New bathroom - are the leftover tiles mine or the bathroom company's?

Zimchenko

We're the middle of having a bathroom refurb and looks like there's going to be loads of tiles left over, perhaps enough for me to do another shower room in future.

The tiler reckons the fitters will expect to take away spares at the end. I thought I'd own them.

The supply and fitting are two separate quotes from two different firms, though they work closely together. Looking at my invoice from the bathroom supplier I've paid for a price per square meter rather than per tile / box, so they might claim they sent spares just in case.

Is this common? Feels like a bit of a sneaky trick - selling more tiles than needed then selling them again to the next customer.

comeandgo

If the price is per square meter then you get the ones on the wall, the rest belongs to the contractor.  If there are many left over it’s a bonus to the contractor as the fitters did not damage any or tiles break but it could have gone the other way and they would have had to supply more tiles to complete the area.  

Zimchenko

I guess that would make sense to me if it was all under one bill. But I've a contract with the supplier for the supply of tiles, quantified in square meters.

And a separate contract with the bathroom fitter to "fully tile the wall and floor." If anyone (other than me) were to have a right to keep spares, it would be the supplier, no?

Thanks for your reply

fezster

Count how many boxes the supplier sent you and what this equates to in sqm. Does it match what they said they'd supply or did they send extra?

If they sent extra, then let them know and I'm sure they'd want them returned.

I'm not sure why the fitter would get to keep them under any circumstance if all they are being paid to do is fit the tiles.

comeandgo

How closely do the supplier and fitter work together, are they linked companies?  If you have the correct area tiled then they don’t belong to you.

Zimchenko

@comeandgo they are the fitter's preferred supplier but aren't formally linked in the ownership sense.

princeofpounds

Square metres of tile is square metres of tile.

Square metres of tiled wall are square metres of tiled wall.

It seems that you are in the former situation rather than the latter.

So you own the ones on the wall, the ones that broke in the process, and whatever else is required to get you up to your sqm ownership of those tiles.

I agree with comeandgo IF your quote was for square metres of tiled wall, not of tiles.

But your original description of the wording in your quotes was not very precise at all so it's not surprising we get some confusion.

The basic fact is - look at your quote(s)/invoice(s). You bought what it says you bought.

EssexExile

Best ask them.

Doozergirl

So how does the number of square metres on the wall link to the number of square metres you were charged for? 

If they're roughly the same, the tiles don't belong to you. 

If the number you've paid for is significantly higher than what is on the wall, they're arguably yours,  but if it is a
fixed price for the whole
bathroom and you accepted it, you get what is on the wall and no more, because it is a fixed price quote.  

Zimchenko

Cheers guys, looks to me like they sent exactly the number of tiles to cover the sq meters quoted. So I think they essentially overestimated the coverage required in order to allow room for wastage.

So it sounds like they're probably mine.