Newb help - 1st proper job

[Falcone]

A girl at work wants me to do her mums bathroom, its 16sqm and the old tiles need removed. Her mum asked me to tile on top but I explained the reasons behind not tiling on top of tiles. She wanted them tiled on top as she doesnt know a plasterer if the walls need prepped or, I assumed, she doesnt want to pay someone to fix the walls.

This would be my first job out of my own home (just done ma bathroom) and I was gonna remove the tiles for her for free seeing as I'm just happy to get the experience and charge her £18 a sqm (£288) and then add mats on to this price.

I kinda got the idea that as it's my first job they were expecting it to be "cheap". As I want the experience should I stick with my sqm rate or should I maybe do it a bit cheaper seeing as its my first job and they know its my first proper job.

Also, she has tiled her kitchen in mosiac and has left a strip along kitchen worktop under her units. it needs half of 1 square of the mosiac to finish it along this strip. are these small pieces easy enough to cut, id imagine, in a wet cutter?

thanks in advance...

 

[brummie tiler]

mosaics are easy enough to cut on the wetcutter but can be time consuming if u have a lot 2 do. As for the price of the job its a tough one to call being as its your first one, but if i was in your position i would charge exactly what i would be charging in the future, start as you mean to go on. Its easy to fall into the trap of lowering your prices just to get work and then you start to get a reputation that you dont want.
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Also there is no way i would be removing them tiles free of charge, you just never know how easy they are going to come off + its time consuming clearing up after yourself - go in at day rate

 

[DevonR]

Stick with your pricing bud, if not everytime she wants a little job done she'll expect a cheap job. Just because it's your first job doesn't mean it wont be professional. Plus as said above you have no idea how easily the tiles will come off or the damage that might be done.
You've already said she won't pay a plasterer so maybe she'll expect you to if you damage her walls.

BEWARE.

 

[penno]

Don't remove the tiles for free mate it can be hard graft, humping buckets of old tiles down the stairs all day is hard work. Stick with your rate mate because you may well do a great job for her and next thing her friends see it and they want theres doing aswell, could work out that you end up doing 2-3 jobs on the cheap.

 

[brian c]

as above plus if you do take tiles off make sure you put thick blankets over bath ,wc,basin,take your time.If it is plasterboard on walls it might come off with the tiles depends how they are stuck on so be prepared for a nightmare scenario all for free then you have the pleasure of getting rid of 16m2 of broken tiles.Wear gloves when lifting tiles as these can be very sharp.JUST TRYING TO CAUTION YOU M8.:whatchutalkingabout

 

[Falcone]

thanks for the replies.

I suppose I could tell her what she'd expect to pay for a "seasoned" tiler and then break it down to her what I'm charging.

I still think she wants me to tile over the tiles and she prob doesnt want to pay for me removing them and for a plasterer if needs be. I don't wanna walk away from this job seeing as its my first and I'm keen to get on and get some experience under my belt but at the same time I dont want to be under pricing... :mad2:

 

[DHTiling]

Just tell her all the pro's and cons of tiling on tiles...and let her make the decision to go ahead...tell her you cant guarantee your work on top of someone else's and if its what she wants then the decision is her's...good luck and let us know how it goes.....

 

[GazTech]

Just tell her all the pro's and cons of tiling on tiles...and let her make the decision to go ahead...tell her you cant guarantee your work on top of someone else's and if its what she wants then the decision is her's...good luck and let us know how it goes.....

I agree with Dave..if she is happy to go over the tiles and they are secure enough...provided they she is not having large format tiles...you will be fine...agree a price with them and stick to it....Good luck...Gaz

 

[postie]

It sounds to me that she wants a cheap as chips job ,beware mate this job could ruin your rep before you even start if tiles fail when going over someone else's work.

 

[Falcone]

Thanks guys...

Im gonna go into work today and speak with her daughter, I'll tell her that if her mum wants me to tile on top of tiles I cant guarantee a good job as I dont know whats behind existing tiles and I don't know how wll current tiles are fixed etc etc. Will tell her I'll have to charge for taking tiles off and i'll give her my rough estimate excluding mats at the moment. If she still wants tiles on top of tiles I'll have to reconsider taking the job as I really wouldn't want to do this...

I've told her i'd do the mosiacs for nothing already its not a lot of work really, its roughly a metre long strip.

thanks for all the replies, I'll let you know how it goes

 

[Fekin]

If the customer knows this is someones first ever propper tiling job then I can understand her thinking she should be paying less than a experianced tiler, I know I would do.

Wether anyones first propper job is ever professional is debatable too, no offence Falcone intended what-so-ever, but when you start out after doing a course and then your own bathroom you may feel you have done a very good job on your own, and then go onto a paying customer, but as time goes on and the jobs start coming in, your own bathroom might "only might" end up looking not as good as you first thought.

I did my bathroom after my course, thought I'd done a brilliant job, thought it looked perfect, wife thought it looked brilliant but as I was doing more and more bathrooms\kitchens etc my own bathroom started to look a bit rough around the edges, and now I feel like doing my bathroom again as my quality has improved 10 fold from when I first did my bathroom, and Im sure many others have felt the same before me.
It's just one of those things, practice makes perfect, and it's very rare to be perfect straight off from the get go.

If my first customer knew it was my first ever propper job, I'd expect to be charging less, would have been different if customer didn't know though.

Just my own opinion.

 

[DevonR]

You know how to check to see if the previous tiles have decent coverage don't you?
If not use a coin to tap the tiles, if the noise ishollow then likelihood is it's dot and dabbed to fix. If it's a solid noise then likelihood is it's got decent coverage.
Don't forget to take into account your weights for the walls if you tile over the previous.

Good luck bud.

 

[Falcone]

No offence taken Fekin mate, I know what your saying. :yes:

so what would you guys charge for this job (estimate obv)?

16sqm bathroom to be tiled, standard ceramic tiles, no borders or nowt,
remove old tiles, finish off mosiac edges in kitchen (roughly 1-2 metric metres long)
bearing in mind this is your first job.

Will let you's know what I estimated her today when few replies are up.

Thanks again guys

 

[myhometiling]

day rate £150 for removing tiles & mosiacs in kitchen..
bayhroom min £350 mats extra.

calvy..

 

[Falcone]

ok, seeing as it was my first job and I really want the experience AND im currently working full time so not desperate for money etc I quoted £350 and mats will be extra...

I'm happy with this and I hope she accepts and I can get this job in soon