Bathroom Tiling Services WA 2026 - Get Quotes

What a Bathroom Tiling Job Actually Involves

Tiling is the visible part of a sequence that mostly happens before the tiler arrives. On a full bathroom the order runs strip out, rough in plumbing and electrical, patch and prepare the walls, screed the floor to the falls, waterproof, then tile, then grout and seal, then fit out. Each step depends on the one before it being done properly, and the tiler inherits whatever the previous trades left behind. That is why a tiler will sometimes refuse to start on a floor that has not been screeded correctly or a wall that is out of plumb by twenty millimetres. Good tilers will say so plainly, and it is worth hearing rather than arguing with.

A retile without a full renovation is a smaller job but not a simple one. The old tiles come off, which on a Perth double brick wall often takes render and a layer of the wall surface with them, and the substrate then has to be made good before anything new goes on. Old waterproofing is almost never salvageable once tiles have been removed, so the membrane is redone. Anyone quoting a retile without allowing for wall preparation and new waterproofing has quoted the easy half of the job.

The trades involved usually number three or four. A plumber sets the waste and the tap points and returns to fit out, an electrician handles the lighting, the exhaust fan and any heated towel rail, a waterproofer applies the membrane where the tiler does not do it, and the tiler does the screed, the tiling and the grouting. On a full renovation a builder or a project manager coordinates them, and on a smaller job the homeowner often ends up doing that. Knowing which of those you are signing up for matters, since coordination failures cause more delays than any single trade does. Ask at quoting stage who is booking whom, because the answer is not always the person you are paying. A gap of four days between the waterproofer finishing and the tiler starting is a delay nobody will own afterwards.

Timing runs longer than people expect because of the waiting. Waterproofing membranes need curing time between coats and before tiling, screeds need to set, grout needs to cure before silicone goes in and before the shower is used. A full bathroom is commonly two to three weeks from strip out to usable, and compressing that by skipping cure times is one of the most damaging shortcuts available. A contractor promising a finished bathroom in four days is telling you what they intend to skip. Ask for the program in writing with the cure periods shown as their own items.

Tile quantities need ordering with a sensible allowance. Cuts, waste, breakage and future repairs all consume tiles, and ten percent over the measured area is a common allowance with more for diagonal layouts, large format or patterned tiles. Tiles are made in batches and a later batch will not match, so ordering short and topping up later leaves a visible difference. Keeping a box of spares somewhere dry after the job is worth doing for exactly that reason.

A bathroom renovation is where most of this work happens, and it helps to see tiling as one stage inside it. The bathroom renovation page covers the whole project from design through to fit out, and the tiling services page covers tiling work across the rest of the house. Understanding the boundary between the two is useful when you are deciding who you are actually engaging. Most Perth bathroom jobs sit somewhere between the two, with a tiler doing the tiling and the owner holding everything else together. Deciding which arrangement you want before you ring anyone will save a week of confusion later.

Waterproofing Comes First

Waterproofing domestic wet areas in Australia is governed by AS 3740 and given effect through the National Construction Code, and it is not a matter of preference or of how careful the tiler intends to be. The standard sets out which surfaces must be waterproofed, how high the membrane goes in a shower, how it turns from wall into floor, how penetrations for wastes and tap sets are treated, and how the membrane is protected before tiling. It exists because water in a wet area does not stay where you put it. Every serious bathroom failure traces back to something in that list being skipped or rushed. Reading the standard is not necessary, but knowing it exists changes the questions you ask.

The shower enclosure carries the highest requirement and it is where failures concentrate. Membrane runs up the walls of the shower well above the rose height, turns down into the floor with a proper bond at the junction, and is dressed into the waste with the flange arrangement the system calls for. Corners and junctions get reinforcing bond breaker tape because that is where movement concentrates. A membrane applied like paint, with no attention to the corners, will crack at the first bit of building movement.

