Without knowing the details of your particular install, it is impossible to know if your contractor is being fair in his pricing. Maybe your subfloor needs additional preparation that we don't know about. Maybe your selection of tile is more difficult to install. We can't know what's fair without seeing your job. The only way to know if your bid is fair is to get bids from other licensed installers in your area and see how they compare, taking into consideration things like insurance, experience, references, etc.

I don't know why people put any faith whatsoever in recommendations from the BBB.

Or Yelp and Angie's List for that matter.......

As a rule, the smaller the job, the higher per square foot the cost can be. But, per square foot is not a good judge of pricing either. You have to list all of the tasks that need to be accomplished, and think of the time that it takes to do all of that. It could be a 4 day job to do all that needs to be done, even if the square footage isn't all that large. That would be in the minimum of around a $2500 job minimum range, because around $600 a day is the minimum labor charge for a single person job around here. Double that if the tasks need a couple of people to do. Now, the contractor might need to do 4 days of work in a couple of day increments, and a couple of half day increments, but that would still be the minimum charge for someone who is licensed and insured.

And don't think that just because a $2500 job takes 4 days to do that a contractor is getting paid "$40 an hour". That's not how it works. About half of that will go to the necessary overhead of vehicle, insurance, and licensing and other solid job costs. About half of the remaining should be going into a capital improvement and profit fund for the business so that when some of the old equipment breaks down, he can afford to buy new. He's probably paying himself the 1/4 of the bill to live on. If he's been successful enough, then he may pay himself (and his employees) a profit share at the end of his fiscal year.

Live_Wire_Oak, thank you for your extremely helpful reply... the total cost doesn't seem as unreasonable as I first thought it might be. He has guesstimated that the full job will take a week's time. He has 4 work teams so I could likely save money by not using him and getting independent specialists (tile layers, painters, trim carpenters, etc), but feel much more comfortable with him being the GC... With this project I think it could come down to you get what you pay for.

As for putting faith in the BBB or Angie's List... I only use them as a tool in making a selection (not the be all, end all) and I would hope most people do the same. Yelp can certainly be fake reviews... For example, I was considering using one granite fabricator only to find out just before signing with them that their standing had been revoked by the BBB since the company blew off an arbitration agreement.... To me that speaks volumes about their lack of integrity and I was thankful to have access to that info.

Thanks again

I hate the calls I get to drill an additional hole in an installed countertop. You just can’t charge enough. Hey, it’s just a little hole and will only take a few minutes, right?

I get most of my work from Internet advertising. Sure, I get some word-of-mouth work, but the repair business by its very nature doesn’t lend itself to that model very often. So I’m paying to have our initial telephone conversation, but being in business, I can’t pay for anything. You have to. Furthermore, you also have to pay for the previous three potential customers that I spoke with that thought $150.00 was too much. I’m not paying it. Okay, I am, but you’re reimbursing me. Each call costs me about $8.00, so you’re $32.00 into me and I haven’t even gotten out of my Laz-E-Boy.

Let’s assume you’re an average customer and you’re 45 minutes away. At 15 miles per gallon, insurance, maintenance, etcetera, let’s call it twenty bucks. That bit from Lowe’s when you tried to do this yourself didn’t work so hot, did it? Well the one I’m bringing with the industrial diamonds won’t suffer that problem, however, that bit costs me $90.00 with shipping and it’ll probably drill 200 holes dry before replacement. The decade-old Metabo driving the bit is paid off, but just needed a rebuild last month at $150.00. So with the advertising, vehicle, time, and equipment, I’m at least $120.00 into your job and so far nothing has happened for which I can bill a penny.

Before I spend the four minutes it takes to drill the hole, let’s think about what you’re really asking me to do. You’re asking me to bet $2,500.00, the cost of a replacement top should I screw this up, in exchange for the opportunity to gross $30.00 profit. ($150.00-$120.00 = $30.00) Oops. Wait a minute. I’ve still got to drive back and you’ve got to pay for that. Make that $150.00 - $187.50 = ($37.50). So you’re asking me to bet $2,500.00 for the opportunity to lose forty bucks. If you want this hole drilled at $150.00, you’re going to have to wait until I schedule a job very close to you, or pay my minimum charge, $270.00.

Before this hole can be drilled, some things need to happen to lower my risk from its insane height. First, and call me a sexist ‘cause I am, the woman of the house dictates hole placement. If I show up and there is a guy pointing to where he thinks it may go, I’m outta there, no charge. I will place a piece of tape where she’s told me the hole goes and I will photograph her finger pointing to it. That’s after I’ve confirmed that a hole in that location won’t take out a mechanical sink fastener. Can I move a mechanical sink fastener? Sure, but your $150.00 job just left with the fastener.

I’m not only betting the cost of a replacement countertop, I’m giving you the opportunity to tell the world, via the Internet, as to how I’ve performed. At $150.00, you get as equal a say as a person who hires me to build a $150,000.00 addition. As a member of www.homeadvisor, my customers get to rate me from 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent). I got a 4.83 rating once instead of a 5 because the homeowner’s plumber told me he’d clean under the sink then didn’t do so after I’d drilled the hole. I respect the guy’s time by not throwing him out of the sink cabinet for a few minutes and a less-than-perfect review is my reward.

If you’re calling me, it’s probably because the guys who fabricated and installed your stone are out of business. Don’t feel badly, it happens. A lot. Unlike me, these guys never knew their costs of doing business and the marketplace extracts a severe price for ignorance. If your stone fabricator is responsive, he may as well drill the hole for nothing. It’s better to have a customer raving about how great you are than have them tell their neighbor how you overcharged them for drilling a simple faucet hole after you paid them seven grand several years ago. He’ll be sending his best guy too, not 9-dollar-an-hour Jimmy. He’s already losing money, so he may as well lower his risk and boost his reputation as much as possible.