Hello all,

I recently received a quote on porcelain floor tile for a dining room, kitchen, living room, small hallway and bathroom from an area retailer here in southern California:

850 square feet total, straight (not diagonal)
6 x 24" wood-look porcelain tile
~30% offset
Concrete slab in good condition

The materials quote was great, but the labor quote seems excessive.

First, they wanted to charge $2,600 for removal of the laminate wood floor. This seems really expensive to me for something that can easily be done by one person in a day, but we planned on doing it ourselves so I didn't ask.

Second, the installation labor was $3800. That's about $4.50/sf, considerably above what I expected from the retailer. I guess there's a $1/sf upcharge to install wood-look tile. What really got me was when we told them we wanted epoxy grout instead if the mid-level unsanded+Dupont grout additive (which you mix into the grout instead of water). The epoxy is only $650 more, and well worth it -- but they want another $1550 to install it. This means we'd be paying $6.30/sf for installation (and it would have been $9.35/sf if we wanted them to take out the laminate).

I'm obviously getting other quotes, but I was wondering if the community had any thoughts on the numbers above. This obviously seems excessively high to me, don't seem to jive with the numbers I found online, and I'm inclined to just do the entire job myself. Thoughts?

Thank you.