Am I overpricing?

[jocky102]

Originally Posted by mz30

Hi nw
AS you think i am so cheap let me tell you this.

Fact1:11m2 is a one day job for any tiler worth his salt.
Fact2:if it takes you 1/2 a day to grout up 11m2 your in the wrong job
Fact3:If my prices are so cheap how come i put close on £80,000 through my books last year
Fact4:half the people labeled on this forum as professional tiler's have only just done a p*** poor nvq course that i would not hire anyone who had one to do any work for me.
Fact5:If you do not want honest opinions do not post on an open forum.
Fact6:If you know what your doing (if)then you would know how to price a job correctly and not listen to people who spend all day everyday on this forum ,because they are pricing themselves out of work.


Final point ,as you want to pick faults in my pricing ,at no stage in my tiling have i asked for advice on pricing ,and i'll bet you a pound to a penny that i have forgot more than most people know.


Moan over

ok here is to your FACT 5

im assuming you work alone, im wondering how you manage £80.000 a year, your on about 11m2 a day easily for a tiler that is worth his salt, you must be getting those jobs where the walls are made by scientists and flatter than a nuns tits, because if you done half the jobs i have done where i have had to switch to floor adhesive and throw broken bits of tiles in there too for strength, i have managed to get past my knuckles at one point behind a tile before the skin touched it, thats how bad the walls are i normally seem to do, BUT let me tell you my tiles are level and look fantastic.
Oh and this course thing your talking about with a **** poor nvq qualification DOESN'T mean they cant tile, in most cases they are better tilers than older seasoned tilers because they have the passion, i have been called into houses to fix simple things like ****ty cuts around sockets only to find out the tiler that done it is a 20+ year veteran, this is the way i see it.. not all but alot or older tilers see it as just a job, most like myself (including the new tilers) have still got the passion and love to goto work, so dont give the **** POOR NVQ peopel a hard time, there are worse veterans out there than new blood just finished a **** poor nvq course as you put it

[d c tiling]

Just qouted on similar job. Came from a recommendation, done his next door neighbours bathroom. 24 metre bathroom , toilet / sink out, bath and shower tray and cubicle in. tile floor to ceiling, one window approx 1m sq. no radiator. Tile size was 8x10. Plasterer wanted £150 to skim the lot ( good price for me ), and I came at £400 plus materials. My mate ( his neighbour ) says its `cos I insisted on the plastering that I didn`t get it. Good luck to his son who is now saving his dad the money!!!!!!!!!!

[NW tiler]

Thanks for everyones replys, (even MZ30!!) turned out to be a popular thread.

Found out recenty that the customer had three quotes, including mine, of £400, £440 and mine at £450. Not a great deal of variation. It was good to see what others are quoting.

The tiler who quoted £400 rang the customer a few days later and asked if his quote was ok. The customer stated that his was too high and asked if he would do it for £350. The tiler agreed. Not sure what sort of job he's done.

I would not have dropped my price, especially that low. I'm a new tiler but I've not advertised since March and am fully booked until mid June so I must be doing something right. Slow but methodical!

[jocky102]

Originally Posted by NW tiler

Thanks for everyones replys, (even MZ30!!) turned out to be a popular thread.

Found out recenty that the customer had three quotes, including mine, of £400, £440 and mine at £450. Not a great deal of variation. It was good to see what others are quoting.

The tiler who quoted £400 rang the customer a few days later and asked if his quote was ok. The customer stated that his was too high and asked if he would do it for £350. The tiler agreed. Not sure what sort of job he's done.

I would not have dropped my price, especially that low. I'm a new tiler but I've not advertised since March and am fully booked until mid June so I must be doing something right. Slow but methodical!

you shouldn't drop your price, if the customer is looking for a cheap job there are enough people working from the boot of their cars out there and they wil give him that job he deserves.. a tiler in this forum has the saying after his message.. the bitter taste of a bad job is something something lol im **** at these sayings, and im geting on so i forget **** too.
Im a firm believer in you get what you pay for, pay peanuts get monkeys

[mz30]

