Dodgy tricks...

[Brian the Tile]

and while we are on the subject do you charge for the extra adhesive and grout also?

 

[Brian the Tile]

im outta this forum for better places as this forum i am sorry to say has gone down hill very quickly ,i can not agee with a lot that is said on here,after all i have only been doing the job 44 years,so i will leave it to you vey experienced folk out there who know what they are doing ha ha :mad2: good luck to all the proper tilers out there,sorry but it has to be said,Now Dan can you please remove my account and good luck with the forum

 

[Stef]

The 1st basics of measuring a job is to add 10% for wastage.
I just can't understand how you can go & measure up a job & not add the 10%.
It has got absolutely nothing to do with ripping off a customer. You must buy or tell the customer to buy an extra 10% of tiles or you are going to be short of tiles.
You don't use 10% more addy or grout as the 10% is wastage, (cut tiles that cannot be used).
Some jobs you might be lucky & you can take a box or 2 back as the tiles have been fitted with very little cuts (wastage)
Then it's up to you if you knock the price down or the customer asks you to take that off the final bill, that's if you charged a m2 rate or gave them a price for overall job.

 

[Ian]

I always used to tell the customer that my fixing charge was 10% less than the total meterage needed, so I'd tell them they needed 22m and my labour charge was 20m. We discussed this a couple of years ago on here and many people pointed out that the 22m was still being handled and cut so it should be charged for. Ok so adhesive and grout is still 20m worth but, how many times have we all used a bit more because a wall isn't 100% true? It's all swings and roundabouts, the extra 10% covers us for using a bit extra or any unforeseen difficulties. At the end of the day, if a customer has accepted a price it's irrelevant really, I'd rather add that bit extra and then if I use an extra bag of adhesive I'm not out of pocket.

 

[John Benton]

John i dont want to get bitchy here ,but i put em wherever the customer wants me to put them,now as we all know here tiles are tiles ,where as you dont need to buy a full 3mts of worktop to get one and a half mts out of it as you will know, would you pay for something that you are not getting ,i for one won,t ,so for my next job i,ve got to tell my customer that the job is twenty mts but im going to charge them for 22mts ,ok ill try it

What I meant was if for example you are asked to tile a room that is 2.5m x 2.5m and the ceiling is 2.5m high. The customer has selected a 60x60 tile then you are clearly going to have waste.

If you have purchased 25m2 of tiles (actual area of 4 walls), minus the size of the window(s) and door, you will be short of tiles. Do you tell the customer after they have budgeted for the tiles that you are short, or is it better to have the 10% allowed for waste and cuts sat there in the room so you can fix them?

 

[AMtek]

I personally don't really understand adding 10% on and telling the customer that you have to charge for an extra 10% to compensate for cuts? why not just add 10% on to your meterage price? I always just give an all in price but if they ask for a meter rate I will just work out how many meters I think I will do in a day and divide my day rate by that. Every job is different so I don't really have a meterage price for domestic

 

[charlie1]

Interesting replies but we are missing my point. I'm getting more at bathroom companies who subcontract you to tile at an agreed M2 rate, once this rate has been agreed, how they try to shaft you on amount you think you are due. Here is one i am experiencing, 90% of the jobs i am getting from a company all have wet wall, this area is probably the easiest 6 m2 you will do in a bathroom leaving the other 14 - 16 m2 hindered by cutting round doors, windows and bulkheads. Makes me suspicious as the

Other tricks include no tiles on job upon arrival leaving you with either a fay off or you collect them yourself...etc...basically chancers, we all know the type

 

[AMtek]

In that situation could you not arrange to view the job before you start so you can put in a quote for the job? My first few jobs for a new company I make sure I view the job and agree a price before I'll book it in the diary

 

[Stef]

I personally don't really understand adding 10% on and telling the customer that you have to charge for an extra 10% to compensate for cuts? why not just add 10% on to your meterage price? I always just give an all in price but if they ask for a meter rate I will just work out how many meters I think I will do in a day and divide my day rate by that. Every job is different so I don't really have a meterage price for domestic

You don't tell the customer!!!
If you measure up a bathroom & it's bang on 20m2 the you MUST add on that 10% to cover wastage or you will be short of tiles, unless you are really lucky & your using 500x500 tiles & your room measures 3mx2.5m, then common sense states you will have very little wastage.
It was the 1st thing I was told when starting measuring my own jobs, god even the staff at B&Q will tell you to add 10%...

 

[Stef]

In that situation could you not arrange to view the job before you start so you can put in a quote for the job? My first few jobs for a new company I make sure I view the job and agree a price before I'll book it in the diary

The builders I work for I measure off a scale drawing (trade sheets).
The house isn't built before I get to measure for tiles.

 

[AMtek]

god even the staff at B&Q will tell you to add 10%...

I think everyone knows that you add on for waste when you tell the customer how many m2 of tiles they need. What if a customer asks for a m2 rate? do you tell them its x amount per m2 but you need to add on 10% for cuts?

 

[AMtek]

Why is this all turning into an argument anyway? there's no right or wrong way to estimate a job, do it however you want as long as your earning whatever you need to be at the end of the job.

