HELP...Need to know what to pay a tiler

[Sootygirl]

Hi all, can anyone help, even if its only with a 'ball park' figure.
I needed my bathroom in my PPR done. A friend of my sons is a tiler but no longer works in that trade. I asked if he'd be interested in helping us with the reno. He said yes and when I asked him up front for a fixed price {I didnt want any shocks!} he said ''just pay me what you think".
Hubby and I did all the hard yakka...ripping up tiles, walls, waterproofing etc and he helped put the bath in and did all the tiling....great job by the way!

He's coming on Sunday to do the grouting and thats when I'll pay him. I have a record of how many hours he has spent on it.
I have no idea how much to pay him. I dont want to under or over pay him... He knows we ask him to do the tiling as it would be cheaper {as opposed to the quote we got for the whole bathroom reno} if we helped with the rest.
It will be tax free for him naturally. I paid for all materials.
Any suggestions would help greatly....thanks

 

[Perp]

I think my builder pays around $35/m2 for ceramic tiles.
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[PrimeCommercial]

If a tradesman was kind enough to do a job 'cash in hand' for you the going rate in Sydney is $300-$350 a day. Its pretty hard to get a tradesman in on a day rate but thats about the going rate whether its a tiler/bricky/chippy/sparky or who ever.
The $pm rate can vary greatly because of:
-direction of tiles (diagonal/square)
-boarder Vs no border
-Ceramic Vs Procelin
-Type of edge on the tile
-Whether the substrate needs to be screeded first
-Gap between tiles

 

[evand]

Just pay him $25/hour cash. That's ok if he spent quite a few hours there. If it was only a few it wouldn't be enough and give him a couple hundred bucks. No biggie.

 

[weg]

If a skilled tradesman, which he sounds like he is, and with all his own tools, I would pay $35 minimum, cash. Less than that, and I'm sure he would think he has been taken advantage of.

Most painters and maintenance workers charge that now. I had 3 quotes for painting recently, and nearly died when given the quotes. All were for cash .

 

[handyandy]

Hi Sootygirl

We pay $20 pm cash in hand.

This is where he uses adhesive straight on substrata prepared by us. If it needs leveling (sand/cement) then he charges an extra $10pm. All supplies provided by us.

How many meters was the job. Walls add up to a lot of meters very quickly and they generally aren't that hard to do.

Cheers

PS The tiler I use is only licensed for handyman jobs but the quality beats many other licenced tiles I have used in the past.

 

[wylie]

I would say to him -

"We know you said to pay whatever we think, but honestly, we have no real idea of what to pay you and we are worried we will underpay, in which case you may never want to work for us again (lighten the mood).

We would really much prefer that you give us an idea of what you would be happy with. We don't want to rip you off or give you a swollen head by overpaying you."

Something like that. I hate the situation you are in. He is probably embarrassed about giving you a price, just as you are embarrassed about choosing a price.

I would put the ball back in his court. Perhaps get your son to ask him on the side what he thinks is fair?

 

[Sootygirl]

Thank you everyone for your input.
Wylie, I know if I ask him for a price, he would just repeat ''whatever you think is fair'' or words to that affect. He's spent 35 hours so far and probably another 10 or so to go, doing the grouting and finishing off the frieze around the top of the tiles.
If I give him $1500, that will work out at about $33 an hour. He did other things as well as tiling, {so I cant pay him by the mtr2} for example, he made me the most gorgeous niche's, inlaid with a mozaic pattern, one cut into the shower wall and one over the bath {no more ugly shower caddies hanging over shower head}.
Im very happy with the job he has done and since he's quite knowlegable about most things when it comes to building {he recentley built his own home} he gave hubby and me the confidence that we could do it ourselves. It has saved us thousands.
Now Ive just got to hope that the guy building the vanity does as good a job {no mates rates there though}....but now Im rambling.

 

[silversands]

I also think 45 hours worth of a skilled tradesmans work should be worth at the very least around $1650-$1800. If leaning toward the lesser amount, chuck in a box of builders money. (usually pale ale or similar! )

It sounds like he's done a good job, and you wouldn't want him to think you were stingy, after all you may like to use him for further projects!