Originally Posted by jocky102

ok here is to your FACT 5

im assuming you work alone, im wondering how you manage £80.000 a year, your on about 11m2 a day easily for a tiler that is worth his salt, you must be getting those jobs where the walls are made by scientists and flatter than a nuns tits, because if you done half the jobs i have done where i have had to switch to floor adhesive and throw broken bits of tiles in there too for strength, i have managed to get past my knuckles at one point behind a tile before the skin touched it, thats how bad the walls are i normally seem to do, BUT let me tell you my tiles are level and look fantastic.
Oh and this course thing your talking about with a **** poor nvq qualification DOESN'T mean they cant tile, in most cases they are better tilers than older seasoned tilers because they have the passion, i have been called into houses to fix simple things like ****ty cuts around sockets only to find out the tiler that done it is a 20+ year veteran, this is the way i see it.. not all but alot or older tilers see it as just a job, most like myself (including the new tilers) have still got the passion and love to goto work, so dont give the **** POOR NVQ peopel a hard time, there are worse veterans out there than new blood just finished a **** poor nvq course as you put it

I'll address this as politely as possible:

For one i do work alone most of the time, last year i had between 2 and 4 people working for me for about three months on a big job ,hence the £80.000,but besides that i average between £45'000 and £55'000 anyway.

As for the wall built by scientist's bit,well i dont do work unless it's pretty much spot on.
As for you switching to floor adhesive and throwing bits of broken tile to strenghten it,thats your problem for not checking if the surface is right to be tiled(and you have the nerve to question me).

And the reason i have a problem with tile courses is ,every person i have ever worked with that has done one,does not know there posterior from there elbow(never said they were all bad ,just my experience of them).

Even guy's that have taught these courses have come on site and(in my experience)cannot do the job.

Those who can do and those who can't teach on courses(in my experience).

And just for your information ,i've had seven (on site)aprrentice's since i served my time,three at one time and each is now a succesful tiler and earn similar or money than i am talking about.

Like i said a do have a problem with nvq's as you can get one after doing a fortnight course,hell i've seen some lads tile an arch shaped board and get one ,so don't tell me that they are as good as a four year apprentiship .

[DS Tiling]

Going back to the original topic....... If you think it will take you 2 days to do the walls then quote a price for 2 days you will be happy with. There is no point working a day for nothing. If you think you are slow then you may have to bring your day rate down a tad but I think your price was if anything on the cheap side.

[jocky102]

Originally Posted by mz30

I'll address this as politely as possible:

For one i do work alone most of the time, last year i had between 2 and 4 people working for me for about three months on a big job ,hence the £80.000,but besides that i average between £45'000 and £55'000 anyway.

As for the wall built by scientist's bit,well i dont do work unless it's pretty much spot on.
As for you switching to floor adhesive and throwing bits of broken tile to strenghten it,thats your problem for not checking if the surface is right to be tiled(and you have the nerve to question me).

And the reason i have a problem with tile courses is ,every person i have ever worked with that has done one,does not know there posterior from there elbow(never said they were all bad ,just my experience of them).

Even guy's that have taught these courses have come on site and(in my experience)cannot do the job.

Those who can do and those who can't teach on courses(in my experience).

And just for your information ,i've had seven (on site)aprrentice's since i served my time,three at one time and each is now a succesful tiler and earn similar or money than i am talking about.

Like i said a do have a problem with nvq's as you can get one after doing a fortnight course,hell i've seen some lads tile an arch shaped board and get one ,so don't tell me that they are as good as a four year apprentiship .

Firstly i would like to say i am not bitching at you, i just find it a bit unfair that you tar all these people that have done a course (from your experience) as being about as much use as tits on a budgie, i didnt mean my last comment to be so ... well it sounds like im ****ed off and trying to preach, maybe this time i will get it right

There are rough tilers everywhere but it isn't just people that have just started out from a course, like i have said there are seasoned tilers that are rougher than a few diy jobs i've been to sort out, i tend to find that the people that want to tile and do these courses (all be it lacking in experience to start off with) have the drive and passion to do good jobs because they are afraid and think about every problem or obstacle, the majority of old hands just treat it like a job and cant wait for the weekend, what i am trying to say is they dont care.

