Pricing a tiling job

[Dumbo]

Hi everyone

I've done several trades across construction, and the thing I struggle most with is pricing, especially on small jobs. I've just finished a job which was only 3 square metres, but took a long time, and I just wanted to see what others would consider charging for it. i know I well undercharged but I wanted the job. What would you charge for labour for a high quality finish given the following:

The customer wanted the job done yesterday, so rather than wait I had to squeeze it in amongst another job. The job is a 40mins drive away or more than an hour if traffic, and was on the third floor of a tower block, requiring a special permit, electric gates etc etc, all making the job take longer. The bathroom is tiny, so I'm always working on top of myself. I have nowhere else in the flat to work

The bathroom is waiting to be fitted out by someone else, so all it has is a plumbed in bath, and I was to retain the existing wall tiles from 600mm above the bath and remove those in between. So i had to fit in a couple of rows of Topps Tiles White Strattons (300 x 600mm) porcelain tiles between the bath and existing tiles.
[GALLERY=media, 15131]Before 1 by JamesT posted May 3, 2017 at 9:07 PM[/GALLERY][GALLERY=media, 15130]Before 2 by JamesT posted May 3, 2017 at 9:07 PM[/GALLERY]
Removing the tiles, old adhesive and patching up holes took me 5 hours.
The top row of new tiles remained whole and the whole bottom row had to be cut. The top row had a metal tile trim, and the bottom row sat on a bath seal, which kept moving all over the place under the weight of the tile. I had to stick it in place first.

The bath wasn't dead plumb and neither was the existing tiles.
Took me two days to remove all old tiles, clean up and cut and fix new tiles.
Third day I came back to grout which was a complete nightmare as the grout got stuck in all the uneven surface and had to be cleaned off with brute force and chemicals. The 2mm grout lines and uneven surface don't allow you to simply wipe the grout over. You have to force it into the gaps, and go over again to bring flush to surface.

Anyway, this is in London, and the standard price for such a sized tile, including adhesive and grout is £x/m2. Clearly no-one is going to do it for £x. I'm a bit slow, but an experienced tiler must surely do this in 2days.

So I would welcome some thoughts. I wanted this job for the experience so I priced low, too low, but next time I'd like to be more on the money.

To be honest I wouldn't of wanted this job with the logistics involved . If you needed it fair enough but if you didn't should price it as you see fit including time for getting up and down stairs or lifts . It's all your time and needs paying for . If they then don't want to go for it do another job instead. I have priced up jobs then priced for another day just for walking ..

 

[ttt tiling]

Hi everyone

I've done several trades across construction, and the thing I struggle most with is pricing, especially on small jobs. I've just finished a job which was only 3 square metres, but took a long time, and I just wanted to see what others would consider charging for it. i know I well undercharged but I wanted the job. What would you charge for labour for a high quality finish given the following:

The customer wanted the job done yesterday, so rather than wait I had to squeeze it in amongst another job. The job is a 40mins drive away or more than an hour if traffic, and was on the third floor of a tower block, requiring a special permit, electric gates etc etc, all making the job take longer. The bathroom is tiny, so I'm always working on top of myself. I have nowhere else in the flat to work

The bathroom is waiting to be fitted out by someone else, so all it has is a plumbed in bath, and I was to retain the existing wall tiles from 600mm above the bath and remove those in between. So i had to fit in a couple of rows of Topps Tiles White Strattons (300 x 600mm) porcelain tiles between the bath and existing tiles.
[GALLERY=media, 15131]Before 1 by JamesT posted May 3, 2017 at 9:07 PM[/GALLERY][GALLERY=media, 15130]Before 2 by JamesT posted May 3, 2017 at 9:07 PM[/GALLERY]
Removing the tiles, old adhesive and patching up holes took me 5 hours.
The top row of new tiles remained whole and the whole bottom row had to be cut. The top row had a metal tile trim, and the bottom row sat on a bath seal, which kept moving all over the place under the weight of the tile. I had to stick it in place first.

The bath wasn't dead plumb and neither was the existing tiles.
Took me two days to remove all old tiles, clean up and cut and fix new tiles.
Third day I came back to grout which was a complete nightmare as the grout got stuck in all the uneven surface and had to be cleaned off with brute force and chemicals. The 2mm grout lines and uneven surface don't allow you to simply wipe the grout over. You have to force it into the gaps, and go over again to bring flush to surface.

Anyway, this is in London, and the standard price for such a sized tile, including adhesive and grout is £x/m2. Clearly no-one is going to do it for £x. I'm a bit slow, but an experienced tiler must surely do this in 2days.

So I would welcome some thoughts. I wanted this job for the experience so I priced low, too low, but next time I'd like to be more on the money.

£*** hopefully 2days
Hassle job in London , could be more

 

[Sean Kelly]

I'm still being caught out with underpricing jobs! The main problem is when customers only want half a job done i.e. keeping their old toilet or shower screen or want you to tile behind pipes that are only 10mm from the wall. Those small bathrooms are the worst. As JRCtiling said, the logistics would have put many tilers off. This would work to your advantage as it would have pushed the price up.

At the end of the day I'm sure you are not actually out of pocket. At least you gained experience.

 

[JamesT]

When I say chemicals, I mean acids. I tried a diluted brick acid, vinegar, and a proper
Extra Strong Residue Remover. The residue remover is just another acid. The problem is that you are supposed to dilute it. I found none of them worked very well, but I daren't use the acid full strength incase I damaged the glaze. The only thing that worked for me was mechanical brute force. I really hammered those tiles with the nylon brush drill bit, pieces of oak and bits of plastic and yet they seemed to fair ok. The client was well pleased, but I definitely thought about giving up building work for good over those two days.

 

[ttt tiling]

£*** hopefully 2days
Hassle job in London , could be more

Sorry bout that , got carried away

 

[Wesley]

Another thing is the fact people in 10 years down the line will find the thread and think the prices quoted are current.

And we all know we are going to be rich once we are out of the EU lol so will up the prices.

Joking aside, get 50 posts and get in the tilersforums arms. You can chat prices in there.

Hi Dan,
Being a new member here on TF, what is a “post” ?. Do I have to raise questions / comments / suggestions ?, or “reply” / share my thoughts on other people’s threads ?. Tks. Wesley

 

[J Sid]

Hi Dan,
Being a new member here on TF, what is a “post” ?. Do I have to raise questions / comments / suggestions ?, or “reply” / share my thoughts on other people’s threads ?. Tks. Wesley

A post is what you have been doing, you have 7 messages or posts now.
You can start a thread to ask a question, you can post on a thread started by someone else to ask questions, pass on advice, give your thoughts.
Get posting and your soon get to 50.

 

[Andy Allen]

always thought a post was a large circular object protruding from the ground.... 🙂

 

[Wesley]

A post is what you have been doing, you have 7 messages or posts now.
You can start a thread to ask a question, you can post on a thread started by someone else to ask questions, pass on advice, give your thoughts.
Get posting and your soon get to 50.

Ok, thanks for the confirmation.

 

[Dan]

Yeah as above, you seem to find your way when you need to. You can start a new thread off by clicking the orange button at the top of most main pages.
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Here is a link if you need it: https://www.tilersforums.com/forums/tiling-forum-tile-advice.43/post-thread