Similar situation recently; I learned to cut tile myself! It's not difficult..no more so than actually laying the tile, which is the part I normally do while my husband cuts. I learned that while he always got messy, it's not really the hard part!

What you should try to figure out is what a typical hourly rate is for the contractors who would be doing these aspects of the job in your location.

In my experience when I try to figure out what I pay plumbers and electricians hourly for the quotes that I get for time and materials jobs (which yours is, basically, since they are performing certain tasks, not the whole thing) here is how it has worked out in my area.

Electricians bill out at between $75 and $100/hr
Plumbers bill out at between $75 and $100/hr

My GC bills out at $70/hr per person onsite. I have used one of their contractors who moonlights, he bills out at $30/hr. My assumption is they are paying him less than $30 an hour and the other $40+ goes to the company.

My painter bills out at $33/hr per person onsite.

I have not used a tilesetter at my own place but designed a job that the tilesetter billed out $1500 for a 3 wall tub surround with two corner surface mounted shelves. If was less than a 2 day install and he had a helper the first day and was alone the second. So that probably worked out to $60-70/hr all told. (The tile which was the very basic white 4x4 Daltile was included in this cost.) It was straightforward as tile jobs go, and the homeowner is happy. I would say its...adequate.

So, that is the hourly breakdown for Time and Materials in my location (Phila metro) which is about 25% or more higher than national average. A full on bath reno from start to finish here tops $20K, anything the least bit fancy or master bathlike approaches $40K.

You may be able to makes some hourly comparisons from this.

You are also probably paying a bit more for certain aspects since you are parceling it out as small jobs rather than having the whole thing done by someone.

Get more quotes and then compare. The guy/girl has to make a living too and while it seems expensive to you, he's probably cutting you some sort of deal since he's a friend. Keep in mind he has to pay all sorts of stuff that business owners need to pay (equipment, insurance etc...). Based on what you wrote above about the medecine cabinet charge of $50 sounding reasonable for 2 or 3 hours of work, I would assume that you're comfortable paying $20 to $25 per hour for his services. Anyways, get a few more quotes and let us know what you find.

I think labor quotes always sound high to DIY-ers. I know they do to me. Which is why we DIY. :-)

I'd encourage you, if you've got the time, to just do it yourself. It sounds like the only thing you're nervous about is cutting the tile, and that surprises me, given everything else you've done. It's really not that hard. Spend an hour with some scrap tile and your hubby looking on, and you'll feel completely comfortable.

Here are my thoughts on the math, based on my tiling speed, which I'm sure is slower than the pros. As a point of reference, I tiled a bathroom floor slightly larger than yours in about 8 hours, including Ditra, tile, and grout (no new subfloor). It wasn't the pattern you're doing, but it was a pattern so required some thinking. At the $680 cost, that would be $85/hour. Looking at it differently, that's $19/square foot, which seems REALLY pricey (as does the $85/hr).

In the same bathroom, I tiled a 3x4 shower with 4x4s and 6x6s in a pattern, and the whole shabang, from hardibacker to redguard to tile & grout took about 20 hours. Plugging that in to your bid, it would be $65/hour. Or $18/sq foot if I'm interpreting your measurements correctly. Vertical tiling should cost more, but $18 still seems high.

We also retiled our foyer and asked Bill Vincent what he would have charged for it, and the number worked out to $50 per hour of our time.

Enough of my blathering. Get over your scaredeycatness of tile saws and just do it yourself. :-)

I think the price is reasonable, I'm in CT as well. You have 6" tiles, a couple of tile patterns, one on a diagonal, an inset border around the walls, a niche, etc.

It's part labor, part materials, and realize it's not all going into his pocket. If he's licensed and insured, generally we look at charging $1.70 to make a buck, with the other 70 cents going to overhead. The buck that's left over? Then we pay taxes on that buck.

From your description you certainly have DIY skills, if you're able in all the other areas why not learn to cut tile and install a vanity to save yourself the $3k?

Mongo

My suggestion would be to get a couple of other wuotes, if you feel the one you have is too high. Personally, though, I agree with Mongo. It sounds okay to me.

That's what I wanted - just an idea that it is fair. I had told him going in that what I was really looking for was a substitute husband to work with me through the job since he can't be there. I really did not want to pay 3000 for the labor of this. It is not materials, I have the materials other than the hardibacker and maplastic that he would use, I was going to purchase Kerdi for the tub/shower combo, so this is mainly labor. I understand that time is money and as a DIYer I have no clue what folks charge to do this stuff which is why I posted here. Seems high to me but I don't do it for a living. And I guess he, as a contractor, doesn't want my help, he wants to do things himself.

Why would studs need to be installed to receive glass doors if I already have glass doors in the current setup?

As far as the medicine cabinet, it's the only thing I felt I got a 'deal' on with him being a friend because I did read that the install was 2 - 3 hours and I did tell him that.

I think weedyacres has the best advice so far. :) I may just go buy myself a tad more tile and cross my fingers. I can use a chop saw and did to cut and install floor moulding and crown moulding, so maybe I'll just bite the bullet and do this. At least I have no one to blame but myself if it doesn't work out.

Anyone have any idea on this maplastic stuff? Should I go the Kerdi route or Redguard?

Thank you again....

Kerdi, hands down.

Cutting tile with a wet saw is pretty easy. The big thing to be careful of is not putting any undue pressure on the tile, vertical or lateral, as the cut reaches completion. If you do you can get a little breakoff right at the end of the cut.

The unwanted pressure can come from your fingers, from the saw blade not being parallel with the saw fence or sliding able, or from a wobbling blade.

A good place to start is with tiles where the cut edge will be hidden...floor tiles for example, where the edge will be covered by baseboard.

But honestly, basic cuts are easy, and you sound capable.

After not linking to this for what seems like a year, I feel like I've dredged it up a dozen times over the last couple of days, but here's a link to a Kerdi shower I posted a while ago.

Mongo