Hire a Tiler Ipswich QLD - Get Local Quotes

Hiring a Tiler for an Ipswich or Lockyer Valley Home

Tilers working across Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley charge roughly $50 to $100 per square metre for labour in 2026, which matches the band for Ipswich on the Queensland tiling services page. That rate covers fixing and grouting the tiles, while the tiles themselves, adhesive, waterproofing, floor preparation and removal of old tiles appear on separate lines. Housing in the area ranges from timber cottages in North Ipswich and Woodend to slab homes in Augustine Heights and acreage houses near Plainland. Each type of house needs a different kind of preparation, and preparation is where quotes for the same room differ the most. Two tilers can price the same small bathroom floor $1,000 apart when only one allows for levelling a sagging cottage floor.

The first useful step is to describe the house as well as the room. Tell each tiler whether the floor is a concrete slab or timber boards on stumps, roughly when the house was built, and whether tiles anywhere in the house have cracked before. Mention whether the home has been flooded, restumped or extended, because each of those changes what a tiler needs to check. On a farm property, give the distance from the nearest town and say where a delivery truck can park and turn. Photos of cracked grout lines, doorways and the join between old and new floors help a tiler decide whether a site visit is needed before pricing. If the tiling is one part of a full bathroom renovation, a builder may manage the tiler as one of several trades on a single contract.

Tiling Prices Around Ipswich, Springfield and the Valley Towns

Floor and wall tiling labour runs at about $50 to $100 per square metre across the region in 2026, while large-format porcelain of 600 by 1200 millimetres or more costs about $65 to $120. Tiling labour for a full bathroom, floor and walls, falls between about $2,000 and $5,000, and licensed waterproofing adds roughly $700 to $1,800, in line with bathroom waterproofing in Queensland. Removing old tiles and taking them away costs about $35 to $75 per square metre, the same band used for tile repairs across the state. Kitchen splashbacks are shorter jobs at $300 to $1,000, depending on the tile size and the number of power points and window edges to cut around.

Repair work is priced differently, with the first replacement tile at about $120 to $280 when a matching spare is on hand and each extra tile at a lower rate. Lifting and relaying a hollow or lifted area costs about $90 to $180 per square metre, and cutting a new movement joint into an existing floor about $45 to $95 per metre. Covered verandahs and alfresco areas supplied and laid sit around $85 to $160 per square metre, since outdoor tiles with a higher slip rating cost more to buy. Every figure below is a 2026 estimate for normal hours and access, before rural travel. Prices in Brisbane's inner suburbs run slightly higher, with the city bands set out in detail in our Brisbane tiling cost guide.

Square Metre Rates, Day Rates and the Lockyer Travel Charge

Tilers price whole rooms by the square metre, but small jobs and repairs are charged by the hour or as a minimum call-out of about $250 to $450. Day rates of roughly $550 to $900 per tiler suit jobs where the area is hard to measure in advance, such as patching around a new vanity or matching an old floor. Every square metre price should state whether it covers walls, floors or both, because walls with niches, window returns and corner trims take longer per metre than an open floor. Preparation items such as screeding, which means laying a sand and cement bed to level a floor or build a slope, are best priced as their own line. Self-levelling compound costs about $30 to $80 per square metre and a sand and cement screed about $40 to $100, figures that match floor levelling and screeding prices across Queensland.

Travel is the item that changes most between the Ipswich suburbs and the Lockyer Valley. Tilers based in Brassall or Yamanto can reach Gatton in under an hour, but each return trip on a multi-day job adds fuel and unpaid driving time. Some tilers add a flat travel fee of roughly $50 to $150 a day for towns such as Laidley, Helidon or Lowood, while others build the distance into their square metre rate. Knowing which method each tiler uses makes two quotes easier to compare. Freight adds another cost, since a pallet of tiles and bags of adhesive may need a truck with a crane or tailgate lift to reach a farmhouse. Ordering all tiles, trims and grout in one delivery avoids a second freight charge and lets the tiler check batch numbers before starting.

Tiling a wet area takes more than one visit, because waterproofing must cure before tiles go on and grout needs time before any sealing. Bathroom jobs can involve a strip-out day, a waterproofing visit, a wait while the membrane cures, two or three tiling days and a final grout day, the same order used for bathroom tiling in Queensland. Each extra trip to a valley property costs time, so a staged job far from town costs more than one in Ipswich Central. Grouping a laundry, splashback and bathroom into one booking spreads the travel cost across more square metres.