Membrane systems come in several types and the choice affects the job. Liquid applied polyurethane and acrylic membranes are the most common in domestic work, sheet membranes are used where a particularly robust result is wanted, and each has its own primer, number of coats, dry film thickness and cure time. Products from Ardex, Mapei, Davco, Bostik, Dunlop and Sika are all widely used across Perth, and each system has its own written instructions. Applying one manufacturer's primer under another's membrane is a common site shortcut and it voids the system warranty. Mixing systems is also one of the first things an expert looks at when a bathroom fails inside its warranty period. Ask for the product name in writing, not just the brand.

Coats and thickness are where a cheap job hides. A membrane specified for two coats at a nominated wet film thickness will not perform at one thin coat, and once it is tiled over nobody can see what was applied. Photographs of the completed membrane before tiling are the only practical record a homeowner gets, and any reputable applicator takes them as a matter of course. Ask for those photographs, along with the product name and the batch details, and keep them with the house documents. A phone photograph with the date on it is perfectly adequate for this purpose.

A leak that appears later is expensive precisely because it is buried. Water escaping a failed membrane travels along the slab or the frame and surfaces somewhere else, often in the adjoining bedroom carpet or the hallway skirting, and by the time it is visible it has been wet for months. Repair means removing tiles, which usually means retiling the whole wall to get a match. The bathroom waterproofing page covers the work in detail and the waterproofing services page covers the wider range of applications.

Who applies the membrane varies from job to job in Western Australia. Many tilers waterproof as part of their scope, some builders use a dedicated waterproofing subcontractor, and on larger projects it may be specified and inspected separately. What matters to you is that it is clearly someone's responsibility in writing, that the product and the number of coats are named, and that the warranty is identified. A job where nobody quite owns the waterproofing is the one that ends in an argument. Get that name into the written scope, because a verbal understanding does not survive a leak.

Strata and apartment bathrooms add a layer worth knowing about. In a strata scheme, parts of the building fabric may be common property, and a leak from one lot into another becomes a matter for the strata company rather than purely a private one. Owners planning a bathroom renovation in a strata scheme usually need approval before starting, and the scheme's by laws will say what is required. Raising it with the strata manager early is far easier than explaining it afterwards. Insurance for the building is usually held by the strata company as well, which matters if water reaches another lot.

Substrates, Screeds and Falls

Perth's double brick construction changes the wall preparation in ways eastern states tilers sometimes find unfamiliar. Internal walls in most Western Australian houses are masonry, usually rendered, and tiles go onto that render rather than onto sheeting. The render has to be sound, well adhered and reasonably flat, and where old tiles have been removed it frequently is not. Patching, re-rendering or bringing a wall back to plumb is real work and it should appear in the quote as its own line rather than being absorbed silently. Walls that were tiled in the 1970s over a thin render coat are the usual culprits. Ask the tiler to look behind a loose tile before quoting if any are already lifting.

Where walls are stud framed, which is common in additions, second storeys and newer construction, wet area sheeting takes the place of masonry. Villaboard and similar fibre cement wet area sheets, or purpose made water resistant plasterboard products, are fixed and set before waterproofing. Standard plasterboard has no place in a shower enclosure. The plastering and gyprock repairs page covers making good a wall that needs work before tiling can start. Standard plasterboard that has been painted over in a previous renovation sometimes turns up behind old tiles, and it all has to come out.

Flatness matters more than it used to because tiles have grown. A wall that would have carried 200 by 100 tiles without complaint will show every deviation under a 600 by 1200 format, since a large rigid tile cannot follow a bowed surface and will either rock, lip at the edges or sit hollow. Tilers check with a straight edge and will tell you if a wall needs floating out first. That preparation cost is the price of the tile you chose, and it is cheaper to accept it than to look at lipping for the next twenty years.

The floor is where falls are established and it decides whether the room drains. A bathroom floor is screeded to fall towards the waste at a gradient that moves water reliably without being noticeable underfoot, and a shower area needs its own falls within that. Getting this right is a skill, and getting it wrong leaves standing water that eventually stains grout and grows mould. Where a floor needs substantial levelling before the falls can be formed, the floor levelling and screeding page covers that work. A floor that already drains properly and only needs retiling is a considerably smaller job, so it is worth establishing which one you have.

