Surcharges for additional effort in tile installation

Hi,

we slowly have to deal with our least favorite trade, tiles!
The contract with our general contractor includes tiles including installation in the format 60*30 and 30 €/sqm. The ones we have now chosen cost 38 €/sqm, ok, it’s 50 sqm with an 8 € surcharge. Ok, that’s fine.

Now the tiler suddenly wants 20 €/sqm plus VAT, so 24 €/sqm surcharge, because the tiles are longer, namely they have the format 90*22 cm.

I find that quite excessive. I understand that the tiles require a bit more effort during installation and he wants a bit more money, but is it really 20-30 minutes extra work per sqm?

Can that be true? Seems quite a lot to me...

I’m seriously considering replacing the tiles in the kitchen and pantry with parquet...

Best regards,

Andreas

Hello Andreas,
we are also building with a general contractor. We are so dissatisfied with him that I have removed many trades from the contract and am taking care of them myself. Ask your general contractor if that is possible with the tiles and find someone who will perform the work. It is probably true that laying larger tiles is more expensive because it requires more craftsmanship. There is a website where you can search for craftsmen. I think you know which one I mean, otherwise PM me. I have already found several craftsmen there in the past and none of them were a failure. However, for our building project I found a tiler who was recommended to me by a friend and whose work I have seen there. He charges 27.50 per square meter plus VAT. Maybe that helps you.
Regards from Wolfgang

The tile guy makes his money on the surcharge. Just take 60x30 tiles and that's fine. The tile price itself doesn’t matter, as you already realized. 50x8 euros is manageable and the added value is recognizable. 1000€ more for the same area is pretty cheeky. You can offer him to solve it "like this" at the price he’s raving about (200-300€?) or that you then take the standard size and he doesn't make any extra money. Also mention right away that you’ll come with the appropriate DIN for acceptance ^^

We had the same dimensions included with our provider and had to pay an additional charge of about 28 euros for laying larger tiles. Tiles will now be assigned by ourselves.

The price seems to be common.

Hi everyone,

I’ve also thought about doing it myself. But the tiles are already included with the general contractor, and if I take them out now, at best he will reduce his costs, but the profit stays with him. In the end, I’ll still be paying the same amount. I will ask about it, but it probably won’t make any sense.

1000€ more for the same area is pretty cheeky. You could offer to solve it "like this" at the price he’s dreaming of (200-300€?), or that you then take standard sizes and he doesn’t earn anything extra. Also mention that you will come with the appropriate DIN for acceptance ^^

Yep, the 24 euro surcharge is absolutely out of the question. I might negotiate for around ten euros, but he’s clearly exaggerating...

Which DIN do you mean? Is there a standard to really annoy those guys?

Best regards,

Andreas

The surcharge feels quite high. For us, 30*60 tiles up to 25€ are included. We are considering 118*25 wood-look tiles for just under 60 euros. I had expected a surcharge of 5 to 10€ per m2 for installation but have not inquired yet. If it’s the same dimensions for us, then that’s off the table.