Any tile installers in here? Does this seem right?

[cajuntec]

I'm still in the process of having my new house built. Shower will be tile on wall and floors.

My wife wanted "trim pieces" about eye level in the shower, like our last house had (came standard in the old house, no uncharge). 10 linear feet. Pieces are 6" long x 3" high. Just wanted them laid out straight. My wife found the trim pieces. Total cost was $312 (retail cost) for that trim.

This builder quoted us $850 to add the trim pieces to the tile job.

Now understand - this isn't a pull out and replace. He's going to be tiling our shower. We just wanted him to add those trim pieces at eye level. He's already in there. When he gets to that level, add trim pieces, then keep tiling above it.

I don't know if I'm being unreasonable or not, but $850 to add trim pieces seemed ridiculous to both of us, so we passed.

Seems like every addition we ask for, it's a crazy amount of money. I'm starting to wonder whether he throws out some crazy number just so we will say "never mind", but if we do agree - it's more than worth his time.

All the best,
Glenn

[SaltwaterSlick]

Common for less honest contractors. Quote a job then try to make better money on add-one. Try to act like standard tract home builders on changes to production standards.

[stickman]

Well that seems a little steep.

[DapperDan]

Any tile installers in here? Does this seem right?

Honestly, I’d be willing to bet one of two things. Either he bid the job low and is bumping you on price to get money back on changes or he is just wanting to try and take advantage. I can tell you that detailed tile like that takes a little extra time so I would upcharge my customer as well because I will have to pay my tile guy extra to do it. However, this ain’t always the case. Sometimes I am able to get my tile guy to do it without having to pay extra in which I don’t add any cost to the customer. I guess it depends on what he bid to begin with and how much he is trying to price gouge you. But I will tell you that if it’s basic tile being installed as a decretive accent, it’s not $850 worth of labor if you’re buying the material..... all other material will already be there other than some cheap spacers if needed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Low Fence]

I get $10-12 a sq ft on the wall and that includes bands and borders

Does that include materials? Some of those “pretty “ pieces are stupid high... but I’ve never seen em that high

[Swampa]

How many total feet of trim/tile?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Texas Stalker]

I’m a contractor. Bathrooms are my bread and butter. $850 seems ridiculous. Now I have to ask.....how many other changes have been made throughout the process? If the changes are getting to be a little annoying I’ll throw out a higher price to get it to stop. Sometimes women making changes every time you turn around gets to be a little much.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[bakin7005]

I’m a contractor. Bathrooms are my bread and butter. $850 seems ridiculous. Now I have to ask.....how many other changes have been made throughout the process? If the changes are getting to be a little annoying I’ll throw out a higher price to get it to stop. Sometimes women making changes every time you turn around gets to be a little much.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I was a tile contractor in my other life and you are spot on. Got halfway through a bathroom floor one time and the homeowners wife decided she wanted under floor heat. The owner swallowed his gum when I gave him the price. I was fair but it wasn't cheap. She got her heat. Once the heat mats were bedded and half the tile installed again she decided she wanted granite accents mixed in. He put his foot down when I gave him the price. She didn't get the accents!
Sorry to hijack........ $850 is the "stop bothering me" price.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[cajuntec]

I’m a contractor. Bathrooms are my bread and butter. $850 seems ridiculous. Now I have to ask.....how many other changes have been made throughout the process? If the changes are getting to be a little annoying I’ll throw out a higher price to get it to stop. Sometimes women making changes every time you turn around gets to be a little much.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I was a tile contractor in my other life and you are spot on. Got halfway through a bathroom floor one time and the homeowners wife decided she wanted under floor heat. The owner swallowed his gum when I gave him the price. I was fair but it wasn't cheap. She got her heat. Once the heat mats were bedded and half the tile installed again she decided she wanted granite accents mixed in. He put his foot down when I gave him the price. She didn't get the accents!
Sorry to hijack........ $850 is the "stop bothering me" price.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

We never made any changes that they didn't ask for. However, we have been called back to the office now over a dozen times because what we chose on the selection sheets back in January at the model home are either:

a) Not available anymore.
b) Not available in "that size"
c) Is (now) and "up-charge", when it was previously marked as "standard"
d) Backordered
e) "Our sales person was confused"
f) "Our sales person shouldn't have told you that"
g) "Our sales person was wrong"
h) "We forgot to tell you that you needed to provide us with this"

The previous realtor is no longer there. The new realtor is playing "catch-up". When the new realtor took over our file, she had to call us in because there was about a half-dozen selection sheets in our file. Each time the old realtor would call us down to come pick something new, she wouldn't throw out the old sheet. She would keep it. But she never labeled or dated the sheets, so nobody knew which one was the most current one.

Please note - None of this was brought on by us. It's been the sales person and builder every time. When they call, we go down and choose and leave. This is what we have been called for so far:

We had to change our brick color because the brick we chose (on other houses in the neighborhood) is only available in a "Queen Sized Brick" instead of a Standard (it was marked standard on the selection sheet). We think they just couldn't get it in time, so they made us select something else.

We had to change our flooring because the size we chose was marked as "Standard" and then they called us and told us it would be a lot more. We changed to what they called their standards size now. I really didn't care one way or another on size. They asked us to pick size, and we did. They never mentioned up-charges.

We had to change carpet because they changed the samples and no longer had ours (three times).

We had to come back and pick out interior door styles because they were mislabeled in the sales room.

We had to correct the shutter style 3 times because they kept putting the wrong one on our sheet.

We had to pick from "new" window styles (which all were terrible) for the bathroom window because the style in the model home was no longer available. When I said "none - I'll find a window", they suddenly found "one more" of the ones in the model home.

We got called to pick grout and kitchen sink styles, even though neither of those two things were asked for in the original selection sheets.

I've asked twice for epoxy coating floor colors so I can pick my color - still haven't seen that yet.

For the tile I'm dealing with right now - we chose the tile, and on a return trip for one of their call-backs, they asked what size we wanted (not originally asked for on the option sheet), and if we wanted accent tiles. That's what started all this - we had just picked tile, because nowhere on the sheet did it ask for size. We just figured they would install what they thought went in there, in the color we wanted. They started us down this road.

This has been a frustrating home build. When we built our house in TX, we picked our options at the beginning, and they never called us back to change one single thing - everything was taken care of on the initial meeting, and we moved in when it was finished. Everything that was on our option sheet was available. Everything. Not this time. It's been one change after another - none of them asked for by us.

All the best,
Glenn

[Texas Stalker]

Oh you’re having a home built. Sounds like your builder is using a little bait and switch just to get you into a house. That’s a whole nother animal. I thought you were having a bathroom remodeled on an older home. My apologies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Greenheadless]

Sounds normal for a change order for a new house build.

If it is too much, you can just say no and have someone else do it.

[cajuntec]

Oh you’re having a home built. Sounds like your builder is using a little bait and switch just to get you into a house. That’s a whole nother animal. I thought you were having a bathroom remodeled on an older home. My apologies.

No problem. It's frustrating. But hopefully when it's all over, we will enjoy our new home. It's just taking forever to get built.

All the best,
Glenn