Hobless and level entry showers have become the standard request and they raise the stakes on the falls. Without a hob to contain water, the falls and the waterproofing are doing all the work, and any error shows up as water tracking out across the bathroom floor. Achieving it usually means recessing the shower area, forming the falls carefully and often using a linear drain along one edge. It is entirely achievable and it is not the job to give to the cheapest quote. Ask to see a level entry shower the contractor has completed before, since it is the clearest demonstration of whether they can do it.

Waste positioning is a plumbing decision with tiling consequences. A waste placed centrally in a square shower means falls running in from four directions and a lot of cut tiles, while a linear drain along one wall lets the floor fall in one plane and suits large format tiles. The decision is made at rough in, long before the tiler arrives, which is why the trades need to talk to each other. The bathroom renovation plumbing page covers the rough in stage. Moving a waste on a slab means cutting concrete, which is a different job again and priced accordingly. Getting the plumber and the tiler on site together for ten minutes at rough in is worth more than a dozen phone calls.

Slab movement is a minor factor in most of Perth and a real one in parts of the state. The coastal sand plain is relatively stable, while reactive clay soils through parts of the hills, the South West and the Wheatbelt move more with moisture, and that movement transfers into the building. Where a house has a known history of movement, the tiling specification should include movement joints in the right places and a flexible adhesive rather than a rigid one. A tiler who asks about cracking elsewhere in the house is asking a sensible question. Flexible adhesives cost slightly more and are cheap insurance in a house that has moved before.

Choosing Tiles That Work in a Wet Area

Porcelain has become the default for bathroom floors for good reasons. It is dense, absorbs very little water, wears well and comes in an enormous range of finishes including convincing stone and timber looks. It is harder to cut than ceramic and it needs an adhesive suited to a low absorption tile, both of which show up in the labour rate. For a floor that will be wet daily for decades, it is the sensible choice. Check the tile's rating for wet area floor use on the technical sheet rather than relying on the showroom description. Ceramic wall tiles also chip more easily during handling, so allow for a few extra in the order.

Ceramic still has a place, mostly on walls. It is cheaper, lighter, easier to cut and available in a wide range of glazes and colours, and on a wall that will never be walked on its softer body does not matter. Plenty of Perth bathrooms use ceramic walls with porcelain floors and the combination works well. Where a tile is going on a floor, check that it is rated for floor use rather than assuming.

Natural stone is beautiful and it is a commitment. Marble, travertine and limestone are porous, they need sealing before grouting and periodic resealing afterwards, and they stain from things that would not touch a porcelain tile. In a hard water area, mineral deposit on stone is harder to remove than it is from a glazed surface. Anyone choosing stone should go in understanding the maintenance, because the material is unforgiving of neglect. Sealing before grouting is the step most often skipped on stone, and skipping it lets the grout stain the tile permanently.

Slip resistance deserves a decision rather than an accident. Tiles are rated for slip resistance, and a floor that is beautiful dry and treacherous wet is a genuine hazard in a bathroom, particularly for older occupants. Small format tiles and mosaics give more grout lines and therefore more grip, and many porcelain ranges offer a textured version of the same tile for floor use. Where an existing floor is already slippery, the non slip floor coating page covers treatment options. Grab rails, a level entry shower and a heated towel rail are all worth considering at the same time if the bathroom needs to last into older age. Retrofitting either one after the tiling is done means going back through the waterproofing.

Large format tiles are fashionable and they are not free. Fewer joints looks cleaner and is easier to keep clean, but the tiles are heavy, they demand a genuinely flat substrate, they need the right adhesive applied with full coverage rather than dabs, and cutting them requires proper equipment. Tilers charge a surcharge for the format and it is legitimate rather than opportunistic. The larger the tile, the more the preparation matters. Full adhesive coverage on the back of a large tile is not optional, and a tiler who dabs the corners on a 600 by 1200 format is storing up hollow tiles.

Mosaics remain the practical answer in some places even where the rest of the room is large format. A mosaic sheet follows compound falls in a shower base in a way a rigid tile cannot, which is why shower floors are so often mosaic even in contemporary bathrooms. The trade off is a great deal more grout to seal and to clean. Using a good quality grout and sealing it properly makes the difference between a shower floor that stays clean and one that does not.