Reactive Clay, Site Classes and Cracks That Come Back

The QBCC guide to preventing structural damage says that most Queensland homes are built on reactive clay, which swells as it takes up water and shrinks as it dries. Footings designed to AS 2870, the Australian Standard for residential slabs and footings, allow for normal seasonal movement, but only when moisture around the house stays fairly even. Leaking pipes, garden beds against the slab, sprinklers and trees that draw water from the soil can push movement past what the footings allow for. Tiled floors are rigid, so they show that movement as cracked tiles, split grout lines or tiles that sound hollow when tapped. Replacing those tiles without fixing the cause can leave you paying for the same repair a year later. The first job, before any quote for new tiles, is to work out whether the cracks come from the ground, the slab or the way the tiles were laid.

Every new house site is given a site class under AS 2870, a short code such as S, M, H1, H2 or E that describes how much the ground is expected to move. That guide lists class S as slightly reactive with up to 20 millimetres of expected movement, class M at 20 to 40 millimetres, and classes H1 and H2 together at 40 to 75 millimetres. Class E covers extremely reactive clays where movement can pass 75 millimetres, and the same guide notes E sites in South East Queensland moving 100 to 150 millimetres or more. Recent homes should have a site class in the builder's soil report or engineering drawings, so request that page from the builder or previous owner before planning large tiled areas. On an H1, H2 or E site, a tiler should allow for more movement joints and a flexible adhesive, and should never butt tiles hard against walls or columns. Acreage homes in Logan face the same questions, and large tiled living areas there are discussed under hiring a tiler in Logan and the Redlands.

Some parts of Ipswich also sit above old underground coal workings. At Collingwood Park, pillars in the Westfalen No. 3 Colliery failed and the ground subsided in December 1988 and again in April 2008, damaging houses, and the Queensland Government still monitors the ground there. Ipswich City Council's planning website maps the areas where past mining may affect building, which is the place to look if cracks are severe or keep widening. Subsidence is a separate problem from clay movement, and neither can be fixed with new tiles or fresh grout. If an engineer finds active movement of either kind, tiling should wait until the structure has been repaired.

What an Engineer or Builder Looks At Before Re-Tiling

Any structural engineer called to a cracked floor starts with the pattern of the damage: where the cracks run, how wide they are and whether they line up with cracks in walls, cornices or brickwork. QBCC guidance advises acting once cracks in walls or ceilings reach about 3 to 5 millimetres, by fixing drainage, moving gardens or trees, or repairing leaks. Engineers may measure floor levels across the house to see whether one corner has dropped, and may ask a plumber to pressure test pipes under the slab. Where the report rules out structural movement the tiler can proceed, while a report that finds movement points to underpinning or drainage work first. Expect to pay roughly $650 to $1,500 for a residential inspection and short written report in 2026, with cracked walls handled through wall crack repair once the cause is fixed.

On a house on stumps, the engineer or builder looks underneath first. Rotten or sunken stumps, sagging bearers and joists spaced too far apart all show up as cracked tiles in the rooms above. Restumping changes floor levels as the house is jacked and packed, so tiling should follow that work and never come before it, as restumping in Queensland involves resetting the whole floor line. Termite damage to joists can cause the same symptoms, so a subfloor inspection belongs in any tiling plan for an old timber house. Once the frame is sound, the tiler can choose a base that suits the span between joists. Where the engineer advises against tiles over a particular floor, vinyl or timber may be the safer finish for that room.

Tiling Over Hardwood Boards in Ipswich Workers Cottages

Older Ipswich suburbs such as North Ipswich, Woodend and Newtown still have timber cottages built for workers in the railway workshops and coal mines, with hardwood boards laid over joists on stumps. Those boards move with the seasons and flex underfoot, which suits timber but not a rigid tile. Tiles laid straight onto old boards tend to crack along the board joints, so a stiff base is fixed over the boards first. The main choices are compressed fibre cement sheet screwed and glued to the boards, a marine plywood overlay, or an uncoupling membrane, a thin plastic sheet that stops small floor movement reaching the tiles. Each adds height, and a bathroom floor that ends up 15 to 25 millimetres higher than the hallway needs a threshold strip or sloped transition at the doorway. Door bottoms, the toilet pan connection and the floor waste all need checking against the new floor height before the base goes down.

