Cost / Additional cost large format tiles

Hello, dear forum members,

I have purchased my first own apartment, which is currently being built, so I have little experience and would be very grateful for your help.

A basic equipment package has been agreed upon with the developer. Special requests come at an additional cost. The extra costs now quoted in the offers seem extremely excessive.

It is mainly about the wall tiles. The basis is format 30x60. According to the construction description, 75 €/m2 gross for the tiles themselves including installation was already calculated here, and is included in the purchase price. I want different tiles.

For all prices, additional surcharges apply for special requests for laying porcelain stoneware tiles on the wall at 10 €/m2 gross, and for laying rectified (sharp-edged) tiles at 12 €/m2 gross.

In total, on top of the basis, I face additional gross price increases of
- +70€ for format 60x120 cm,
- +135€ for format 120x120 cm,
- +123€ for format 20x120 cm (Italgraniti LUX Listello Mix Pietra, in 5 different surface patterns, but the same size, laid in a random pattern).

For inserting a thin decorative metal border 0.3x120 cm (not included in the basis) between the 20x120 tiles, 82 €/lfm gross is charged.

Furthermore, the tiler demands significantly more for the tiles themselves than what I could get myself at the same specialist building material dealer.

For other items, my developer behaves similarly. For example, if I want a different shower or faucet, the sanitary installer charges an extra price about the RRP for this item. At a hardware store or online retailer, you can get identical items 50-60% cheaper. But I am not allowed to buy there, as the responsible specialist company would not install them “due to warranty”.

Has anyone had experience in a similar situation?

What are "normal" prices for rectified wall porcelain stoneware tiles in the formats 20x120, 60x120, 120x120, 120x240?

If the specialist company responsible (e.g., for sanitation) is willing to install certain units (e.g., a shower), am I obliged to buy only from this company? They themselves purchase through R+F. Is this specialist company allowed to refuse installation of identical units procured by myself?

Best regards from Bavaria!

Alex

Good day,

in principle, the tiler or the sanitary company does not want to install externally sourced items, since they are not procured through them and therefore no liability is assumed. This is intended to prevent or make it difficult for the builder to outsource the items and then have them installed through the builder’s tiler or sanitary contractor, according to my experience over the last 10 months.

I had the tiling trade excluded and took care of a tiler myself. By chance, this was the same tiler who works for the builder - that was purely coincidental. He wanted the following:
Wall tile 120x120: 62€/sqm
Wall tile 80x80: 57.12€/sqm
Floor tile 120x120: 50€/sqm
Floor tile 80x80: 45€/sqm

I only partially excluded the sanitary trade, but the sanitary contractor does not want to install a shower/bathtub/ washbasin, water softener system, etc., which is not fundamentally a problem, but I am also not obliged to pay him, for example, 2600 for the same water softener system that can otherwise be obtained for under 2000.

In your case, if you consider both trades too expensive, I would have them both excluded.

It's similar with us. The tile price is stated as the recommended retail price (RRP) and anything above that we pay extra for. The same applies to laying special shapes. For us, the surcharge from 60*30 to 60*60, for example, is 22 euros/sqm net. When procuring the sanitary fixtures, there is also a certain margin involved. For example, the sanitary supplier buys at 30% below RRP and thus keeps the profit. I can understand if he does not want to install items he procured himself. Imagine he installs a shower tray that you provided. After x weeks it has a crack and then the trouble begins. Material defect? Installation error? Etc. The installer then has significant effort and explanation to provide for things from which he did not earn a cent. Maybe you can offer him that you will not hold him liable for defects in the purchased parts. But that is a disadvantage for you again if something really were to happen.

It's similar for us.
The tile price is given as the RRP, and anything above that we pay extra.
The same applies to laying special shapes.
For us, the surcharge from 60*30 to 60*60 is, for example, 22 euros/sqm net.
When procuring the sanitary items, there's also a certain margin involved. The plumber buys, for example, at 30% below RRP and thus pockets the profit. I can understand if he doesn’t want to install items that were procured by the customer himself.

Imagine he installs a shower tray that you provided.
After x weeks it develops a crack and then the trouble starts. Material defect? Installation error? Etc. The installer then has considerable effort and need to explain things for which he didn’t earn a cent.
Maybe you can offer him that you won’t hold him liable for defects in the purchased parts. But that is again a disadvantage for you if something actually happens.

I had offered the plumber the same, that I would relieve him of liability and even pay him to install everything for me, but he is stubborn and comes up with the argument that it only causes trouble afterwards, etc., even though I release him from liability... but on construction sites I also deal with people who don't really know what liability actually means.

I bought my first own apartment, which is currently being built, [...] Above all, it's about the wall tiles. The basis is format 30x60.

For you, your apartment may be an emotional thing, but a developer builds them cubic hectometers at a time in assembly-line fashion. Your wish for larger tiles involves a chain of requirements regarding the flatness quality of the substrate, etc. that is hardly imaginable for laypeople. "Settle" for the by no means small 30x60 and for heaven’s sake don’t even take them out of the developer’s sample palette. With your perfectionist nitpicking, you will only cause disputes about botched work and defects, which will make you bitterly regret riding on the hundredth percent. Do not misunderstand the folk saying that the first condominium is bought for an enemy as a guiding principle!

If the specialist company responsible for (e.g. sanitary) is willing to install certain systems (e.g. shower), am I forced to buy only from this company? They themselves source through R+F. May this specialist company refuse to install identical systems that I procure myself?

I had offered the plumber to relieve him of liability and would even pay him to install everything for me, but he is stubborn and argues that there would only be trouble afterward, even though I absolve him of liability... but on the construction site I also deal with people who really don’t know what liability actually means.

The warranty issue with the "overlapping trades" is indeed a serious one. How well a commercial understanding of the waivability of liability risks aligns with warranty law under the Building Code and VOB, I would not want to depend on which foot the magistrate got out of bed on today. I can understand the craftsman there.

for format 60X120 cm + 70€,
- for format 120x120 cm +135€
- for format 20x120 cm +123€

Do you mean the prices are additional to the costs already included and also per sqm?

He wanted the following:
Wall tile 120x120 : 62€/SQM
Wall tile 80x80 : 57.12€/SQM
Floor tile 120x120 : 50€/SQM
Floor tile 80x80 : 45€/SQM

Including material costs for the tile or only installation?

"Limit" yourself to the after all not insignificant 30x60 and for heaven’s sake also take it out of the builder’s sample palette.

I have 30x60 in the utility room and am very glad not to have done it in the rest of the house. Tastes are that different ;) In my opinion, that has nothing to do with "limiting yourself." But then as a builder I also have to accept the consequences.

- either pay the extra cost (even if overpriced)
- or take the trade out and assign it externally