Is this tile bid too high

10 years ago

Hi,

we're having someone tile our kitchen backsplash (which goes to the ceiling over the range and the windows to the outside). It'll be 4x4" field tile at a diagonal over most of the 45 sq. ft. of total coverage. The tile is natural stone (travertine). We have a 3 windows to tile around and a 2 inch mosaic border tile that runs along about 20 ft. of the wall length.

Two questions: 1) how long would it take a single professional to complete that job and 2) is the bid for $2,400 acceptable.

We live in the SF Bay Area, so I know prices are higher here, but $2.4K for what I would guess is 2 or 3 days of labor seems outrageous!

Any comments would be appreciated.

This post was edited by bella41 on Wed, Aug 21, 13 at 18:56

Comments (7)

_sophiewheeler
10 years ago
Is the wall flat and plumb? These windows that have to be tiled around, are the mulled together as a single window, or are there three with tile in between them? Is the travertine filled? Or does it still have the natural holes in it? Will you be OK with grout filling the holes?

Even if the answer to all of those questions involved more labor, you'd only be a day maybe to tile, and a half day to 3/4 a day to grout. Minimum labor charges would be involved rather than by the square foot. Here, that's around $600 a day for a single person to do the job. $900-$1200 here, depending on the grouting issue. So, for your expensive location, probably at least 1K high, maybe more.

Get more quotes.
bellawala
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the reply. My walls are flat and plumb. The 3 windows do need to be tiled around on 3 sides (I'm having a granite windowsill put in on each window). The travertine is not filled, but are not very porous, and I wouldn't mind grout getting in any holes there were. There are, however, 5 outlets to tile around.

Thank you so much, it would seem I need to keep looking!
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Vertise
10 years ago
Outrageous. When you get someone in there, note how many hours they spend on this and then calculate their hourly charge. You can even add a couple hours on for travel, setting up, etc. (which most of us don't get to charge for!).
lazy_gardens
10 years ago
Get more bids to see if it's out of line.

"It'll be 4x4" field tile at a diagonal over most of the 45 sq. ft. of total coverage. The tile is natural stone (travertine). We have a 3 windows to tile around, 5 outlets to tile around "

That's not an easy job ... balancing the cuts top and bottom and sides, and making it look good around all the windows ... and working it around 5 outlets ... with a diagonal layout.
millworkman
10 years ago
As lazy alluded too, diagonal requires a lot more tile, cutting and layout work which will all increase the price. The only way to know for sure is get more prices from reputable tile setters.
Vertise
10 years ago
I've had a couple setters tell me that laying on the diagonal is not harder. Some do charge more, some don't.

I changed a floor pattern from diagonal to grid at the last minute once. He did not reduce the price, lol.

Does this include the tile?

This post was edited by snookums2 on Thu, Aug 22, 13 at 11:30
bellawala
Original Author
10 years ago
The bid did not include the tile. I have subsequently gotten a second bid, which came in at $1,450. It's still a little higher than I expected, but at least it seems to be reasonable.