Weight is the other question in an old cottage, since tiles, adhesive and a cement sheet base add far more load than carpet or vinyl. Either an engineer or an experienced builder can check whether the joist size and spacing suit that load, and whether extra stumps are needed under a new bathroom. James Hardie makes compressed fibre cement sheet for tiled floors over timber, Schluter-Systems makes the DITRA uncoupling membrane, and Wedi makes lightweight foam core boards for wet area floors and walls. Each maker sets its own rules for joist spacing and screw patterns, so a quote should name the product and confirm that the maker's instructions will be followed. Rot, termite tracks or loose boards found during the strip-out are dealt with through subfloor repairs before any base sheet goes down.

Some cottage owners want tiles that suit the era, such as hexagonal mosaics or patterned porcelain. Mosaics on a mesh backing take much longer to lay per square metre than plain tiles, and every sheet must sit flat so the joins between sheets do not show. Patterned porcelain needs extra tiles to line up the design across the room, so order 10 to 15 per cent over the measured area. Raised timber Queenslander houses and post-war homes closer to the city bring similar floor questions, covered for those suburbs under hiring a tiler in Brisbane.

Old Wall Sheets, Vinyl Backing and Asbestos Before Demolition

Queensland's building regulator warns that a house built before 1990 has a good chance of containing some asbestos. In older bathrooms and laundries it can sit in wall sheeting, in toilet linings and in the backing of old sheet vinyl, as the Queensland Government's film on locating asbestos in a 1950s home shows. Asbestos is very hard to identify by eye, and only a laboratory test of a sample gives a certain answer. Testing before a strip-out costs roughly $300 to $700 for an inspection with samples in 2026, and the way samples are taken is set out under asbestos testing and inspection. Breaking old wall tiles off untested sheeting can spread fibres through the whole house.

Queensland allows a home owner to remove up to 10 square metres of bonded asbestos without a licence, with safety precautions and proper disposal. Larger areas of bonded asbestos need a removalist with at least a B class licence, and friable asbestos, the loose and crumbly kind, needs an A class licence. Even a small bathroom can have more wall and floor surface than that 10 square metre limit, so a full strip-out of asbestos sheeting calls for a licensed removalist, priced through asbestos removal. The list of licensed removalists and the rules for the work come from Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, on the WorkSafe Queensland website. Tiling over sound asbestos sheeting is sometimes suggested to avoid removal, but every screw, tap hole and cut releases dust, so get advice before agreeing to it. Keep the removal paperwork and clearance certificate with the house records, because a future buyer or renovator will want to see them.

Re-Tiling After a Flood on the Bremer or in the Lockyer

Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley were badly flooded in January 2011, and low-lying parts of Ipswich took water again in February 2022. Tiled floors on a slab can cope with floodwater better than carpet or floating timber, but grout, adhesive and the wall linings behind tiles still soak up dirty water. Queensland Government advice on repairing a house after a flood says repair work should start only once the house is clean of mud, silt and debris and is completely dry. Drying a slab and the wall frames takes weeks, and a moisture meter reading from a builder or restoration company shows when tiling can start. Tiles laid over a damp slab can lose their bond and sound hollow within months. Restoration companies can dry and clean the house first, as described under water and flood damage restoration.

The government's guidance on Business Queensland rates ceramic tiles, terrazzo, polished floors and cement-based toppings among the more water-resistant floor finishes, with carpet, cork and floating timber among the less resistant ones. For walls it rates fibre cement sheet, cement render and ceramic wall tiles as more water-resistant than plasterboard, particleboard or gypsum plaster. The Queensland Government's flood resilient flooring advice for homes adds a water-resistant adhesive and epoxy or semi-epoxy grout for tiled floors, because epoxy grout is less porous than cement grout. Replacing kitchen plasterboard with fibre cement sheet and tiling over it with waterproof adhesive is one of the repairs that guidance describes.

In a street shown on flood maps, the practical aim is a tiled floor that can be hosed, scrubbed and dried without lifting. Running wall tiles higher in a laundry or downstairs room, or using fibre cement behind tiles partway up the walls, leaves less lining to replace after the next flood. Epoxy grout costs more and is slower to apply, adding roughly $30 to $60 per square metre over cement grout, so it suits the rooms that take water first. Skirting tiles in place of timber skirting boards also avoid swelling and rot along the base of each wall. Owners should still check their insurance policy, since an insurer may set its own repair standards and approve the scope before work starts. Ipswich City Council's flood mapping shows whether a property sits in a flood area, which helps decide how far to go with resilient materials.

Springfield and Ripley New Homes: Changing the Builder's Tiles

New estates at Springfield, Ripley, Deebing Heights and Redbank Plains are lined with homes from large project home builders, who fit tiles from a standard range chosen at the selection stage. Owners who later want larger tiles, a tiled alfresco or a feature wall bring in a tiler after handover, and that timing affects warranty. The Queensland Home Warranty Scheme covers residential work over $3,300 by a licensed contractor. Non-structural defects are generally covered for 6 months from completion, and structural defects for 6 years and 6 months from the contract date or start of work, whichever came first. Defects in the builder's tiling, such as cracked or hollow tiles, should be reported to the builder in writing within those periods and before anyone else touches the floor. Booking an independent building inspection at handover gives you a dated record of the floors as the builder left them.

Tiling over existing builder's tiles is possible when the old tiles are fully bonded, flat and free of cracks, but every tile must be tap tested first. The new floor will sit 10 to 15 millimetres higher, which affects internal doors, the junction with carpet and the step at sliding doors. Tile-over-tile work needs a primer or bonding agent made for it, because glazed tiles give adhesive little to grip. Floor wastes in wet areas must be raised to the new level, which is work for a licensed plumber, and the shower must still drain properly afterwards. Removing the builder's tiles through a demolition crew or the tiler costs more upfront but avoids those height problems and exposes any faults in the slab or membrane below.

Builders in new estates may hand over an alfresco slab with no finish, leaving tiling for the owner to arrange. New slabs need time to dry before tiling, and the adhesive maker's data sheet sets the minimum age, so get the pour date from the builder. Any control joints sawn into the slab must be carried through the tiles as movement joints, or the tiles will crack along those lines. Estate homes north of Brisbane raise the same handover questions, and the builder warranty side is set out in more depth under hiring a tiler in Moreton Bay.

Verandahs, Alfresco Slabs and Farmhouse Mudrooms

Outdoor tiles here face hot sun, summer storms and, on rural blocks, mud and grit from the paddocks. Slip resistance is classified under AS 4586, published by Standards Australia, using P ratings from P0 to P5, where a higher number means more grip when the surface is wet. Standards Australia's handbook HB 198 suggests minimum ratings for different locations, with higher ratings for external ramps and wet entries than for covered areas that stay mostly dry. Rougher tiles are harder to clean, which matters on a farmhouse entry where boots bring in dirt every day. Outdoor areas also need movement joints at closer spacing than indoor floors, because sun heats the tile surface well above the slab beneath. Existing smooth tiles can be treated rather than replaced, through non-slip coatings and anti-slip strips.

Farm homes around Gatton, Laidley and Lowood add rooms such as mudrooms, boot rooms and large laundries beside the back door. These floors take heavy wear from work boots, dogs and dropped tools, so through-body porcelain, where the colour runs through the whole tile, hides chips better than glazed ceramic. The PEI rating, a scale from 1 to 5 for how well a glazed surface resists wear, should be 4 or 5 for these rooms. Adding a floor waste to a mudroom lets the floor be hosed out, but it also makes the room a wet area. Wet areas need waterproofing and falls, meaning a gentle slope built into the floor so water runs to the outlet. Larger farm laundries suit a full laundry renovation, and a new alfresco roof from patio and verandah installation should be built before tiling so its posts and footings do not damage new tiles.

QBCC Licence Classes for Tiling and Waterproofing

In Queensland, building work valued at more than $3,300, including labour and materials, must be done by a contractor holding the right QBCC licence. Tilers hold the wall and floor tiling class, which covers cutting and fixing ceramic, glass, marble, slate, stone and terracotta tiles to floors, walls, pools and spas, and applying waterproofing for that tiling. There is also a separate waterproofing licence class, which covers applying, installing and repairing waterproofing systems, including the surface preparation. The licence search on the QBCC website shows the classes a person or company holds, any conditions, and whether the licence is current. Check that the name and licence number on the quote match the register, because a quote under a trading name can hide an unlicensed worker.

Licensed tilers can do incidental work from another class only when it is valued under $3,300 and is not occupational work such as plumbing or drainage. Moving a floor waste, shifting a tap or adding a shower outlet is plumbing, needing a licensed plumber at any value, as set out in hiring a plumber in Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley. New power points, heated floor connections or a relocated exhaust fan need a licensed electrician, booked through hiring an electrician in Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley. Electric underfloor heating mats under tiles are laid by the tiler or installer but connected by the electrician, so the quote should say who supplies the thermostat.

Deposits, Contract Levels and the Cooling-Off Period

The QBCC sets maximum deposits by contract value, and they are lower than some owners expect. The cap is 20 per cent up to $3,300, 10 per cent for level 1 contracts of $3,301 to $19,999, and 5 per cent for level 2 contracts of $20,000 or more. One bathroom floor and walls will sit in level 1, while a whole-house floor or a bathroom renovation can move into level 2. Progress payments after the deposit must match the work done, and the QBCC gives the example that a contractor cannot claim more than half the price until at least half the on-site work is complete. Deposits of up to 20 per cent can be allowed where more than half the contract price is custom work made off site, which is unusual for tiling. Any amount paid above the cap cannot be recovered through the home warranty deposit refund.

Every contract for building work valued over $3,300 must tell you about your right to a cooling-off period. You can generally withdraw within five business days, counted from the day after you receive a signed copy of the full contract, including plans and specifications. To withdraw, give the contractor a signed written notice and pay their costs, which the QBCC describes as usually $100 plus reasonable out-of-pocket expenses. For contracts of $20,000 or more, the period starts only after you also receive the QBCC Consumer Building Guide. These rules sit in Schedule 1B of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991, available on Queensland legislation.

Hidden problems under old tiles, such as a rotten section of floor, can change a job partway through. Written variations that state the extra cost and the effect on the finish date, signed before the extra work starts, protect both sides. Quotes can also include a provisional sum, an allowance for work that cannot be priced until the old tiles are off, such as extra screeding or replacement sheeting. Find out what rate applies to that extra work before signing, so the final bill matches what you agreed. Keeping each signed variation with the contract makes the final invoice easy to check.

Adhesives, Grout, Trims and Tools a Good Quote Names

Quotes with the same square metre rate can use very different materials, so product names matter. Ardex, Mapei and Kerakoll make cement-based tile adhesives in standard and flexible grades, and a flexible adhesive suits timber bases, large tiles and outdoor slabs that move with heat. Davco, Laticrete and Dunlop make grouts, waterproofing membranes and tile adhesives for floors and walls. Grout is the cement or epoxy filler between tiles, while sealant is the flexible silicone or polyurethane used where two surfaces meet, such as a wall and floor junction, because grout there will crack. Rectified tiles have edges ground perfectly square, which allows narrow grout joints of 2 to 3 millimetres but leaves little room to hide an uneven floor. Lippage, the height difference between the edges of two neighbouring tiles, shows up most on rectified and large tiles in side light from windows.

Raimondi makes tile levelling clips and wedges that hold neighbouring large tiles level while the adhesive sets, and Rubi and Montolit make manual tile cutters used on site. Back-buttering, which means spreading a thin layer of adhesive on the back of each tile as well as on the floor, helps large tiles reach full adhesive coverage. Norton Clipper makes bench wet saws that cut porcelain with water fed to the blade, which also keeps silica dust down. Stormtech makes stainless steel linear drains and grates for showers and alfrescos, and a quote should say which drain model will be fitted.

Natural stone and unglazed porcelain may need a penetrating sealer, a liquid that soaks into the surface to slow staining, and Dry-Treat makes penetrating sealers for tile and stone. Glazed ceramic and glazed porcelain do not need sealing, so query any sealing charge on them. Schluter-Systems makes metal edge trims and movement joint profiles, which finish exposed tile edges at steps, niches and changes in floor height. Grout colour also affects upkeep, since pale cement grout on a farmhouse floor darkens quickly from red soil and dust. Seeing the tile, grout and trim laid out together on a sample board before work starts helps avoid a colour mismatch.

Cutting Tiles Indoors: Silica Dust and the Engineered Stone Ban

Tiles, grout, cement sheet and concrete contain crystalline silica, and cutting or grinding them releases fine dust that can cause lung disease. WorkSafe Queensland's code of practice for managing respirable crystalline silica dust in construction started on 1 May 2023 and names tiles among the materials it covers. On a tile saw, the code's table of controls calls for water delivered to the blade, so wet cutting is the expected method. Dust collectors used with tools must be M or H class, the medium and high filter ratings for hazardous dust, and an H class vacuum should be used for clean-up where that is practicable. Inside an occupied house, that means cutting outside or in a set-up area, cleaning with a vacuum and avoiding dry sweeping or blowing dust with compressed air. Ask how the tiler controls dust before work starts in a home with young children or anyone with a lung condition.