The bad walls and switching to floor adhesive is because that is what is called for, it has nothing to do with checking the walls to see if they are right to be tiled on, there are old buildings that just have **** uneven walls, (im not getting at you) but anyone can tile a straight wall, i just tile ANY wall, it doesnt matter if its a little uneven, the surface IS right to tile on if it wasnt and was crumbling or not stable i would get a plasterer in, but uneven doesnt mean not tileable

hope that time it didnt sound like i was trying to teach you to suck eggs or being a t***

[mz30]

Originally Posted by jocky102

Firstly i would like to say i am not bitching at you, i just find it a bit unfair that you tar all these people that have done a course (from your experience) as being about as much use as tits on a budgie, i didnt mean my last comment to be so ... well it sounds like im ****ed off and trying to preach, maybe this time i will get it right

There are rough tilers everywhere but it isn't just people that have just started out from a course, like i have said there are seasoned tilers that are rougher than a few diy jobs i've been to sort out, i tend to find that the people that want to tile and do these courses (all be it lacking in experience to start off with) have the drive and passion to do good jobs because they are afraid and think about every problem or obstacle, the majority of old hands just treat it like a job and cant wait for the weekend, what i am trying to say is they dont care.

The bad walls and switching to floor adhesive is because that is what is called for, it has nothing to do with checking the walls to see if they are right to be tiled on, there are old buildings that just have **** uneven walls, (im not getting at you) but anyone can tile a straight wall, i just tile ANY wall, it doesnt matter if its a little uneven, the surface IS right to tile on if it wasnt and was crumbling or not stable i would get a plasterer in, but uneven doesnt mean not tileable

hope that time it didnt sound like i was trying to teach you to suck eggs or being a t***

Most of your points are valid except anyone can tile a straight wall ,i was working on a tesco store in northern ireland about 10 yrs back and we were doing the behind the butchers counter when the butcher said "that looks easy i could do that" so i proceeded to get a load of adhesive on my serrator and splodge it on the wall ,i said to the butcher spread that wall and i'll give you twenty pound he struggled just to move the serrator .

The point i was making with the walls being bad is,we have all done bad walls in the past ,but now i don't need to fix them ,i always put the onus on the client,at the end of the day i am there to tile the walls not bed tiles to suit bad walls.I stand by my original statement though any tiler worth his salt will tile 11m2 regardless of the walls.
I've done 37m2 today in 6 bathrooms (good walls) see my point?

[jocky102]

Originally Posted by mz30

Most of your points are valid except anyone can tile a straight wall ,i was working on a tesco store in northern ireland about 10 yrs back and we were doing the behind the butchers counter when the butcher said "that looks easy i could do that" so i proceeded to get a load of adhesive on my serrator and splodge it on the wall ,i said to the butcher spread that wall and i'll give you twenty pound he struggled just to move the serrator .

The point i was making with the walls being bad is,we have all done bad walls in the past ,but now i don't need to fix them ,i always put the onus on the client,at the end of the day i am there to tile the walls not bed tiles to suit bad walls.I stand by my original statement though any tiler worth his salt will tile 11m2 regardless of the walls.
I've done 37m2 today in 6 bathrooms (good walls) see my point?

thats alot of work for today, the only thing i done was clean my van out and get sun burnt, and had to start tiling my bathroom, so much for a day off, wives SUCK

[Branty]

Putting bits of broken tile to make up bad walls.:90:

[Branty]

[quote=mz30;80434]though any tiler worth his salt will tile 11m2 regardless of the walls.
I've done 37m2 today in 6 bathrooms (good walls) see my point?[/quote]
You must be joking, 11sqm's is one thing, 37 is a totally different ball game. If this was one big floor maybe, even then thats some going. But 6 different bathrooms. So £700 for ones days work. If your earning only £55k a year, you must have 6 months off.
Mind you speed dosent mean jack. Unless you're doing tile bashing, knocking out 20sqms 6x6 whites a day, no one is going to employ you because your fast. You have to be good first. Then you can charge £40+ a sqm.

[mz30]

Originally Posted by Branty

You must be joking. If this was one big floor maybe, even then thats some going. But 6 different bathrooms. So £700 for ones days work. If your earning only £55k a year, you must have 6 months off.

Who mentioned how much?
I do have to grout up tommorow.
Do i speak french or what 36m2 on a big floor is some going?
I've been doing 21m2 kitchen floors and grouting them by 1pm.
I never joke about tiling and anyone who wishes to see me work (i've offered before)can come on a job with me anytime,just send me a p.m.

When you say a big floor how big do you mean?
On a four thousand metre floor last year me tiling and my brother mixing we were still laying around 100m2 a day but each stretch was 20m2 a pop.