My current job (useful for new tilers). - TilersForums.co.uk | Tile Forums

Sean Kelly · 19-04-2008

I gave an estimate for a job the other week. I was told by the customer that he was finding it very difficult finding a tiler. The first guy he asked round took a look at the kitchen and he had not been heard of since (despite numerous phone calls etc). The next guy was me! As I am eager for work (having only started tiling a couple of months ago) I thought I should give a reasonable quote. 6sqm of walls and 4sqm of floor tiles. I told customer that walls were in a very poor state, but he said his brother would sort that out with a bit of plastering. I could not see the floor as it was covered with 2 layers of lino. The quote was for £295 inc materials. Two weeks went by so I gave him a call to see if he was happy with quote. Yes, he said but he was waiting on a plasterer which would take another 2 weeks...plus drying time. I said that I could plaster/patch the walls and gave him an off the top of my head ridiculous quote of £75 inc plaster. Quote accepted and I started the next day. I used Wickes patching plaster and it seemed to do the trick. I tried to smooth the rest of the walls by scraping off old adhesive/cement/plaster etc and re patching the bigger holes. 2 days later I started tiling. The wall was smooth, but not level (not clearly visible to the eye), but when I tried to tile, the tiles were rocking around all over the place. The electric sockets (of which there were 8) were plastered into the wall, but the plaster was formed into little hills (i.e. they were bulging out by about 2-3mm. The back boxes on some of the sockets were about 60mm recessed into the wall and front panels were only just hanging on by their extra long screws. The cables to the sockets were not plastered flush to the wall and again this made the wall very uneven. I had to keep taking off tiles and pack so much addy on the back that they looked like those wafer ice creams from the 70's (minus the top bit of wafer!). There were a lot of awakened cuts as you could imagine. When I peeled back the 2 layers of lino I thought the floor was ok. Quarry tiles, except for where the floor had been dug up and an electric cable run underneath. It was then cemented over using a substance that still looked shiny and wet......and uneven. The floor went down ok, apart from 2 tiles that would not sit on this shiny wet concrete stuff. The tiles had to come up again and I tried to scrape away the floor to an even level. The tiles went down again, but not sure if they are going to stay. I'm back there again on Monday. That will mean about 4.5 days in total. Which I am actually quite pleased about. My life would have been made a lot easier if I had insisted on boarding the patchy walls (as suggested by everyone on a separate thread). However, the customer did not want this as it would have created a slight protrudence. I am writing this thread to help other new guys and girls. I have learned that 1) The customer is not always right. 2) You have to inspect all substrates prior to submitting your quote/estimate. Be very aware of a customers handy work....this I believe cost me an extra day in labour. Hope you enjoy the pics.

poynton phil · 19-04-2008

sounds to me like you under priced, for 4.5 days i would of askd for £4-500 especialy if theres a lot of prep work to be done. if thats the case and the customer dissagrees with your professional opinion then let him do it himself or get a cowboy in to do it. WE SHOULD ALL KNOW YOU CAN NOT PACK WALLS OUT WITH TO MUCH ADY, DOUBLE BUTTER ONLY.

**365drills** · 19-04-2008

Looks a good neat job from the pics.

Suppose the point is you are learning the trade. More jobs you do - more accurate your pricing and timing will be.

Better to have a job - practice - and learn and put a bit of cash in the pocket.

GRAYLIN · 21-04-2008

Job looks good. Well done.

**CLAYS TILES** · 21-04-2008

nice work!
we all have a time in mind (in hindsight) but reallity it doesn't always work out that way!
as long as you & the customer is happy with the work,then thats ALL that matters!!!

robbo · 21-04-2008

Rubbish walls to start with eh?
Good end result....
Nice one.

nufcjim · 21-04-2008

i agree with poynton phil.i once done a job in spain walls were terrible wasnt very experienced in those days and i tried packing tiles out to keep them plumb ended up with 1 inch of sticky on top tile.turned round to do somthing else the bloody thing dropped off shelled the bath wich in result ended up with having to work an extra day and the cost of a new bath