot diyer tiling a mile off - often it's not laid out properly, rough cuts, off level, not quite flat, the grouting isn't smooth, the silicone is messy.

Granted it's not all diyers but tiling 800m2 isn't for the faint hearted, most of the DIYers I've seen would struggle to do the sink tiles.

It's like the people who say "if you can **** you can paint" but then leave patchy walls and ceiling, cutting in a baboon did and brush marks and runs in all the trim.
 
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Soldato
OP
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there is no way I would do it my self, it needs to be done right. There are polish guys who will work for under £100 per day this guy is costing me 3 times that because I want it done properly however I do feel that £12k for 5 to 6 weeks worth of work is good going up north and I do not really want to pay anymore. He also wants to be paid more for the work already done.

He did come and look over the job 3 times before he started.

I will be honest with him but I think he will probably just walk.
 
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