Help me understand tile bid-long

9 years ago

I do not understand our recent tile bid and would love some insight from the GW community. It's actually our re-bid. We are remodeling our house, and got bids for tiling four areas-two full baths, one half bath and our kitchen BS. The bids were all much higher than we expected. We had chosen very expensive tile, much of it handmade tile from Fireclay (FC). In learning about tile installation costs, both on here and speaking to people at tile companies, handmade tile is more difficult to install b/c each tile varies from the next, so installation and labor are generally higher. Okay, makes sense.

To cut costs, we re-chose almost all the tile for our two full baths. We left the half bath and kitchen BS tile choices alone. Both of the full baths were all FC tile except for the floor. We eliminated all the FC tile in the smaller bath, and almost all of the FC tile in the MB. We not only chose less expensive tile, we also chose zero handmade tile. Most of the newly chosen tile is from Dal Tile and they assured us that there is nothing tricky about installing the tile we chose (we asked so as not to have an issue like we did with the FC tile). Oh, and there are no complicated patterns being done either. And all of the tile chosen is in the "sweet spot" of tile size. At the tile stores we went to to choose new tile, all said that tile size matters when it comes to ease of installation. Not too big, not too small. Almost all our tile previously fell into that area, and all of our newly chosen tile does.

So, to sum up, we have less expensive tile, and almost no handmade tile in the full baths now. There is a small amount of FC tile in the MB. And we also cut back by over 10% the amount of tiled area in the two bathrooms, reducing the total tiled area in our house by almost exactly 10%.

We re-bid with the new tile options to two of our four previous tile companies we'd received bids from. We got one bid back, waiting on the other.

The bid came back with material costs down by exactly as expected, since our tile choices were less expensive.

Labor and installation WENT UP just over 10% for the whole bid. How is this possible? We chose easier to install tile, all of it is in the tile size "sweet spot" for installation, and the total SF of tile area is down by 10%. The numbers for the half bath and kitchen BS didn't change, as expected, which means that the increase in labor and installation for the two full baths went up more than 10% since the bid had overall a 10% higher cost for L&I.

This doesn't make any sense at all. What am I missing?

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Comments (7)

User
9 years ago
Without real sizes and layouts no one but the onsite contractor can give you that information. We can't even guess.
Vertise
9 years ago
They know you have money from your first round with the very expensive tile, so try a couple other places to compare. From reading here, maybe an additional 10% pita client factor: You have wasted their time with multiple bids and 'shopping around' and you selected fussy higher end tile so they think you could be picky or difficult to deal with. They do note expensive materials when they see them. Zip code and house/amenities can all play in. What the market will bear.

You really need to ask them why so high and why the 2nd quote for what should be a simpler installation ends up more. Did you ask them that with the first handmade tile or just go by what others said to get something else you figured would reduce labor? Not all installers charge the same. For instance, some will upcharge for a diagonal layout. Others don't think it's a big deal and charge the same.

Be very careful who you select for tile work and know what they will and will not be doing on your installation specs!
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roof35
9 years ago
How are you comparing the bids? It appears you are comparing to an imaginary figure you have set, not by comparing real bids.

Since you have a budget in your mind, disclose the budget and see the scope of work of which can be done.

Frankly, I'm surprised the contractors haven't asked what your budget is.

This post was edited by Roof35 on Sun, Sep 28, 14 at 16:48
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
9 years ago
"Frankly, I'm surprised the contractors haven't asked what your budget is."

Any contractor that doesn't qualify customers by verifying budget deserves to have his time wasted.

It sounds to me like the the economy is picking up and prices are rising.
pixie_lou
9 years ago
If I have this right - you got 4 bids before. This time you are only asking 2 of the 4 co tractors for bids. One bid came back. That bid is 10% higher.

Sounds to me like this one guy has gotten busy and has bid higher since he doesn't need the business. Contractor costs can vary based on how much work they have.
malabacat_gw
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for all the info. We are doing a pretty big remodel, and have worked with an architect for design, materials selection etc... and we have a contractor to oversee the remodel itself. We have a budget, given to our architect and contractor from the beginning. Our contractor handles all the bids as we have no idea how that works. We don't specify how many bids to seek, we leave that to him. And I don't know if the contractor, when he asks for bids, gives specific budget guidelines to the various trades. I'm not a contractor, I have no idea how he chooses the number of bids to seek.

We are trying to reduce costs and identified areas where we could potentially do so with the help of our contractor and architect. Tile being one area. In a meeting with our contractor he told us about the issue with handmade tile, how it's more labor intensive to install and by choosing less expensive and non-handmade tile that should help lower the tile bid. I have no idea if he got that from the tile companies he had sent bids to, or knew that himself, but we went with it, and this was confirmed at tile showrooms we went to, so we thought we were addressing not only materials but labor and installation costs as that was what we kept hearing when we asked. Then he re-bid to two of the original companies with our new tile selections. I find it odd that by our trying to lower our costs we come across as fussy and pita clients to a tile installer. Certainly that has to happen a lot, that people have to reassess choices to maintain costs. I also guess that by choosing expensive tile originally we ruined ourselves b/c now the tile companies only see $ and not the job itself. Maybe the tile company we got the bid back from is really busy so didn't feel they needed our job, so they adjusted the materials cost to reflect the new tile, but increased the install costs b/c hey we don't care if we get this job. Goes against everything we were led to believe. At this point I'm feeling deflated.
roof35
9 years ago
I don't get it. You hired a GC and architect, yet say several times you have "no idea". There's a serious communication breakdown between all parties involved. You shouldn't have to post in a forum when you hired people to do the job for you.

I would approach the GC with your concerns, then take it from there. I would also approach the architect since you disclosed your budget for materials. Find out exactly where the problems are between the three of you.

Help me understand tile bid-long

Comments (7)

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Vertise

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Help me understand tile bid-long

Comments (7)

User

Vertise

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roof35

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