Queensland banned work with engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs from 1 July 2024, with no transition period. The ban does not cover porcelain or sintered stone products made without resin, so porcelain tiles can still be cut and installed. Silica controls still apply to porcelain, because porcelain contains silica even though it sits outside the ban. Work on engineered stone installed before the ban is still allowed, but the business doing it must notify the regulator. Cutting an existing engineered stone benchtop to fit a new splashback is that kind of work on stone already installed, so it is a separate job from tiling. Splashbacks booked as part of a larger kitchen renovation should have any benchtop work priced and handled separately.

When Tiling Goes Wrong: Timeframes and Who to Contact

Start with the tiler, in writing, with photos of the problem and the dates you first noticed it. QBCC guidance asks owners to raise defects with the contractor first, and to contact the QBCC if the work is not fixed. Under the home warranty scheme, claims for non-structural defects must be lodged within 7 months of completion, and claims for structural defects within 3 months of noticing them. Those limits are short, so a cracked tile or loose grout in a new bathroom should be reported soon after you see it.

Disputes the QBCC process does not settle can go to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which hears building and construction matters. Australian Consumer Law guarantees also apply, so work must be done with due care and skill and be fit for any purpose you made known, as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sets out. Keep the quote, contract, variations, certificates and stage photos together, because a QBCC officer or tribunal member will ask for them. The waterproofing certificate records that the membrane was applied by a licensed person, and it is hard to obtain after the tiles are on. If the problem is a leak, a shower leak repair specialist can test whether it comes from the grout, the membrane or the plumbing before anyone pulls tiles off.

Some problems need action before any dispute is resolved. Tiles that have tented, meaning they have lifted into a ridge, can have sharp edges and should be covered or fenced off until a tiler removes them. Water coming through a ceiling below a bathroom, or appearing in the subfloor of a house on stumps, points to a membrane or plumbing failure that gets worse each time the shower runs. Stop using that shower and arrange a leak test, because timber framing and stumps soaked by a slow leak can rot or attract termites. Insurance policies differ on gradual leaks, so read the policy wording before agreeing to repairs.

Warning Signs in an Ipswich or Lockyer Tiling Quote

Read the preparation lines of each quote before looking at the price. A quote for re-tiling a cracked floor that does not mention finding the cause, or that offers to tile straight over cracked tiles, leaves the original problem in place. On a timber cottage floor, the quote should name the base product, its thickness and fixing method, and say who checks the stumps and joists. In a bathroom, it should name the waterproofing product, the licence holder applying it, the curing time and the certificate you will receive. Movement joints should be sketched or described at the perimeter, doorways and slab joints. Prices for removing old tiles should state whether asbestos testing has been done or is excluded.

Several other signs in a quote should be checked closely. A deposit above the QBCC caps, a quote with no licence number, or a request for cash with no written contract on a job over $3,300 each break the rules set out earlier. Prices far below the others for a valley property may leave out travel, freight or the second visit for grouting. Skipping the membrane curing time to finish in one visit puts the most expensive part of the job at risk.

Briefing Several Tilers on One Ipswich or Valley Job

Give every tiler an identical written description of the job so their quotes can be compared line by line. Give the room sizes, the wall heights to be tiled, the tile size and finish you have chosen, and whether you are supplying the tiles or want them supplied. State the floor type, the age of the house, and any history of cracking, flooding or restumping. Add the suburb or town and, for rural properties, the distance from the highway and any gate or access limits. Photos of the room, the doorway heights and any cracked areas let a tiler judge the preparation before the site visit. Three quotes give you enough to compare, and a tiler based closer to the property may price travel more cheaply than one based across the region.

Tile choice affects the quote as well, so choose the tile before asking for firm prices where you can. Marazzi makes ceramic and porcelain wall and floor tiles, and Caroma makes toilet suites and basins that are refitted once a bathroom is tiled. Owners of a second property can compare hiring a tiler on the Gold Coast and hiring a tiler on the Sunshine Coast, where coastal exposure changes the material choices. Once the quotes arrive, line up preparation, waterproofing, tiling labour, travel and materials on the same rows and compare each line before the totals. For future repairs, store at least one box of spare tiles from the same batch with the accepted quote, contract and certificates.