Quote for 3m x 3m Metro tiles - is this fair

happyc84

Hi, we had a builder quote over £600 to tile 2 walls for our new build kitchen.
Supply and fit white metro tiles area 3m x 3m.

Is this reasonable or are  they adding an uplift due to postcode. Have tried getting other quotes but its difficult for small jobs to get quotes.

Its_not_paranoia

Seems OK to me as a cash price. If that includes VAT, then it's a steal. 

Materials: Tiles £50, adhesive £30 therefore labour: £520. 

Certainly can't be done in a day, two days would be a great effort, so allowing 2.5 days seems very sensible. 

That's £200 a day, which is the going rate for anyone competent in my postcode right now. 
 

Doozergirl

It really depends on the job, but it took our tiler nearly three days to do 'one' wall in our last kitchen because of all the awkward cuts and the fact it was all going around a window, up to existing cabinets, up to the ceiling and around a pier.  He's not slow either, just brilliant.  

That is certainly a feasible price.  Metros can be £10 a metre or £150 depending on where they're from and how they're made, but even at the lower end, still perfectly feasible.  

Another_Level

happyc84 said:

Hi, we had a builder quote over £600 to tile 2 walls for our new build kitchen.
Supply and fit white metro tiles area 3m x 3m.

Is this reasonable or are  they adding an uplift due to postcode. Have tried getting other quotes but its difficult for small jobs to get quotes.

The postcode or a nearby postcode would be helpfull, 
£600 inc vat supplied and fitted (metro tiles  ) is ok but other information would be required to compare costs.

The tiler i use requires £220 per 8 hour day, i have to say its money well spent 

Rosa_Damascena

9m is not that large an area. What makes it more labour-intense is metro tiles (which tend to be cheaper anyway) because aside from the edges, big tiles are just quicker to lay (eg my builder could do more than this area in a day because I chose 500mm x 600mm tiles). So its ultimately your tile price that is tipping the balance here: what you save in tile costs is more than offset by labour costs.

IMHO, I'm no expert.

happyc84

The area is Glasgow South side G41. Thanks for the feedback much appreciated.

grumbler

Its_not_paranoia said:

Materials: Tiles £50,

£5.50 per sq.m.? I don't think so.

Rosa_Damascena

grumbler said:

Its_not_paranoia said:

Materials: Tiles £50,

£5.50 per sq.m.? I don't think so.

Job lot of seconds / ceramics, perchance?

casper_gutman

Rosa_Damascena said:

grumbler said:

Its_not_paranoia said:

Materials: Tiles £50,

£5.50 per sq.m.? I don't think so.

Job lot of seconds / ceramics, perchance?

More likely confusion over numbers.

3m² for £50 would be £16.67/m² which is more likely, rather than (3x3)m²....

NSG666

You've got a builder to quote but why not a tiler? The builder might be getting a tiler to do it and putting a few quid profit on top and it's probable the builder is vat registered but a tiler unlikely to be. It can sound expensive for a small area but as others have said Metro tiles are slow going, loads of cuts to slow the job down. Are they going round sockets and switches which slows the job further and if so are they to remove and refit? Is it 3sq.m or 9sq.m? Don't for get their time to collect materials and there's the cost of trims too.

In our area there are many local facebook pages where people ask for recommendations and someone local won't want to damage their reputation. I used to get plenty of work by customers recommending me this way.

happyc84

NSG666 said:

You've got a builder to quote but why not a tiler? The builder might be getting a tiler to do it and putting a few quid profit on top and it's probable the builder is vat registered but a tiler unlikely to be. It can sound expensive for a small area but as others have said Metro tiles are slow going, loads of cuts to slow the job down. Are they going round sockets and switches which slows the job further and if so are they to remove and refit? Is it 3sq.m or 9sq.m? Don't for get their time to collect materials and there's the cost of trims too.

In our area there are many local facebook pages where people ask for recommendations and someone local won't want to damage their reputation. I used to get plenty of work by customers recommending me this way.

The builder is also doing other work, so we are trying to work if its best to split the work between trades or have 1 trader do it all. The area is 9 square meters (Couldn't work out how to the 3m squared symbol on keyboard).

Thanks for all the comments.