Tilers

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Jools600

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Has anyone any experience of tilers ?
I am currently having my hall, downstairs cloakroom, bathroom and en suite completely tiled in my new house.It amounts to about 100sqm.
We agreed a price of €35 a sq m with the builders tilerfor this work since the tiles were porcelain.
I ordered all the tiles from a place I was recommended.
In the past 4 weeks I have had to send back the wall/floor tiles since they were not porcelain and the tiler demonstrated their weakness by breaking some across his knee. We agreed with the company where we bought the tiles that they would replace them with a porcelain tile. No probs there except that we had to wait 2 weeks whilst since they had to be shipped from Spain.
The tiler did not have any issues with the floor tiles but now says that the tile cutter he is using (sigma) only shattered the porcelain wall tiles.
Eventually after another long story he had to hire a wet store. Now the price has gone up to €45sqm (costing is another €500) since there is more labour involved such as cutting of the wall tile is taking longer, it has to be cut downstairs and then moved upstairs since the wet saw is way too big to move up the stairs. Plus we have to pick up the tab for hiring of the wet saw (amount unknown at this time).

Does anyone have any views on this or even experiences to share ?
 
IMO an agreed price is an agreed price, if he agreed the price knowing they were porcelain then he should have the necessary tools. Problem is that tilers are hard to get and he could feck off if you play it too hard with him. Sounds like a nixer so you less wriggle room if it is.

slighty OT, a friend of mine got her bathroom done and the tiler did it at night, crooked tiles everywhere, but she held back 30% of the agreed price after completion to allow the tiles to set, which he didnt end up getting.
 
Jools600 said:
Has anyone any experience of tilers ?
I am currently having my hall, downstairs cloakroom, bathroom and en suite completely tiled in my new house.It amounts to about 100sqm.
We agreed a price of €35 a sq m with the builders tilerfor this work since the tiles were porcelain.
I ordered all the tiles from a place I was recommended.
In the past 4 weeks I have had to send back the wall/floor tiles since they were not porcelain and the tiler demonstrated their weakness by breaking some across his knee. We agreed with the company where we bought the tiles that they would replace them with a porcelain tile. No probs there except that we had to wait 2 weeks whilst since they had to be shipped from Spain.
The tiler did not have any issues with the floor tiles but now says that the tile cutter he is using (sigma) only shattered the porcelain wall tiles.
Eventually after another long story he had to hire a wet store. Now the price has gone up to €45sqm (costing is another €500) since there is more labour involved such as cutting of the wall tile is taking longer, it has to be cut downstairs and then moved upstairs since the wet saw is way too big to move up the stairs. Plus we have to pick up the tab for hiring of the wet saw (amount unknown at this time).

Does anyone have any views on this or even experiences to share ?
Click to expand...

I would have thought 45 a square meter is frankly rip off territroy. i thought it was closer to 15 a square yard, esp for bigger jobs
 
Hi,

I am having an old cracked plastic shower tray removed and replaced with tiled concrete base. Also having the 3 shower walls retiled totaling 3 sq meters plus 1 sq meter for the base plus having existing shower door removed and replaced.

Total cost as nixer by qualified plumber/tiler is €200 cash. I have seen his work and it is excellent.

Also had 20 sq meter kitchen/dining floor tiles laid about 6 months ago for €350 cash. This was a differnt guy and his workmanship was fine also.

On this basis you seem to be paying a bit over the top.
 
Hi Jools,

Sorry to hear about the problems you are having. In this Tiling key post there is a reference to €25 a square yard if that is of any help to you.
 
We are buying a new house and got the builder's tiler to put extra tiles in, over and above the allowance. Some of the tiles are those stone ones and we were told that they required a wet saw to cut them. I can't remember the rates but I do know that it was a good bit extra to do them. We weren't asked for the price of the saw hire - if they are charging extra per square meter, I would expect that that price should include any equipment rental etc.

Make no mistake - using workers on site is the most expensive way in my opinion. In our case, we went ahead because the tiling can all be done before you take possession of the house - so it is really handy, but we have paid out for extras to other trades and from what I can see they are charging a fortune. However, they are on site and available, so we didn't want to start chasing around afterwards trying to get tradesmen to do jobs they probably consider too small.
 
Ballymagash said:
We are buying a new house and got the builder's tiler to put extra tiles in, over and above the allowance. Some of the tiles are those stone ones and we were told that they required a wet saw to cut them.
Click to expand...

Tiling is not hard to do yourself, be patient though. A water cutter is about €10 a day. Avoid Sam Hire like the plague (i am in Galway and they fecked me around too)
 
Thanks for all your replies.

I was up at the house yesterday to see the tiler(s) there are 3 of them and my wife insisted on taking his favourite tipple (brandy) as I had "upset" him on the phone on Friday arguing with him over the extra cost so more cost!
The tiler is convinced that the tiles are 2nds due a pink highlighting mark on the side of the wall tile (no such mark on the floor tile) He reckons the tiles are overbaked and that is why they are so hard to cut. The company I bought them off had said this is definately not the case. Anyway there is a place I can send the tile to have it examined.
The tiler had threatened to leave the job half way through but this will then hold up us moving into the house in 2 weeks time. The bathrooms cannot be fitted until the tiling is completed. Our hands really are tied

I did talk to the tile company and they said the going rate for tiling porcelain is about €45 to €55 sqm (i'm in the wrong job)

Thanks
 
I've been reading the above with interest. Firstly I think €45 per sq. m is very pricey for tile laying, regardless of the type of tile. I've tiled my own hall, kitchen and porch using a porcelain tile (pilkington versatile). I bought a cheap diamond wet saw in Argos for about €65 and it has had plenty of use and lthere's lots more life in the saw yet. I would imagine a more realistic rate for tile laying would be about €25 per sq. m as said earlier, unless the tiles are small (say 4" x4") and laid at 45 degrees, as mine were in the hall. This requires very careful setting out and probably more cutting so therefore justifies a slightly higher rate. I don't think a "Sigma" tile cutter would cut any kind of porcelain tile whether wall tile or not. Porcelain is fully vitrified (not surfaced glazed like cheaper tiles)and will not break on a score line. I know, when I first started tile laying the store where I bought the tiles tried to hire out a Sigma to me for this purpose. Word of mouth is your only reccommendation when it comes to any getting any kind of work done in your house.
 
Hello Jools600, It looks like your dealing with a right B**tard! I know some good tilers and have done a fair bit myself and there is no doubt that this bloke is trying to rip you off.

Don't go ahead with this just because you want these things done before you move into your house. This is not a huge job and should only cause minor inconvienience if you are living there especially since most houses have more than one bathroom/toilet.

Also, I certainly would not worry about letting him go half way through the job. Its not like its a big plumbing job thats going to be left half done! There should be no problem for anyone taking over a tiling job thats already been started.
 
It should not matter what type of tile you are using he supplied the original quote with this in mind. Sounds to me like his original quote wasn't great anyway but I'd drop him like a bad habit and get someone who comes recommended by friends or family.
This looks like a classic lets milk the FTB for more money kinda farce.

Good Luck ;)
 
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