Last bathroom before a break

[macten]

Trying to get this one done in 7 days which means I can rest up a bit before the next one. I feel broken.
Usual thing of gutting and ripping out.
Only 3 walls to tile and for the first time I'm using 6mm ceramics (1st time since tiler school anyway) Only ever had porc + natural stone jobs. Can't believe how fast they are to work with.

Nice Pacific Blue suite:

[macten]

Lot of water damage from old bath pipes, floor was rotten:

Old Rad was microbore and had been weeping under the floor for a while.
Didn't use reducers as I wanted rid so swapped the T's and routed 15mm out of wall ready for towel rad:

[faithhealer]

I know this is the tiling forum but I can't believe they took microbore off a nice and handy 22 pipe!

[macten]

Only a small alteration needed to the Basin and WC pipework:

[macten]

I know this is the tiling forum but I can't believe they took microbore off a nice and handy 22 pipe!

Kinked and blocked - can't believe it can you!

[macten]

After scraping the worst of the old addy off the walls I skimmed the bathwall with rapid and over-boarded window wall. Also did left reveal to equalise the window frame a bit nicer:

[macten]

The hot water feed had to be cut back under floor and resoldered to new position as there was no straight piece of pipe for the push-fits
(If Ram or Wivers read this - THAT was the The pipe )

[macten]

Bath screwed and blobbed in place, then tanked:

NMP down and made a start on framework for bath panel:

[macten]

Wickes finest (joking aside they are so nice to work with):



My usual motto for tiling is 1 day 1 wall but I did 2!
Look at me go, I'm smoking

[macten]

The boxing in was 'twisted' and needed quite a bit of skimming.
I'd set out all nice to balance all 3 walls and avoid the slither cuts in this area like before but that meant me knocking the window out of center by an inch but the customer was adamant the window should be centered and he did not mind slither cuts at all.
After a bit of a debate I suggested I add a couple of more pieces of plasterboard to the side of the boxing in and he could have it centered.
I did this and also moved the shaver socket over to the left so he still had room for the mirrored cabinet he had bought.

This was at my time and expense - Should I have just set out like he wanted or is it best to do what you know is right?

[macten]

Finished the day making new framework for shelf:

Wish all baths had such deep wooden frames - makes a tilers job a lot easier!

[2Balls]

Hi, Here is an alternative way to centre a window. I personaly hate L-cuts on Doors and Windows.I hope you don`t mind.Centre the tile to the middle of the window, and cut 2 tiles ,to the sides(Big cuts).Easy to keep symetric.But at the end of the day the customer was happy with slithers.Just another alternative to offer.Enjoy your break2Balls

[aflemi]

Indeed 2balls, always 2 centres, 1 down edge, 1 down middle.
Macten, another good job thanks for the valuable 'real-time' posts.
Nasty tiles btw, but a lot better than the previous blue suite......
1 week is good going, friend of a friend of mine had their bathroom refurbed recently, big room 10ft x 17ft but it took 3 weeks. half ceramic tiled exept for walk in shower, ufh, inset bath Couple of bits of fitted units, 1 tall. Nice job but £11k?
The guy also did their cloakroom, usual size, little bit of furniture, wall hung wc, £3.5k?????? Oh, the cloakroom took him 3 weeks as well. This fitter is local and they had to book him in 4 months in advance. He actually doesn't do any of the work, just sub-contracts to spark, tiler + plumber, wee bit of project managing, keeps on top of things etc.
This is my long-term aim, makes me think there is profitable business to be had, even in this recession.
I'm in home counties btw, maybe more money than sense here.....

[macten]

Not sure I like the shortened tiles - may center window but loose symmetry in the field tiles. Also don't like the idea of cut against rectified edge but thanks for all the input guys it's much appreciated.
£1500 - £2000 labour is the average I charge for full refurbs and that includes sourcing suites, fixtures the lot.
Is that too cheap?

[aflemi]

that doesn't sound too bad if you can do it all in a week!!!
Suppose it depends on the area, size of project, how much customers will pay for fancy tiles, taps etc. Although £3.5k for a cloakroom seems excessive, i reckon total materials wouldn't be more than £1700 retail, he would pay £1100-1200. I reckon he took 3 weeks to stretch it out so it didn't seem so steep..
How big do your jobs go for a single bathroom? Are you able to take a margin on fixtures etc?

[macten]

I'd say average suite with good tiles + rad and everything else then the mats come in at about £1800, then I add my labour - I don't make on anything bar the tanking and NMP and that's only quids.