Tile supply is worth thinking about before you commit. Beaumont Tiles, National Tiles and Amber Tiles all have a presence across Perth alongside a range of independent suppliers, and availability varies by range. Ordering from stock avoids the delay of an indent order, which can run many weeks and will stall a bathroom mid renovation. Confirm lead times before the strip out rather than after. Take a photograph of the batch number on the box and keep it with the spares.

Setout, Niches and the Details

Setout is the decision that separates a good tiling job from an adequate one and it costs nothing but thought. The tiler works out where the full tiles land and where the cuts fall, aiming to put cuts in the least visible places, keep the tiles either side of a wall symmetrical, and avoid slivers at internal corners or above a doorway. On a small bathroom every wall interacts with every other one, and a change on the shower wall shifts the cut on the vanity wall. A tiler who spends an hour on setout before touching adhesive is worth more than one who starts immediately. Ask to see the setout marked on the walls before tiling starts, since changing it afterwards is not possible.

Wall to floor alignment is the detail that reads as quality. Where wall and floor tiles are the same width, aligning the vertical joints is achievable and it looks considerably better than joints that miss by thirty millimetres. It is not always possible and it should not be forced at the cost of worse cuts elsewhere, but it is worth asking about. An experienced tiler will tell you straight away whether your tile sizes allow it.

Niches have become almost standard and they reward careful planning. A shower niche is set out so its internal dimensions suit whole tiles or a clean cut, positioned between studs or formed into masonry, waterproofed as part of the shower and falling very slightly forward so water does not sit in it. A niche built without regard to the tile module means awkward slivers in the most visible feature in the room. Decide the position and size before the walls are closed up, not afterwards. Two smaller niches often work better than one large one, both visually and for the tile module.

Internal and external corners are finished in one of a few ways and the choice is worth making deliberately. Mitred tile edges give the cleanest result and take skill and time, aluminium or PVC trims are faster and perfectly acceptable, and a rounded edge tile solves the problem where one is available in the range. Each looks different and each prices differently. Ask which the quote assumes rather than discovering it on the day. Mitred edges also look considerably better on a large format tile, where a trim can read as heavy.

Penetrations for tap sets, shower rails and fixings all pass through the waterproofing and each one is a potential leak. Holes are cut cleanly rather than hammered through, and the membrane is sealed around them before the tile goes on. Fixings drilled into a tiled wall after the fact, for a rail or a shelf, go through the membrane and need sealing properly. Anyone hanging something on a shower wall later should understand that. A chemical anchor or a proper wall plug sealed on installation is the difference between a fixing and a future leak. Drilling into a tile with the wrong bit also risks cracking it, which means a repair that never quite matches.

The fit out that follows the tiling deserves coordination. Shower screens are measured after tiling because they are made to the finished opening, vanities and basins need the tiling complete behind them, and heated towel rails and exhaust fans need their electrical work done at rough in. The shower screen installation page and the bathroom vanity and basin installation page both cover stages that come after the tiler leaves. Book the screen measure only once the tiling is genuinely finished, since a measure taken off unfinished walls produces a screen that does not fit. Fit out trades also need the tiles cured, so rushing them in the same week is a false economy.

Grout, Silicone and Movement Joints

Grout does more than fill the gaps and the choice affects how the bathroom ages. Cement based grouts are the standard and are available in sanded and unsanded forms depending on joint width, while epoxy grouts are far more stain and water resistant at a higher material cost and a slower application. For a shower floor or a heavily used family bathroom, epoxy grout is worth pricing even where the rest of the room uses cement based product. Ask which is quoted, because the difference in performance is real. Epoxy grout is also considerably harder to work with, so it is worth asking whether the tiler has used it before.

Joint width is a technical decision rather than a style one. Rectified tiles allow very narrow joints and non rectified tiles need wider ones to absorb the variation in tile size, and forcing a two millimetre joint on a tile that was not made for it produces a wavy result. Wider joints also give slightly more grip underfoot on a floor. The tiler should nominate the joint width for the tile you have chosen and explain why. Very narrow joints on a non rectified tile will also make any lippage far more obvious.

