One way would be to go to a good tile store or two and ask them for recommendations for good tile setters. Then get a reference or two of a satisfied customer from the tile setter before hiring. In fact have maybe one or two come out and bid on the job. Pick the one you like best.

you can rent a wet tile saw for around $30.. but better yet you can buy one for around $80.. then you can tackle the job yourself at your leisure :-)

I had a friend who let his GC do the tiling in his bathroom. Not awful but not great - in hindsight he wishes he had subbed it to someone who was more specialized. This was floor to celing and around bathtub so a bit more conspicuous. Check with either where you got the tile or with places someone you know got tile\flooring (lots of flooring places sub-contract installations so they know good installers and there is no conflict because installer is not on staff).

Marble is reputedly harder than ceramic tile to set correctly; if I were you I would seek out a local tile setter. You can ask for references in your area over at the John Bridge tile forum (link below). It can't be cheap tile; you probably want someone who really knows what they're doing, especially for an area that you'll stare at daily for the next 20 years or so. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: tile forum

Personally, I would get a specialist. At a very minimum, go check out tilework that your contractor has done before.

My previous Jailbird Contractor told me time and time again what a good tiler he was, that his father was a pro and so he grew up tiling. My bathroom was a very simple subway tile installation with a pencil liner and mudcap, and hex on the floor.

He did an awful job. I made him rip about a third of it out the next day because it was so bad that the pencil liner did not line up (by about 2" !) either side of a doorway. The spacing is pretty bad throughout the installation, and now I know why he wanted me to use white grout (so you wouldnt be able to see the uneven spacing). On the floor, you can clearly see where the edges of the hex tile sheets are. It makes me sad every time I use the bathroom.

Lesson learned for me ... hire specialists in future. I agree with other posters above who recommend talking with a local tile shop for contacts.

I have small tiling jobs and have not been able to find somebody to do them for me. I even got a guy from the John Bridge forum. He took one of my tiles and I never heard from him again. Never gave me a price either. :(

Where are you located?

If you are handy, have you thought about doing it yourself? Setting tile is actually very easy to do. The tile is different because it has no grid pattern on the back, but it's still easy. Use white thinset instead of gray and use the spacers you can buy to keep the joints even. I only set a few rows at a time so they don't try to slide down the wall. Cutting even hard tile like porcelain is easy with a cheap wet saw, marble is much easier. Once the tile is set, let it sit for a couple days before grouting.

I did as Alexr suggested, and asked for a recommendation at the place where I bought my tile. I am 100% certain that I got a much better, more skilled, person than if I had let my GC do it. And I liked my GC, but backsplash installation isn't his major business. After all, the guy I hired for my backsplash, as recommended by the tile store, JUST does tile. That's his specialty, what he does all day, and what he's been doing for years, so he had the expertise. He did a beautiful job, especially since my tile was hand-made, and therefore very irregular, so it was much harder to lay evenly.

Another plus was that when my GC was here, I had not yet picked out my backsplash tile. That was the last decision I made. If I had been under the pressure to have my GC do it while he was here, I would have picked something too hurriedly, and not gotten really what I wanted. But since I had a separate tile guy do my backsplash, I had the leisure of setting my own schedule for the backsplash installation, and choosing carefully.

We have a simular situation, and found out a contractor would be much more expensive. Instead, we asked for, and received a list of tile installers from The Tile Shop which is where we're buying our tile from. The rep from The Tile Shop was very familiar with all of the people on their list (about 20 in all) and said they were all very good at what they do.

The Tile Shop has locations nationwide, maybe there's one in your area as well and if so, you can call and ask them for a list of tile workers in your area.

BTW, If you haven't aready found your tile, I highly recommed the folks at The Tile Shop, very knowledgable and they have been wonderful to us. The person we ended up hiring is the most professional we've come across yet in anything we've hired help for which doesn't really surprise me considering where the reference came from. The store website is: www.tileshop.com

HTH, Good luck! -- Lukki

You could also shoot me an email, and I'll give you the number of one of the top guys over at John's site, right there in the DC area.

I also had a great tile person for my floor...one of the few good things about the Contracting company I went with...he's actually a sub to them. We're in Maryland. I tried to email you, but you don't have the email option turned on...

Hi! Buehl I would love a recommendation...I'll try to see if I can turn the email option on. I am in the DC area.
Thanks everyone for your feedback. My husband read the thread and said, that's it, we are NOT getting the contractor to do this.

I too did not have my GC do my tile backsplash. I think he was relieved not to have that in his scope of work. I guess it could be fraught with problems unless you are a real expert. My GC could do it, and I was happy with my GC's work, but I think tile is something better left to someone who is specifically a tile installer.

Dcindc - as to how to turn on the email option: Go to the Kitchens Forum page, and see at the bottom in very small type, a link to "Member Services". Click on that, and then click on "Edit your Personal Information, Page and Preferences". You will have to log in again to edit that page, but that is where you can insert your email address. I think it's a good idea to enable email, and I wish more posters would do it.

Dcindc...if you can't get your email to work, send me an email. Also get Bill's contact as well so you have at least 2 estimates. Anyone Bill recommends will be good as well...after all, he has a reputation to maintain around here! :-)

Oh....to send me an email, click on my username in any post...it will take you to my member page and then click on the "Send me an email" link.

Bill's email shows up w/his user name, so no need to go to his member page.

Just a bit of a horror story from our neighbors. They'd had their kitchen redone and were waiting for tile person estimates. Their gc for the "entire" project came over to see the progress. They had the tiles they were going to use. The gc picked up 4 or 5 of them and placed them behind the cooktop - and they fell over and cracked the cooktop! The gc said it would still heat up so its ok. Now he had an entire kitchen to place those tiles on and chose behind the cooktop then cracked it and wondered if he should have his tile person come do the job!!!! The gc never said sorry or boo for that matter - just wanted his guy to do the work. The neighbors couldn't believe it - nice new kitchen with new never cooked on cooktop cracked and scratched and gc could have cared less.

So my moral is be careful and watch your gc. When we had a gc for some work he was great - and I promise you that wouldn't have happened or if it did he would have replaced it immediately with no questions asked. This was almost a year ago and the cooktop was never replaced.