Bathroom flooring - charges and timescale

[Rascal]

I'm a handyman who takes on tiling jobs when it suits, I know what i'm doing and do a good job. Sometimes I wonder how what I charge compares to getting specific trades in. I never give fixed quotes just guestimates, sometimes people don't like this which I underatand but i'm not going to shoot myself in the foot on big jobs which I always under estimate!

The job in hand is tiling a bathroom floor, very small approx 2.5m of actual floor space. Not a straight forward area L shaped but with diagaonal walls and a recessed dooe etc.

I spent three days working solidly doing the following, I did spend a bit of time getting bits during the day:

Remove pedestall sink and toilet. Remove side and end bath pannels. Secure all existing very old floor boards and replace half a rotten board in awkward place going under skirting. Overlay with ply - very intricate cutting required in order to fit just two pices, it seems best to lay as few separate pices as possible. The ply was sealed on the underside and edges prior to fitting.

Lay tiles using rapid set felxi, proper planning involved so as to insure a good result! Approx 24 tiles laid 2/3 of which were cut.

Grouting of tiles. Refit sink and toilet allowing for hight difference and adjusting all plumbing, re silicone sink. Remove door and trim to allow for height difference and fit new threshhold strip. Trim both bath panels and refit.

I think that's about it, sorry to be so precise I know it's all part of said job. I just want to know how long others would take to do a similar job.

I charge £*** per day (london prices) so that's £*** labour, plus about £*** materials (retail). All in £***. Now I know the anount of work involded cos i've just done it. I'm just concered it seems a lot for what is effectively tiling a 2.3m square floor.

The above is a copy of a post i've also posted elsewhere. I've taken out the numbers as I believe that is the done thing. Everyone is goin to charge different day rates or quote based on other formulas. What i'm after is an idea of how many days you think this job would take. Taking into consideration adhesive setting time ect.

Your thoughts please.

Ta

 

[Sully]

From what you describe, I don't see how it can be done in 1 day so I'd be looking at 2 days and very probably 3 days as I would never wish to put those units back in before the grout has fully cured. For the record, I don't believe in 'half days' - not when your self employed with sick & holiday pay to be accounted for, can't really afford to be making up half days as well:ninja:. I'd therefore lean towards 3 days without seeing it but based on your description. Does it really matter if it took you 2 or 3 days? I personally rarely give guesstimates unless I'm dealing with the 'unknown - ie removal of old floor tiles without knowing what condition a substrate is in underneath. If I gave a client a costing for 3 days plus materials, they agreed and I in turn hit the standards that their expectations require - then to me it is irrelevant how long it takes. Price agreed with client, they're in agreement that its fair, job completed. They're not going to worry about how fast or slow I was 6 months down the line - they'll be more interested in the finish I gave them. My advise on such jobs: agree a price in advance and no one should have any complaints. That said, I think there will be some who disagree with me and be confident it's a 2 day job and shouldn't be charged any higher, but there you go, each to there own in running a business.

 

[grumpygrouter]

From what you describe, I don't see how it can be done in 1 day so I'd be looking at 2 days and very probably 3 days as I would never wish to put those units back in before the grout has fully cured. For the record, I don't believe in 'half days' - not when your self employed with sick & holiday pay to be accounted for, can't really afford to be making up half days as well:ninja:. I'd therefore lean towards 3 days without seeing it but based on your description. Does it really matter if it took you 2 or 3 days? I personally rarely give guesstimates unless I'm dealing with the 'unknown - ie removal of old floor tiles without knowing what condition a substrate is in underneath. If I gave a client a costing for 3 days plus materials, they agreed and I in turn hit the standards that their expectations require - then to me it is irrelevant how long it takes. Price agreed with client, they're in agreement that its fair, job completed. They're not going to worry about how fast or slow I was 6 months down the line - they'll be more interested in the finish I gave them. My advise on such jobs: agree a price in advance and no one should have any complaints. That said, I think there will be some who disagree with me and be confident it's a 2 day job and shouldn't be charged any higher, but there you go, each to there own in running a business.

Very true Sully.

 

[Rascal]

Sully - thanks for your input, it has put my mind at rest. I'm not concerned to much about the 2 maybe 3 day guestimate. It's the overall cost of a job which to a customer probably seems quite small, ultimately tile a 2.5m square area. If a customer jumps on the net and has a quick look for tiling charges they will find answers based on x amount per square metre. Now my final bill will come in at a lot lot more than this!

 

[grumpygrouter]

Rascal, it would be unreasonable of a customer to expect you to tile a 2.5m2 floor at say for arguments sake £25/m2, when in actual fact you may be there for 3 days. £62.50 for 3 days work is way less than national minimum wage. For small area jobs like you have indicated, It would always be on some sort of day rate with me with materials as an addition.

 

[Olz]

Its in the qoute delivery IMO, i never just give a price, i always accompany it with an explaination of exactly what im going to do any why it needs to be done along with the potential pitfalls if its not done, this then gives them the knowledge to properly compare your qoute with others they've got. Remember that customers are not tilers and wont really always understand all the things that actually need doing to properly lay the tiles.

 

[graham31]

I give quotes that i'm happy to earn and explain why the quote is this price.
If the client isn't happy with the quote and can get it done cheaper else where then so be it.
But you need to be true to your self price wise