Laying Porcelain

[upsetjoe]

Hi all.

I hired a company to redecorate my 2 bathrooms and the toilets.

I bought porcelain tiles 300*300 and 300*600.

First the guy says porcelain is really hard to lay and he has to charge me an extra £400 to do the job which I agreed knowing porcelain is harder to lay than ceramic.

Then he comes and tells me he needs another extra £400 to finish the job pushing the bill to a total of 1500 to 2500.

I have calculated he now wants to charge in the region £40 a square meter instead of the orignal £20.

I have contacted another company, they had a laugh and gave me quote of £20 per square meters for porcelain.

Is it normal to charge this kind of price per square meter in South London for laying porcelain?

I think he's out of his brains and I want to kick him out of the job tomorrow.

How much shall I pay him for the job he only laid 11 square meters so far?

 

[White Room]

We have no details of the job, what condition of the walls and floors etc. advise can be given but more details maybe required. Pricing is'nt usualy discussed in this part of the forum.

It sounds alot though

 

[DHTiling]

He is taking the P....get rid...

 

[upsetjoe]

They were over jobs involved like sorting the floor and fitting a bath, a shower, cabinets and so on which were priced in his estimate but he hasn't got a problem with that and he knew what was the job since he visited the site and I told him about it. It's the tile job he wants to price up because he either has a problem with that or he's taking the P. I have less than 40 square meters to tile with large tiles and per square meter his price doubled in a fews days to finish the job.

Sorry about putting figures I was not aware it was not allowed.😳

I'm going to sack him tomorrow and I want to know how much money I should give him if any for sorting the floor, doing the plumbing, installing the shower tray, the bath and putting 10 square meters of tiles.

You can answer private if you wish.

 

[DHTiling]

AHHH.. so he is not just tiling in that price..?

 

[upsetjoe]

AHHH.. so he is not just tiling in that price..?

As I said he hasn't got a problem with anyting else it's the tiles he has a problem with and keep demanding money for.

He's quoting me extras only for the tile job because they are porcelain and for him it should be twice more to lay that ceramic.

I hope I make miself clear.

 

[DHTiling]

Porcelain isn't twice the price as ceramic to fit IMO..It dry cuts and is not hard to lay...

Discuss your concerns with your installer and if he isn't happy then switch installers.

 

[upsetjoe]

Porcelain isn't twice the price as ceramic to fit IMO..It dry cuts and is not hard to lay...

Discuss your concerns with your installer and if he isn't happy then switch installers.

The thing is I was going to discuss with him about that tomorrow but I recalculted the square meters I have and check on the internet and the maximum you can charge for porcelaine is more that 30% per square meter below his estimate and what he charges is the price for antiques or mozaic.

 

[DHTiling]

The maximum you can charge for tiling is upto the fixer really....but extreme pricing does take place in this world we live in...

Have a word and if he doesn't budge then you have the option to shift fixers.

 

[upsetjoe]

2 other companies gave me a better quote today and one sent someone to have a look in on hour. They had a laugh and they are happy to finish the job by wednesday for half the price and it is people I already worked with.

As far as I am concerned he's gone, he has upsetted me with his demands. :mad2:

 

[Alan.P]

As has been said, porcelain isn't hard to fix, if he has no grounds for upping his price, and it would have to be unforeseen circumstances in my opinion to up a price, then boot him if he can't give a valid reason,that said, his original quote does seem on the low end of the scale ( mine at least ) 😀

 

[upsetjoe]

As has been said, porcelain isn't hard to fix, if he has no grounds for upping his price, and it would have to be unforeseen circumstances in my opinion to up a price, then boot him if he can't give a valid reason,that said, his original quote does seem on the low end of the scale ( mine at least ) 😀

No problem with that I have no problem paying a bit more for a good job but obviously here this is not the case especially when people here say it is not that difficult to lay and that guy keep winging because it is too hard to lay to hard to cut and too hard to drill as if they were made of reinforced titanium coated with teflon.

 

[Alan.P]

No problem with that I have no problem paying a bit more for a good job but obviously here this is not the case especially when people here say it is not that difficult to lay and that guy keep winging as if my tiles came from Mars.

