tiling Floor - what shoul I be paying

[Toddler78]

guys, im after opinions, I have just built a house and am getting quotes, one of which is for tiling.
I already have the tiles they are a 600sq polished porcolin tile and I am tiling an area of approx 45sqm
I rang 3 companies, 1 never bothered to return my call, so I have really had two quotes, both quite different.

quote 1 was $2300, nice guy, young, but I got the impression that he was new at it and am worried about his skill level.

quote 2 was $4996, this guy knew what he was talking about, explained everything to me, even including grinding the slab so that is is flat and gives a good addhesion for the tiles.

from the few people I have spoken to about $50 per sqm seems to be the going rate but the second quote is about $100 pr sqm.

if any guys in the trade or people that have had tiling done recently can chime in to give me a better idea would be great.
I really want to use the sencond guy as I feel confident that he will do an excellent job but I cant justify double the price for labour only

[vuss383]

Both quotes are acceptable . Depending on the amount of work around the price will vary a fair amout. When I lay polished with a rectified edge my pricing starts at $ 75 m/sq min. . In saying that I have opposition here that will lay it for $ 40 m/sq . I have always had plenty of work & don't feel the need to play price games with other tilers .

I can not stress to you enough to have a look at both guys work & try to make sure it's of similar nature to what you want done . A porcelin rectified tile laid with a 1.5mm grout joint will look absoultly shocking with even 1mm lip on the top edge . The guy that is saying that he will grind/ fill to prepare the floor for tiling would have my vote .

Troy

[Fabio's CV8]

My old man is a tiler and I have done alot of work tiling myself.

600 x 600 porcelain is not the easiest tile to lay and you don't want to take shortcuts. What vuss383 said is correct, a small lip will look awful. Grinding the slab is a great idea, because your house is new the plasterers and painters would of left crap everywhere, so giving it a grind will remove that and help the glue stick to the concrete slab.

The going rate in vic is around $50 sqm. Your second quote does seem quite expensive. I would probably shop around a bit more.

[seldo]

Having just tiled two bathrooms this year for my girls and done another half dozen over the last 10 years, I am firmly convinced that no matter what a tiler charges - it's NOT ENOUGH! It is a shit of a job, and if you are fussy and pedantic as I am, it is so time consuming!
I think the going rate here is about $75/m, but I also totallly endorse the idea of having the floor ground first to ensure it's level and has no dags.
Also, you should ask to see some recent work - I broke my arm halfway through one recent job and the daughter had a "professional tiler" come in to finish part of it. I was horrified at the disgraceful standard of the work. I'd be ashamed to put my name to it, and I'm only a mug...

[vuss383]

Seldo , after close on 20 yrs in the game I can tell you there are not many out there that take any pride in their work . Yeh sure they follow the Aust standard , but that is just getting looser as the years go by.

Troy

[Toddler78]

thanks guys for your advise it is greatly appriacted, as stated I really want to use the second guy as he really put me at ease with his laying method, I know it will be a good job, I just dont want to feel ripped off if I can justify the price I will definatly go with him. everyone I have spoken to has told me the 600sq porcolin tiles are dificult to lay and can look shit if done wrong.

[CLUBRED]

Just make sure he is the one doing the work, similar thing happened to my parents, builder quoted their deck he was really good and informative. He ended up sending 3 other blokes out who had NFI, wobbly posts, measured the new sliding doors wrong so they just cut the opening bigger (in a brick house), looks like turd.