Silicone belongs in the places grout does not. Internal corners, the junction between wall and floor, and around the base of a hob or a bath are movement points, and filling them with rigid grout guarantees cracking within a year or two. A flexible sealant in a colour matched to the grout handles that movement and is replaceable when it eventually discolours. Seeing grout in every internal corner is one of the quickest ways to spot an inexperienced job.

Movement joints in the tiled field itself are required on larger areas and over structural joints. They give the tiled surface somewhere to go as the building expands and contracts, and without them the stress finds its own relief by lifting or cracking tiles. In a domestic bathroom the areas are usually small enough that perimeter joints suffice, and in larger rooms or over a slab joint a proper movement joint is specified. A tiler who mentions them unprompted knows the standard. On a bathroom floor continuing out into a hallway, the doorway is the natural place for one.

Sealing grout is worth doing and worth repeating. A penetrating sealer applied after the grout has cured slows staining and makes cleaning easier, and it wears off over time, so reapplication every few years keeps it working. Natural stone needs sealing as well, both before grouting to stop the grout staining the stone and afterwards for ongoing protection. It is a small job that materially extends how long a bathroom looks new. Ask the tiler which sealer they recommend for the tile and grout you have chosen.

Maintenance in Western Australia has a local wrinkle in the harder water areas. Mineral deposit builds on glass and on grout, and in parts of regional WA the supply leaves noticeably more of it than metropolitan scheme water does. Squeegeeing the screen and running the exhaust fan after showers deals with most of it. Where grout has already discoloured or the silicone has failed, the shower regrouting and leak repairs page covers restoring it without a full retile.

Ventilation is the thing most often blamed on the tiling when it is not the tiling. A bathroom without an adequate exhaust fan, or with one ducted into the roof space rather than outside, holds moisture that shows up as mould on grout and silicone. Fixing the ventilation fixes the symptom far more reliably than scrubbing does. The bathroom heat lamp and fan installation page covers the work, and the bathroom mould removal and prevention page covers dealing with what is already there. Ducting a fan properly to outside air rather than into the roof space is a small cost at the time and a large difference afterwards.

Contracts, Permits and Insurance in WA

Western Australia has its own rules for residential building work and they catch out people who assume a bathroom is too small a job to be covered. Under the state's home building contracts legislation, residential building work within a defined value range must be under a written contract with prescribed terms, and there are limits on the deposit that can be taken. A bathroom renovation of any real scope frequently sits inside that range. Getting the contract in writing is both a legal requirement in those circumstances and the simplest protection available. Your contract should also name the scope clearly enough that a third party could read it and know what was agreed.

Home indemnity insurance is the provision most often overlooked. For residential building work above a set value, a registered builder must take out home indemnity insurance before taking any payment and before work starts, and the certificate should be provided to the owner. It covers the owner where the builder dies, disappears or becomes insolvent, and a bathroom renovation can easily exceed the threshold once fixtures are included. Ask for the certificate rather than assuming it exists. Where a job sits below the threshold, that is a legitimate answer and it should still be given in writing.

Builder registration applies above a value threshold in this state and tiling alone usually sits below it. A tiler tiling a bathroom is carrying out a trade rather than acting as a builder, and Western Australia does not license tilers as a separate trade. Where the job includes structural work, moving walls or coordinating multiple trades under one contract, the registration question becomes live. Asking who is contracting for the whole job, and in what capacity, is the way to settle it.

Plumbing and electrical work are licensed regardless of the size of the job. Only a licensed plumber may carry out the plumbing work in a bathroom and only a licensed electrician may do the wiring, and both should provide their compliance paperwork on completion. A handyman rerouting a waste or adding a power point is committing an offence and leaving you with unapproved work in your house. The plumbing services page and the electrical services page cover engaging both properly. Neither certificate is optional and both are easy to obtain at the time and awkward to chase later.