[FreeD]

Seen a couple of your jobs now Macten and u seem to do everything by the book...and the finish is always high quality...don't know what sort of market your working in at the mo...but high end its surprising what people charge and what people would pay for someone to take there time, do the job by the book and leave a quality finish... if i were at your standard i'd be posting posh leaflets through rich peoples houses...when the phone rings pop round with a portfolio show them some of the work u have done and triple (or more) your labour cost...i think u'll be surprised.

[macten]

7 days may be pushing it after the day I've had today

[macten]

I just hope the bathrooms keep coming, even at the low end I've doubled what I earned for all of last year in 2 1/2 months

[Fred]

Its looking good, enjoy the rest mate.

[FreeD]

Dunno bout Derby...but tile shops down here in Somerset are packed with people...tiling is always a good skill to have in a recession...and if you can do full bathroom refurbs ure laughing just gotta have the skills to win the work..which u obviously have.

[aflemi]

Seen a couple of your jobs now Macten and u seem to do everything by the book...and the finish is always high quality...don't know what sort of market your working in at the mo...but high end its surprising what people charge and what people would pay for someone to take there time, do the job by the book and leave a quality finish... if i were at your standard i'd be posting posh leaflets through rich peoples houses...when the phone rings pop round with a portfolio show them some of the work u have done and triple (or more) your labour cost...i think u'll be surprised.

I agree, it seems if you can take full responsibility for electrics, plumbing and tiling, with some design ideas as a bonus, the mark up is much better. I appreciate supplying can be problematic but the margins can be good. I think clients will pay to have their bathroom transformed and with one person to fix any faults, not one tradesman blaming the other or materials for any problems. Many can't be bothered or don't have the skills to source and project manage a bathroom transformation.
However £1500-£2000 labour seems pretty good, I agree that can be increased with larger projects involving more upmarket materials and fittings. That's where I would like to get to eventually.

[LM Ceramics]

another decent job there macten defintley a massive difference to the old blue suite

[2Balls]

Indeed 2balls, always 2 centres, 1 down edge, 1 down middle.
Macten, another good job thanks for the valuable 'real-time' posts.
Nasty tiles btw, but a lot better than the previous blue suite......
1 week is good going, friend of a friend of mine had their bathroom refurbed recently, big room 10ft x 17ft but it took 3 weeks. half ceramic tiled exept for walk in shower, ufh, inset bath Couple of bits of fitted units, 1 tall. Nice job but £11k?
The guy also did their cloakroom, usual size, little bit of furniture, wall hung wc, £3.5k?????? Oh, the cloakroom took him 3 weeks as well. This fitter is local and they had to book him in 4 months in advance. He actually doesn't do any of the work, just sub-contracts to spark, tiler + plumber, wee bit of project managing, keeps on top of things etc.
This is my long-term aim, makes me think there is profitable business to be had, even in this recession.
I'm in home counties btw, maybe more money than sense here.....

Aflemi,Maybe you miss understood me, the main feature is the Window,by taking the right hand edge of the Window,leaves you with cutting about 2 to 2,5cm off a whole tile in the right hand corner. You then centre the Window,not the wall.Or have I missunderstood you.Maybe I`ve been here to long!
2Balls

[aflemi]

Ah right, I think I see what you mean now (red lines overwritten not 100% clear to me). Ok so you would have 2 cut tiles in the middle of a run, at each end of the window?

[2Balls]

Ah right, I think I see what you mean now (red lines overwritten not 100% clear to me). Ok so you would have 2 cut tiles in the middle of a run, at each end of the window?

Hi aflemi, Your right the red lines are not that clear, so here`s another

[aflemi]

Right, ok each to his own. Personally I wouldn't fancy 2 vertical runs of cut edges and narrower tiles in the middle of a wall. Thanks for clarification though.....

[2Balls]

Fair enough mate,the other alternative would be to board out the sides and have no cutting ,as long as you can open the Window!!. Anyway the customer was happy with slithers so it does`nt matter 2Balls

[robbbin]

Re windows..... I was in germany for 3yrs they have a rule which you must follow goes like this

No cut tile may less than 50% of the tile size.

In a window or door situation
full tile from edge window both sides working in towards centre then a cut tile up through centre, if the cut is less than 75% of tile size, you reduce the size of the 2 centre tiles that make sense

[macten]

Well this is how I did it to center window and not have slithers at wall edges: