Price my first job

[Carl Hammond]

Hi everyone,

I have sat my tiling course now and have a few jobs lined up, how should I start pricing as this was not covered within my course.

I need to know how to measure the room, get a price quote for the job and how to get started, the first job is a bathroom, they have the adhesive and the spacers so I need to buy the tools, grout and sealant etc, any advice would be appreciated please.

[grumpygrouter]

Carl, what course did you do mate, the things you are asking is fundemantal to tiling and you should have been taught it.

I am on my way out to work just now so don't have the time at present to compose a full reply, but for you room size, basically, devide each wall into rectangles or squares (paper diagram) and mark each measurement down. It is basic maths then to work out the area of each square etc, add up all the areas and add a bit say 10-15% for cuts and waste. That is the area of tiles to purchase.

[Tulsa]

Carl
I agree with GrumpyGrouter,i did my tiling course less than 2 weeks ago and before we even laid a tile we were shown and taught how to measure up jobs and secondly how to price them. As was said though draw a diagram of the area to be tiled on paper an divide it into rectangles,take the measurements of the rectangles from the area to be tiled(length x width)which gives the square metre of said area,add them all together (add 10-12% for cuts and waste) and that gives total area to be tiled in square metres. On my course we were told that £20 per square metre or £150 per day was the rough estimate to charge but this may change from company to company or even from the different areas round the country. Regarding the tools there are quick links on this forum for lots of companies that provide good tools,all tradesmen will tell you though dont skimp on tool quality.Hope this helps and im sure some of the longer serving members of the forum will give you more concise advice than myself but the forum is the place to get all the help and advice you need.Good Luck man.

[Carl Hammond]

So am I right in saying you measure the length and depth of the wall (in M if you can)

So say a room thats got a 4.5 meter long wall and its 3.5m deep you get the

4.5m x 3.5m = 7.0m2 room?

Then price this and add the 10-15% for cuts and waste?

[Tulsa]

Carl
If you have a wall 4.5m x 3.5m,the square metre of that wall is 15.75m2,you multiply the two figures you dont add them together,then price it then add on your waste and cuts percentage.

[Carl Hammond]

Cheers everyone. I am crap with that side of maths :-(

[Fekin]

Yeah, just measure the width of the wall then the height "floor to ceiling.

If you are measuring in just inches then say the wall is 170" wide by 108" high, devide both measurments by 39.370 and that will give you the measument in meters.

170 \ 39.370 = 4.318 m

108 \ 39.370 = 2.743 m

Now times the two together to get the square meter of the wall...

4.318 x 2.743 = 11.844 sqm

Then add on atleast 10% for wastage, cuts and cockups

If Im measuring up a room with a fairly standard sized window then I still just measure the whole wall since you'll use quite a few tiles cutting into the window, but if the windows very big then I would break up the wall into units to measure to get an exact square meter amount, then add on a bit for the window cuts.

For a bathroom always use a good microban sealant and grout too

[TheWrightTiler]

agree with all folks

i take the length in cm and multiply by the height in cm

3.1m x 2.3m = 7.44
other 3 walls are the same

so 29m2 and add 10% on so 32 m2

times by your rate

grouts and adhesives are extra, i never let punters buy them unless they get what i tell them 2

andy

[Carl Hammond]

thanks everyone :-)