Building permits depend on what is being changed. A like for like bathroom refit that does not alter the structure often does not need one, while work that moves walls, changes the building's structure or alters certain aspects may. The requirement is administered by your local government, and contact details for every WA council are listed through wa.gov.au. A five minute call to the building services counter settles it for your job. Councils differ in how they treat the same work, so the answer for a friend's job in another suburb may not apply to yours.

When something goes wrong there is a defined path in this state. Building service complaints about residential building work can be made to the state's building services regulator, and decisions may be reviewable by the State Administrative Tribunal. Australian Consumer Law guarantees run alongside all of that, with the ACCC as the national regulator, and they require the work to be carried out with due care and skill. Documentation is what makes any of those paths workable, which is the practical argument for keeping photographs and written scope.

The paperwork worth keeping is short and specific. The written contract and scope, the waterproofing product details and photographs of the applied membrane, the plumbing and electrical compliance certificates, the tile and grout details including batch numbers, any home indemnity insurance certificate, and the warranty terms from both the contractor and the membrane manufacturer. Filed together, that set answers almost every question that arises later. It also makes the bathroom considerably easier to explain when the house is sold. Buyers and building inspectors both ask about bathroom work, and a complete file answers the question immediately.

Costs in Detail

Tiling labour alone runs $65 to $120 a square metre across the Perth metropolitan area for standard format wall and floor tiling. The rate rises with tile size, with pattern complexity, with the number of cuts and internal corners, and where the substrate needs work before tiling. Small bathrooms frequently carry a higher rate per square metre than large ones because the setup, cutting and detailing do not scale down with the area. Some tilers quote small bathrooms as a lump sum for exactly that reason. Access matters as well, since carrying tiles and rubbish through a finished house adds time to every day.

A full bathroom tiled, supplied and installed, runs $3,800 to $9,500 depending on the room, the tile and the amount of preparation. That range covers floor and walls to ceiling height in a typical family bathroom with a mid range tile, and it moves well above the top of it with natural stone, large format porcelain or a feature wall. The tile itself can swing the figure by thousands, which is why quotes should separate the tile supply from the labour. Ask for both figures rather than a single total.

Waterproofing to AS 3740 runs $650 to $1,600 for a typical bathroom depending on the area covered, the membrane system and how many penetrations need detailing. It is a modest line next to the cost of the room and an absurd one to economise on. Where a quote does not show it, ask whether it is included and in what product. A quote that is cheaper because it left out the membrane is not cheaper. Ask whether the price includes the primer, the bond breaker tape and detailing around the penetrations.

Screeding and forming the falls runs $450 to $1,200 depending on how far the existing floor is out and whether a hobless shower is being formed. An old Perth bathroom with a stepped hob shower being converted to level entry sits at the top of that range or above it. This is another line that belongs in the quote explicitly. It is also the line that most often appears as a variation when it was not priced properly at the start. Ask for the screed to be quoted as a provisional item if the floor level cannot be established until the old tiles are off.

Format surcharges are legitimate and worth understanding. Large format tiles typically add $15 to $35 a square metre, mosaics and feature tiles add $25 to $60, and herringbone or other set patterns add similarly because of the cutting and setout involved. Rectified tiles laid to narrow joints also take longer. None of these are padding, and a tiler who explains the surcharge is being straightforward with you.

Strip out of an existing bathroom runs $900 to $2,400 including removal and disposal, and it is more work than it sounds on a double brick house where tiles are bonded to render. Regrouting and resealing an existing shower runs $450 to $1,100 and is a genuine alternative where the tiles and waterproofing are sound but the grout has failed. Regional Western Australia adds travel to all of these figures, with contractors in Bunbury, Albany, Geraldton and the Goldfields working at broadly comparable rates in their own areas. In smaller towns the constraint is usually availability rather than price. Mobilisation for a country job is usually stated separately and it is fair to ask for it as its own line.

What to Look Out For

Check that waterproofing is named in the quote with a product and a number of coats. This is the single most important line in a bathroom quote and the one most often reduced to a single word. Ask which membrane system will be used, how many coats, what cure time is allowed before tiling and whether you will receive photographs. A contractor who answers all four without hesitation is one who does the work properly. Ask as well who applies it, since the answer is not always the person quoting.

Be cautious about a timeline that looks too good. Membranes and screeds need curing time, and a bathroom promised finished in under a week has almost certainly had those waits compressed. The damage does not show for a year or two, by which point the contractor is long gone. Ask what cure times the program allows and treat a vague answer as informative.

Watch for wall preparation being left out on a retile. Removing old tiles from rendered double brick takes surface with it, and those walls need making good before anything new goes on. A quote that prices tiling per square metre with no preparation allowance will either grow as a variation or produce a poor result. Ask specifically what happens if the walls come up badly. A quote that carries a provisional allowance for wall preparation is being realistic rather than padding.

Take the licensing question seriously on the plumbing and electrical work. Both are licensed trades in Western Australia regardless of how small the job is, and compliance paperwork should come to you at the end. A contractor offering to handle the plumbing themselves without a licence is exposing you to unapproved work in your own house. Ask for the licence numbers and keep the certificates. Unapproved plumbing or wiring can also complicate a later sale or an insurance claim.

Be careful about deposits and payment structure. Western Australia sets limits on deposits for residential building work within the regulated range, and a demand for a large payment up front is a warning worth heeding. Progress payments tied to completed stages are normal and reasonable. Paying in full before the grout is in removes every bit of leverage you have. Keep the final payment until the silicone is in and you have inspected the room properly. A short defects list written on the day, rather than remembered a fortnight later, is what gets things fixed.

One last thing, be wary of a quote well below the others without an explanation for it. The gap almost always sits in the invisible work, which is the membrane, the screed, the wall preparation and the cure times, and none of that can be inspected once the tiles are on. Ask the cheaper contractor to walk you through those four items specifically. The answer usually explains the difference within a minute. If the explanation is that they work faster, ask what specifically they do differently.

How to Get Comparable Quotes

Measure and describe the room before you start ringing. Floor area, wall heights and how far up you want tiling, whether it is a strip out or a retile, what the walls are made of, whether the shower is hobbed or hobless and whether you intend to change that, where the waste sits, and the tile you have in mind with its size and material. Photographs of each wall and the existing floor help enormously. Tilers quoting from that information price the actual room. A short video walking the room, narrating what you want, is even more useful than photographs. Note the ceiling height as well, since tiling to the ceiling changes the area considerably.

Put the same written questions to each contractor. The tiling rate and what it includes, the waterproofing product and number of coats, screeding and falls, wall preparation allowance, corner and edge treatment, grout type and joint width, who supplies the tiles, how long the job will take including cure times, what compliance paperwork you receive, and the warranty. Written answers turn three numbers into a genuine comparison. Ask each contractor to spell out the exclusions alongside the inclusions, since a bathroom quote hides more in what it leaves out than in what it lists. The one that names its exclusions openly is usually the document you can trust.

Separate the tile supply from the labour in every quote. Tile prices vary enormously and a contractor supplying tiles may be marking them up or may be getting trade pricing you cannot access, and neither is obvious in a single total. Ask for the labour rate and the tile allowance as separate figures. It also lets you change the tile later without renegotiating the whole job. Keep the tile invoice with the job file so the range and batch are on record. Trade pricing on tiles is real and it can be worth accepting a contractor's supply for that reason alone.

Ask who is coordinating the trades. On a full bathroom the plumber, electrician, waterproofer and tiler all have to arrive in the right order, and a gap in that chain costs days. Some tilers manage the sequence, some builders take the whole job, and sometimes the owner ends up doing it without realising they had agreed to. Settle that at quoting stage because it is the most common source of delay.

Confirm tile availability before anything is demolished. An indent order can take many weeks and a bathroom stripped back to the slab is a genuinely disruptive thing to live around while you wait. Order the tiles with the usual overage, confirm they are in stock, and take delivery before the strip out starts. The bathroom renovation page covers sequencing the wider project so the tiling lands where it should. Where the bathroom is the only one in the house, agree in advance what the arrangements will be while it is out of action.