Rental Property Investor · Plano, TX · Member since 2015 · 38 posts · 24 votes
Greetings Bigger Pockets! I am working on my first ever rehab project ... all thanks to Bigger Pockets, it's amazing content, books, and all the feedback and input I received from all the members. Never thought I would be working on my business, but here I am!!
I'm installing tile on my rehab in Dallas, TX. I have all the tile (includes all floor and bathroom tiles), so only need the labor. I asked a few contractors for bids but what I'm getting in return varies wildly -- from $4,200 to $15,000 -- again, this is for labor only (I'll also purchase the materials for the install). Tried to look up some info that could give me an idea of a good "per sq. ft. price" or something similar, but nothing.
Does anyone here have an idea on a reasonable price for tile install? Please help.
Scope: Floor tile (6X48) that looks like wood, subway tile in bathrooms, and other hex (mesh) tile on the shower floor.
Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
7y
Somewhere between $4200 and $ 15000 . It doesnt matter what anyone here says what they think it should be . Thats not going to change the contractors prices .
Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
7y
Somewhere between $4200 and $ 15000 . It doesnt matter what anyone here says what they think it should be . Thats not going to change the contractors prices .
Rental Property Investor · Plano, TX · Member since 2015 · 38 posts · 24 votes
7y
Thanks @Matthew Paul. My expectation was not to challenge the contractor on the quoted prices and expect them to change, but simply to educate myself and try to understand some guardrails so I know how to approach the bids. For example, for concrete or fence, the sq ft price was pretty consistent between contractors ... so I could go with the highest bid (since it wasn't that much of a difference) if I felt they would do a better job and I felt good about the company.
Rental Property Investor · Plano, TX · Member since 2015 · 38 posts · 24 votes
7y
@Nino Alfano Thank you so much for the information! Great info and suggestion. Exactly what I was hoping to see ... a "rule of thumb" or something similar. Going at the higher end of the suggestion, and adding a +30% on the price, it's still well below the highest contractor bid I received. Thanks again!! I really appreciate it.
Rental Property Investor · Plano, TX · Member since 2015 · 38 posts · 24 votes
7y
@Frank Geiger The flooring is about 1,300sq ft ... so not a large house. Funny, a colleague at work recently had work done at his house (installed about 1,000 sq ft) and when I mentioned $15,000, he also responded with "that's outrageous!". I'm getting the sense that $15,000 is too high -- and frankly, its way out of my budget.
Rental Property Investor · Plano, TX · Member since 2015 · 38 posts · 24 votes
7y
@Michael Blank Great idea!! I do plan to eventually do small tile jobs myself (I've done them at my house), but for this one ... probably best if left to a professional.
Rental Property Investor · Member since 2018 · 483 posts · 956 votes
7y
I did a rental 1940 sq ft all wood looking tile @ $3 a sq ft with me providing the tile. This is very common price in my area of Texas. You should be able to find someone in the $3 to $4 per sq ft range in your area as well.
Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 65 posts · 21 votes
7y
One thing to note about tile. Sometimes there are huge surprises.
For instance, we are remodeling our condo, and putting in Ceramic Tile that are 10"x36" tiles over the 1600 Sq Ft.
So far they haven't finished and it has taken over 4 weeks so far to lay the flooring down. I thought it was going to be an easy job for the contractors and be finished well under 1 week. However, we find that our floor is not level, from the front door in the hallway to the outside sliding doors there is almost a 2 inch difference. So to make the floor level and to have some mortar underneath the tiles by the outside wall/sliding doors they have to put almost 2 inches of mortar near the door way areas, and that takes quite a bit of time to put down. And therefore the labor costs are a whole of a lot more expensive than we had hoped. Maybe the contractor, while still crazy at 15K knows something the other contractor at 3K doesn't know about your install.
Rental Property Investor · Plano, TX · Member since 2015 · 38 posts · 24 votes
7y
@Clifford Paul I appreciate it. Even at the $4 per sq ft range, that seems more reasonable and within my budget. At a minimum, I plan to at least use that as a starting point and then go into more detail on the work itself ... had not thought about it, but just what @Mark Spritz mentioned (thanks Mark!!), they may know something the other guys do not. I plan to re-walk the property with two of them and ask more specific questions.
Rental Property Investor · NC · Member since 2018 · 776 posts · 776 votes
7y
@Alex Mendoza not educated much on your area but that $4000 quote seems spot on for what I would pay for 1,300 sqft. Just make sure you vet any contractors you get on site. Especially the lower cost ones.
Rental Property Investor · Amityville, NY · Member since 2018 · 351 posts · 441 votes
7y
@Mark Spritz
Sorry mark but this does not sound right at all. Any proficient company should be able to do a project like yours in under a week. One of the most important and COMMON parts of being a tile contractor is dealing with uneven floors.
There is no reason it should take 4 weeks even for small crew.
Rental Property Investor · Lynchburg, VA · Member since 2018 · 116 posts · 73 votes
7y
@Alex Mendoza
In my area I pay $4/sq ft for tile labor on the floor, and if it’s going over subfloor I pay another $1/ft for durock install for larger areas. If there is only a small floor to do we go to a rate of $400 per bathroom for the floors only. Itll still take a part of 2 days for my guy to do a small job. A lot of waiting for things to dry in tile work. A basic tile shower 3x3 cost me around $1100 to tile it, my tile guy won’t quote a shower by the sq ft. I pay $450 for a basic backsplash.
Rental Property Investor · Plano, TX · Member since 2015 · 38 posts · 24 votes
7y
@Erik B. Tiling over concrete - remove old carpet, and floor looks good. This is a single story, so doing all common areas, a master (about 10X10), and two small bedrooms (8X8). Two bathrooms, and only tiling above the tub to about 6 ft ... standard size tubs, so fairly small.
Forgive me but not familiar with "sun surface". I'll Google it if it's something I should know.
Real Estate Agent · Princeton, NJ · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
7y
@Alex Mendoza - in New Jersey, I paid $3 psf labor plus tile, grout, mortar and leveling clips (not spacers) which made it about $6 psf all-in for lifeproof 6x48 floor tiles over 1000 sf of concrete. The leveling clips were very important to getting it to look right and even though the floor sloped a little the edges weren’t crazy uneven. I think they were 1/8” with sanded grout. The box says to space on 1/3 offsets. This guy was obviously bare bones with a ratty old van and such. I was very pleased with the quality of work. It took him about 5 days to do 1000 sf. The slope differential was no more than one inch over 15 feet.
Realtor · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2018 · 2 posts · 1 vote
7y
@Alex Mendoza
Hey Alex. There’s a lot of variables that go in to this: sub-flooring, design complexity, how good the layer thinks he is, some contractors swing for the fences hoping you’ll bite on their outrageous bid, etc. I recently reached out to my guy (he’s a professional, does casinos, sports stadiums, public buildings, etc) for a bid and here’s his exact breakdown. Obviously markets vary for labor but you can always ask all your bidders to break down their cost for your convenience. Good luck!
Polson, MT · Member since 2017 · 115 posts · 105 votes
7y
@Alex Mendoza
I don’t know an actual pro that will do it for less than $6 per sq ft, and I know a lot of tile installers being in the flooring industry myself. Showers usually start at $3000 and up from there. Don’t go with the lowest bid, that’s insanely low priced and chances are you’re going to regret that.