I agree with you totally, I think your well within your rights to get shot of this guy, one word of caution though, cheaper isn't 'always' best. I see you have worked with this new firm before, hope it works out for you.

 

[DHTiling]

hard to cut and too hard to drill as if they were made of reinforced titanium coated with teflon.

So not porcelain then..?..:lol:...

 

[Alan.P]

So not porcelain then..?..:lol:...

Haven't you seen the new reinforced titanium impregnated porc tiles, coated with Teflon so nothing sticks, silly buggers put it on both sides, you try getting one fixed and stay in place :mad2: 😀

EDIT: and it's only TilersForums humour upsetjoe, we''re not having a go mate.

 

[upsetjoe]

Haven't you seen the new reinforced titanium impregnated porc tiles, coated with Teflon so nothing sticks, silly buggers put it on both sides, you try getting one fixed and stay in place :mad2: 😀

EDIT: and it's only TilersForums humour upsetjoe, we''re not having a go mate.

Just tell me where I can get some. :drool5:

 

[Alan.P]

Just tell me where I can get some. :drool5:

I'm fresh out at the mo, as soon as I get some more in stock I'll holla

 

[Deleted member 9966]

Joe,

I'm not a professional tile fixer, and my first big tile job was to lay porcelain tiles over my kitchen floor. I used a cheap and nasty dry cutter and found it, not easy but not difficult or hard either. the tiles were tough to cut but not impossible.

speak to your tiler about your concerns. if the company you have appointed to carry out the works are a fairly long standing organisation, they should surely have the right equipment to cut porcelain tiles.

be bold and ask why the price is now doubling because the tiles you have chosen are not ceramics. there should be relatively little difference between ceramic and porcelain if the tile fixers have experience of fixing both.

also, if you agreed a price up front, then the tiler should either stick to that price or at least come to some kind of compromise as to the increase in price. i suspect he's trying it on. challenge him and don't back down. make sure you get the quality job you want at the price that is sensible for the work carried out. if he puts up a fuss, offer to pay him for the work he's done already and end it there. find a new fixer and move on with your bathrooms.

we're here to help

 

[upsetjoe]

Basically he sacked himself out of the job this morning.

I told him another company came over last night and they would do the job for two tenners a square because even if they are porcelain they are large pannels and easy lo lay and he said he's not going to go under the last quote he gave.

On top of that his mesurements were wrong he told me there where 45 where I calculated 39. He got real ****ed and ask his tiler to recalculate, which he did twice and found out there were only 35!

I would like to thank every one, everything that has been said here matches what happened in the real world except for the titanium coated part and I have a couple a new guys to finish the job on Monday.

Regards. :8:

 

[jay]

like that large panels easy to lay:lol: good luck with new tilers hope it works out:8:

 

[upsetjoe]

Thanks.

Will tell you how it goes with the new guys.

 

[DHTiling]

Maybe a few pics as well....

 

[upsetjoe]

Maybe a few pics as well....

I can see some of you have a fetish for tiles here...:ninja:

 

[Deleted member 9966]

Joe

most of the fixers on here live and breathe tiles.... actually, maybe that's just me 😳

 

[Sean fsy]

ive seen these so called jobs that the one man does everything and beleive me they are shockingingly bad(not all cases but most of them) do the maths, a plumber is about £240 a day (£30 an hour) he is not going to waste time tiling when he can make easier money doing other stuff. as said porcelain can either be very easy to lay or very bad, normally the ones with like a vain going through the tile are a bugger to cut as you have to do every cut on the wet cutter on the other hand some split with the least effort possible. even if i am doing a big job with porcelain i make sure i cover the cost of a new wet blade just incase it wrecks it (about £18)

 

[upsetjoe]

I attached a few pictures, now you go and tell me if it's worth the money and what you think about his job.

 

[DHTiling]

:yikes::yikes::yikes::yikes:

 

[upsetjoe]

Hopefully I stopped him shy of 12 square meters and he has the balls to ask me extra.

 

[mjp770]

all I have to say is " OH MY DEAR LORD":incazzato:

 

[upsetjoe]

Nice website Dave do you have a branch in London.

 

[White Room]

Mmmmmmmmm nice:yikes: