I priced 9" hex tiles and they were 4 1/2 times more expensive than 12" X 24" tiles a square foot. So I would reconsider my choice on the hexagon tiles, it's easier on the budget.

Wow. I expected hex to be pricier, but not by THAT much. Yikes. OK, downsizing to right angles! (Though I did compare Fireclay Tiles in rectangle shape and it was only a few dollars per sq foot less.)

Yes, you are looking at all the high-end designer tiles. They are super $$$. Don't forget to drool over Ann Sacks, too, lol. FWIW, I don't think of those as "normal" tiles and the rest a "value" tiles, but that those are top-of-the-line designer tiles (and you may be paying, in part, for the name). There are plenty of nice hand-made tiles that cost much less. FWIW, a friend recently installed these. There are a ton of options. Can you find a normal (non-designer) tile store?

https://tilebar.com/seaport-atlantic-2x10-polished-ceramic-tile.html

BTW, when budgeting, don't forget that you need to order bit extra (10%) and that some places charge shipping etc.

You are getting sticker shock because you've been looking at handmade tiles; and most people do not make the price connection til you're faced with a total. They are very nice tiles available at multiple price points; go to the better shops in your area, they will guide you through the process and help you stay in line with your budget. Trust me I know what I speak of!

The labor is far more than the material. Don’t not get what you want, because it’s a drop in the bucket of the TOTAL job price.

I also was hit with sticker shock when I got pricing for the tiles I had fallen in love with.

However, I actually did go with the tiles I loved because when I did the price differential, there wasn't that much difference and the huge expense was the labor in terms of building the shower and installing the tile. And I didn't love the end result nearly as much as the original design with the original tile so I splurged there.

You might prioritize in terms of where you use expensive finishes - for example, your master bath and powder room might be places to splurge versus bathroom for the kids or whatever.

That said, there are limits - I am looking for tile for my balcony and I have specific specification constraints as it must be relatively thin yet durable. I wanted tile Mailbu Art Pottery style and thought I had found what I needed with Fireclay - ha ha - the tiles I wanted were $145 per square foot and it's back to the drawing board - now I'm considering terrazzo tile for the balcony. And I also had to pass on the De Gournay wallpaper :-(

There are lots of other options than tile...for bathrooms...luxury vinyl works well for floors.......good quality for $4-5 per sq. ft.....not cold to walk on and not dangerously slippery when wet....ALSO....start looking a pics on HOUZZ...”bathrooms with “...cheap tile...no tile...minimum tile...etc.

Your best friend is your local tile store, not a super posh one. Go in and tell them your budget and they will help you find choices that work.

https://www.flooranddecor.com/tile#prefn1=shape&prefv1=Hexagon%20&%20Octagon

https://www.flooranddecor.com/tile?prefn1=color&prefv1=Blue

“Floor and decor” excellent resource..worth a trip if necessary...to see lots of samples of luxury vinyl ...many tile options..with lots of little example scenarios showing which tiles go together...and good prices..If you have samples of the pricey tiles ..take them along as potential possibility to use them as accents..

Check out Nemo tile. We are using them for a couple of rooms in our new house. Lots of shapes/color ways. More affordable.

Thanks all.

I live 10-15 mins away from two Floor & Decors, but I have not found a large blue hex tile at either location or on their site. Nemo doesn't seem to have one either. Helen, I've got a running "splurge list" that changes every week. :) @parkerc01, I am close to a Bedrosians and hadn't remembered to check with them, thanks! Theirs is definitely less rich looking but we're going to be walking on it, so oh well! :)

I'm not into "luxury" vinyl, but under our current budget crash, never say never, I guess.

@GreenDesigns, I guess I'm lucking out because my G.C. and his first mate are tile experts with 30+ years experience, so no extra labor cost there.

And yes, I'm working with a local tile store...specifically one that a childhood friend (who seconds as a kitchen designer) works for. :)

It your labor costs aren’t bigger than your tile costs, you’ve got issues with quality and waterproofing. I don’t care how long they e been doing it. Those are usually the old dogs that don’t do things to the required industry standards. Doing it wrong for 40 years is still doing it wrong. A well done tile shower by an expert should run 5-7K for labor and a TCNA approved waterproofing system. If youre not paying that, you really have to ask what you are NOT geting that the more expensive certified tiler would be giving you.

https://www.ceramictilefoundation.org/homeowners-guide-to-hiring-qualified-tile-installer

When I re-did my bathrooms I used inexpensive tile, selected by my not-really-inexpensive decorator who has great taste. We went to a tile showroom (Olympia Tile in Toronto) with a huge selection. The bathrooms look great.

Mittens Cat, did you look a Seneca Tile? They are made nearby, in Ohio, and are supposed to be less cost than the other handmade brands. Virginia Tile carries them in their stores.

Thanks Nancy! I see there's a tile store about 15 mins from me that carries Seneca. I'll check them out. :)

Take a trip to Mexico, sit in the sun, lolly-gag on the beach, and get tiles from a local pottery joint..... You'll save loads of money and get your handmades!

Thanks tangerinedoor :) Not the style we're going for, but I get the drift. And funny because we're talking about a return trip to Oaxaca soon. Ole´Mole´! :)

Trikeenan tile in NH is also less expensive handmade tile. I used their Modulus tile in my kitchen.

Maybe you can priorotize the rooms and go higher only in one of them where you think it is worth it to you, and go lower for the rest. For our 3 upstairs kids' and guest bathrooms, I bought very inexpesive tile from Home Depot online. They only have a limited selection in the stores, but online there are thousands of tiles. They drop-ship to the local store for free, so if you don't like it in person you can immediately return it without taking it home. It took 3 or 4 tries to get what I wanted. I chose to put my money on the tile pro, and he made that cheap tile look like a million bucks.

For my Master I did buy more expensive tiles form Emser because I was going for a certain look. The 12 x 24 field tile was less than $6 per sq/ft, but the mosaic was expensive because I did a whole wall of it.

But I just didn't see the need to buy pricey tiles for upstairs.

@AJCN, yes, that's our plan in a nutshell. Hadn't thought of Home Depot though! Good to hear it worked out after 3-4 tries!

A lot of people get all weirded out about Home Depot, but they contract with Emser, MSI, Daltile, etc. The material is the same.

I think the advice from the professionals on this forum is to have your tile setter or GC order tiles to make sure that the products meet standards.

If you order the tiles then you are responsible if they aren't high enough quality fo deliver optimal results.

I just finished a gut remodel and while I selected certain finishes like tiles and faucets and sink and flooring, everything was ordered through my designer, the GC or the respective trades. That way they took full responsibility for the quality of the products - the correctness of the products and the scheduling of workers to coincide with materials being available that day to be used.

I didn't rely solely on these people and I spent a lot of time trying to educate myself so that I would know what the obvious pitfalls were - e.g. I knew about bad waterproofing of showers and I knew about bad tile setting practices. But I then had to trust that the professionals I was using were proceeding within the manner they had discussed and I absolutely did see showers that had been installed by my GC and the tile person he used so I was confident about the construction as well as the aesthetics of the tile.

Agree with the above post, I involved my tile pro and he said yah or nah. I would never tell a pro what materials to use.

The tile person I'm working with is an old friend, so I feel pretty good about her recommendations, but I also love our G.C. and his 40 years of experience and wisdom. :)

We're doing a renovation/addition that will entail gutting 2 bathrooms and adding a 3rd. I'm not even looking at expensive tiles. I learned from our kitchen reno that the higher end tile places in my area are beyond my reach. So I go to places like Floor & Decor or the Tile Shop and the big box websites and look at the price before I look at the tile. If it's not under $10 sqft, I walk right by. No point in falling in love with stuff I can't afford. Once you set your parameters to your budget, there are still tons of great options.

Math:

For the roughly 60 square feet of a tub surround, the difference in a $10 and $30 a square field tile is only $1200. By the time you factor $1200 into the whole 20K project of the whole bath? It’s peanuts to get something you really really love. As long as it isn’t $200 a square gold infused. The expensive part isn’t the tile. It’s the labor. Labor to deal with wonky tile seconds from a seconds retailer like F&D will cost you WAY more than the cost of the better quality tile.

Now if you find $100 a square tile for every bathroom, and every wall and every floor? Now you’ve got a significant price creep.

GreenDesigns, that is nearly verbatim of what a tile store salesperson told me yesterday. Must admit, it did give me pause (and led me to check out higher priced materials). But my G.C. (who started as a tile specialist) is doing all the install (expect for the hot mop/waterproofing) and we pay him by the week anyway, so perhaps the math works out better for us in that regard? Still, I'm relaxing a bit on tile prices because, at this point, what's another thousand clams or so... lol. Code phrase for this project: "Cup O' Noodles for life!"

Time and materials with any contractor is a guaranteed SLOW process. Because that is what you are incentivizing. It’s the worst possible contract choice. Either a fixed fee, or a cost plus contract offers more consumer protection. Fixed fee is the standard in the contracting world for a reason. It gives you a much better overall hard budget picture.

If your contractor won’t give you a hard total on his labor fee, you hired the wrong guy. Even if he had years of experience. He is still the wrong guy.

Green Designs, not always true.

My excellent contractor was paid by the hour, too. He worked steadily, with attention to every detail. He had so many jobs lined up to do next that he had no time to waste.

I get the math, Green Designs, but the problem is that there are so many choices to be made in any reno, especially one that involves multiple rooms and trades. One $1200 differential for the tile for the tub surround can easily become a series of splurges and an out-of-control budget. I wrestled with a few choices when we did our kitchen, but **for my lousy house** (YMMV) it made more sense to focus the "splurge" on structural work and try to keep the gotta-have materials in check.

Fwiw, we're only at the outset of our addition project, but even when I limited myself to lower-cost tiles, I still had a very long list of options that I really like.

I hear you, we just paid for all our tile (except backsplash) floors and master shower/floor and floor and surround tub for bathrooms and a mud and laundry room floor. The labor is 11k. He came highly recommended. The tile was around 7k. Yeah, sticker shock.

Ohhh GreenDesigns.... :-D I'm sure that might be true in some cases, or maybe even most cases, but our G.C. is a gem. Always finding us ways to save $. Always going the extra mile (literally) to find us a deal. My perfectionist neighbor hired him for three different jobs over the years (full kitchen remodel, master bath remodel and and then a whole house reno) and each time she ended up paying him 20% MORE than he asked for because she felt he underbid! I'm sorry you have had bad experiences, but this G.C.'s a keeper! He's got a waiting list a mile long in our town because he does excellent work, has a great attitude and is usually the lowest bidder by far! I'm sure other GCs hate him for it, lol!

What about a blue hex cement tile? I believe several cement tile places have the hex tile in blue at around $20 a square foot.

Any experienced tile installation professional will consider the tile choice and pattern when estimating the labor and materials for a quality outcome. There are some “assumptions” based on experience in our craft (and there are definitely exceptions). Some of the most expensive tile can be the most challenging to install adding to the overall expense. Some of the least expensive tile will be the most challenging to install, adding to the overall expense. Both of the above can present variances in rectification of the profile. Further, mosaics can be mounted in varying methods that add to the installation challenge. Shade variation can add time to the process of selecting and laying out the tiles in advance for the proper aesthetic (and perhaps rejecting some tiles completely). Metal, glass, stone, porcelain, ceramic all require various methods and tools to fabricate and set them appropriately. Involve your installer in the selection process as they SHOULD be able to educate you regarding the appropriateness of your choices for the particular application as well as the challenges/ease of installation and resulting expense. And yes, most tile contractors have relationships with suppliers and have trade discounts (we split ours with the client so they save off retail and we are receiving something for our ordering, tracking, payment to supplier, inspecting and handling of any problems). We work with some of the most expensive tile suppliers in the industry as well as those that we know and trust will have the greatest quality options at various price points. Fortunately Mittens Cat, you are confident in your GC and Tile Contractor. My advice is to use them to your best advantage. Good luck with your project.

@cpartist, I have a half dozen different blue hex tiles staring at me right now and I think at least 2-3 are cement. Alas, I can't seem to get over the cement's dusty feeling underfoot. I was wondering whether they could be sealed to make them a little less dusty feeling, but I heard not (which I don't understand--please help me, tile pros? Is it because they'll be slippery or ?).

I'm guessing hex will be going out the window for something more basic. (I wasn't huge on hex in the first place.) I did find a nice large format slate-like porcelain tile for master bath at least. Small victories!

I've also been getting increasingly interested in wood-look porcelain planks--possibly instead of hardwood for the main house. (Funny how I cringe at wood-look vinyl, but am ok with its porcelain counterpart. Hmmm! :)