 

[Brian the Tile]

Yes the staff would say that wouldnt they , to cover for all the broken ones, and oh have I got it wrong,you don't charge forthe exta tiles you are not fixing, if so lm sorry for my previous comments

 

[Brian the Tile]

You don't tell the customer!!!
If you measure up a bathroom & it's bang on 20m2 the you MUST add on that 10% to cover wastage or you will be short of tiles, unless you are really lucky & your using 500x500 tiles & your room measures 3mx2.5m, then common sense states you will have very little wastage.
It was the 1st thing I was told when starting measuring my own jobs, god even the staff at B&Q will tell you to add 10%...

you dont have a mtr rate for domestic? Why is that?

 

[AMtek]

Yes the staff would say that wouldnt they , to cover for all the broken ones, and oh have I got it wrong,you don't charge forthe exta tiles you are not fixing, if so lm sorry for my previous comments

They say add extra tiles over what the room actually measures because there is always going to be waster off the cut tiles. You don't charge for whole tiles that aren't fixed but people charge for the portion of the cut tile that isn't fixed

Don't have a m2 rate for domestic? is that aimed at me? if so its because I price jobs based on how many days I think the job will take because if the job is very awkward it is going to take a lot longer that 4 bare walls with no reveals, boxes, neiches, etc.

 

[Stef]

They say add extra tiles over what the room actually measures because there is always going to be waster off the cut tiles. You don't charge for whole tiles that aren't fixed but people charge for the portion of the cut tile that isn't fixed

Don't have a m2 rate for domestic? is that aimed at me? if so its because I price jobs based on how many days I think the job will take because if the job is very awkward it is going to take a lot longer that 4 bare walls with no reveals, boxes, neiches, etc.

You don't charge for whole tiles that aren't fixed?
So you will take half that tile off your measure?
It takes you longer to fit a cut tile as you need to cut it then fit it!!!

I go & measure up a job, it's 20m2 dead measure, I add on 10% wastage, I charge the job at 22m2.

I give up on this thread, honestly.

 

[Andy Allen]

Lol .......I gave up ages ago.

 

[Stef]

Lol .......I gave up ages ago.

Large WALL
Bang HEED..

 

[AMtek]

You don't charge for whole tiles that aren't fixed?
So you will take half that tile off your measure?

What you going on about now? it sounded to me like he thought that if you had half a box of tiles spare that weren't touched then you charged for fixing those as well which surely you don't.

I'm out. try and give some other opinions on how things could be done and people try to make out that you're some sort of idiot. No wonder there seems to be less and less people posting in the arms every week

 

[Stef]

What you going on about now? it sounded to me like he thought that if you had half a box of tiles spare that weren't touched then you charged for fixing those as well which surely you don't.

I'm out. try and give some other opinions on how things could be done and people try to make out that you're some sort of idiot. No wonder there seems to be less and less people posting in the arms every week

What I've been stating since the start of this thread is that there are comments that we are trying to rip peeps off because we are charging for the extra 10%.
You have to charge at a m2 that extra or you are short changing yourself & then your short on tiles.
What do people not get?
It's simples arithmetic, it's not Rocket Surgery..
There's no argument here, well not from me.

Amtek, reading back on what you posted I thought you only charged for half a tile?
I see reading back what your saying, but some on here can't grasp the concept of 10% wastage.

 

[Brian the Tile]

ha ha ha now i am totaly lost,but there is one thing for sure the title on this thread about sums things up ,merry christmas and ill remember who not to ask to measure any of my jobs or even let em in the house in the first place ,im out also

 

[Stef]

ha ha ha now i am totaly lost,but there is one thing for sure the title on this thread about sums things up ,merry christmas and ill remember who not to ask to measure any of my jobs or even let em in the house in the first place ,im out also

Well Brian seeing as you seem to be god all mighty in the tiling world & you still haven't answered my question,
You measure a bathroom at 20m2 bang on with your tape or whatever other measuring device you use,
How many m2 do you tell the client to get????

 

[Brian the Tile]

i only charge per mtr on any job,i feel that doing it that way no one feels that they are being ripped off regardless of whether i am there one day or ten days ,the customer knows where they stand

 

[Stef]

i only charge per mtr on any job,i feel that doing it that way no one feels that they are being ripped off regardless of whether i am there one day or ten days ,the customer knows where they stand

So how many m2 do you get for a 20m2 dead job?????

 

[AMtek]

Amtek, reading back on what you posted I thought you only charged for half a tile?
I see reading back what your saying, but some on here can't grasp the concept of 10% wastage.

I very rarely charge a meterage rate, normally just a price for how long I think that particular job will take me and an estimate for materials separately stating that materials are on estimate only and could cost more. And just to put the cat among the pigeons I normally ask for 15% extra tiles especially large format but tell them that there will probably be tiles to take back.

If I do have to give a meterage rate I will still estimate how long the job will take and divide that by how many m2 of fixed tiles there will be. I'm not losing out by not accounting for the cuts etc because the m2 rate was worked out from my day rate for that particular job. That way works for me but each to his own