There are hidden costs in the large format tile install in the framing stage. If your framer didn't take the additional time to be sure that everything was dead flat, then no labor from a tile person can fully compensate for that. You will have lippage. It's guaranteed. The only question is how much. That's another consideration for large format beyond just the additional costs for the materials and labor for the install.

Where I am, basic tile install is set from a 12x12 standard. Anything up or down from that, or a change to natural stone from ceramic, incurrs an up charge. How much of an charge depends entirely on the project and the tiler. Smaller tiles, like subway, take longer to do than a 12x12, as do larger tiles.

Thank you hollysprings,

I'm not sure if any addition work was done to make sure the wall is totally flat. I have had the 12x24 tiles before on our floors in our last home and most likely had a bit of lippage, but not enough to really notice. I've never had it installed on the shower walls before so thank you for letting me know about the lippage possibility and I will be looking at other tile options now.

The 12x24 tiles are in the allowance so would of had no installation upgrade to install. The last home the builder charged $600 extra for the oversized (12x12 standard) tile installation. The 12x24 were in several large bathrooms, mudroom, foyer, pantry.

I was kind of thinking if the 12x24 normally are an upgrade to install if the time, difficulty... of installing the second tile option would be around the same. I think I will go ahead and get them to price out the second option as really the installers will be the only one to know exactly, lol. Just didn't want to ask if it was out of my ballpark.

Thanks again for your always very informative posts. :)