M
Marvo
I was wandering around one of my local tile shops today, I wasn't looking for tiles (looking for a drain seal kit) and because I wasn't under pressure to buy tiles it was quite a relaxing experience to stroll around just checking out the tiles on display. It occured to me how cheap the tiles actually are, more than half the tiles on display were in the price bracket between ZAR 50 and ZAR 100 per sq meter (£2.50 and £5.00 per square) and they're all 'A' grade tiles. To put it in perspective, I bought a sheet of shutterply a couple of days ago which is the cheapest nastiest plywood around and it was R350.00 for a 2.4 x 1.2 sheet which is more expensive per square meter than many of the tiles.
There were some more expensive tiles such as large format and some of the plank shaped tiles but even most of those were under ZAR200 per square. Some of the porcelain mosaic sheets were R20 for a small sheet which is maybe R200/ square meter but less than 5% of the tiles in the shop were over R200 / SQ M.
Obviously I realise that you've still got to but adhesive and grout, also being in Africa I'm guessing that the tiles here aren't as cutting edge fashionable as those in the UK tile retailers but I still got the feeling that tiles are an incredibly cheap item considering what must go into their manufacture. Also the shop I was in was one with the largest national footprint of stores and well known to be not particularly the cheapest, I'd expect to find most of the tiles they sell at least 10-15% cheaper at other shops.
There were some more expensive tiles such as large format and some of the plank shaped tiles but even most of those were under ZAR200 per square. Some of the porcelain mosaic sheets were R20 for a small sheet which is maybe R200/ square meter but less than 5% of the tiles in the shop were over R200 / SQ M.
Obviously I realise that you've still got to but adhesive and grout, also being in Africa I'm guessing that the tiles here aren't as cutting edge fashionable as those in the UK tile retailers but I still got the feeling that tiles are an incredibly cheap item considering what must go into their manufacture. Also the shop I was in was one with the largest national footprint of stores and well known to be not particularly the cheapest, I'd expect to find most of the tiles they sell at least 10-15% cheaper at other shops.