Too cheap. Double that.

So $50-60 per sq ft? Dang.

For that price we would expect you to be back here with many pictures questioning the work quality. That is probably more along the lines of labor only.

Okay. Good to know. Thanks for the replies.

If you want to get calibrated with respect to prices in your market, solicit competitive bids from multiple contractors. If you take the lowest bid, you're sure to get what you paid for.

Yep. $15k sounds way too low for that amount of labor plus supplies.

Based on the OP's excerpt from the proposal: "Includes labor, setting materials, schluter materials (including heat, wires etc)" my take is that the proposal doesn't include tile or grout, just thinset and Schluter system materials.

Good point Charles, I guess I read it wrong. Still seems to be on the low end. Of course region of the country will also have a bearing on the $.

Yes, the bid does not include tile or grout.

I am in the midwest. Metro area.

Charles, i am going to get some competitive bids. Just wanted to get a feel for what I should be looking for in general. I’ve bid many projects on my house and there are definitely some outrageous bids (conpared to others). I definitely have not taken the lowest bidder on anything.

A Ditra Heat system adds 4-9K per bath for materials and labor. It’s multiple layer to set, and multiple days of work. Plus the electrician’s costs to run the dedicated circuits for each bath. If the panel is large enough, and you don’t need a new subpanel.

So labor, setting and schluter materials. If you kick out the self checked price of 4k on the schulter and for easy math lets say 1k for the other materials. Leaves that as 10k for the labor. I would say 10k for that much work is very reasonable. All that installing and tiling stacks up to a lot of on site man hours, plus the off site man hours involved.

Since it looks like just the installs and tile. Do you have another contractor doing the prep work with things like floor and wall leveling?

beesneeds, I plan to level the floors and lay down new subfloor myself. Actually not too challenginglending, just time instensive. I recently levelled about 600 sq ft at the josits in my kitchen remodel so i have a good plan for that. Tiler will do the prep for the zero entry. Ill shim the walls for level/plumb.

Overall, seems like im in a good position with this guy. Tiling is his business, so im confident he will do a good job. Will get other bids to be on the safe side.

I have seen too many inappropriately done Schluter jobs on YouTube. So be sure he has had some kind of training and understands how to wrap the corners, etc.

Forget trying to DIY any of the labor on this. It will not save you money. Most good installers will absolutely not deal with homeowner prep. It’s rarely done correctly, or to their standards. And they have to redo it, delaying them moving on yo the next job, with double cost to he homeowner.

Zero entry need structural work as well. NOT DIYable.

I hear ya. Not planning on doing any subfloor/structural work for the zero entry. I will 100% DIY the rest of the bathroom subfloor. Just for reference, i spent probably 100 hours in kitchen/great room pulling up my hardwood and all subfloor… then using a laser and levels, ripped custom shims for nearly 30 floor joists and glued/screwed advantech on top. I was nearly 1.5 inches unlevel within a 15 ft span at its peak. Perfectly level 600 sq ft of kitchen and great room now. This was all in preparation so that my cabinets didnt have to be shimmed like mad and wont have weird tile cuts.

I trust my own work… and in this market Ill go as far as saying i trust my own work over some contractors. My previous carpenters installed 2 of 4 windows almost 1/2 inch out of plumb. I pointed it out. No homeowner should have to do that. Trust no one.

I agree. With correct research a logical focused diyer, ime, can easily outperform the bulk of contractors below the exceptional grade. Patience and time are your assets. Finding and affording the exceptional craftsmen and fitting in their schedule is a value calculation. Diy can be preferred over using one of the rest.

No homeowner should have to do that. Trust no one.

Bingo! You get the gold star!

So, DIY the rest if you don't wany to pay for prep and install. No reputable contractor installs over homeowner prep. They'd rather walk away.

If you don't trust anyone, then you'll have a pretty shallow pool of service providers. At the end of the day we trust a lot of folks--from restaurant workers to not poison our food, barbers to not botch our hair cuts, accountants to not mess up our tax returns, the mechanic who works on our car's brakes, etc. Spend time vetting prospective service providers, but if after doing so you don't trust them, DIY.

Minardi, im curious. Hypothetical here… Lets say the subfloor is put down by homeowner to subfloor standards and is perfectly level. Obviously perfectly level is difficult to achieve but lets say for this purpose the homeowner did an excellent job… lets say they also shimmed the walls perfectly plumb. Are you saying a tiler wont install over perfectly level floor and wall because its homeowner install? Seems a little shallow if thats the case. What if said homeowner told tiler that it was the framer that did it. Currently my subfloor is trash. Needs to be replaced. Im sure any tiler on the planet would prefer a newer/better substrate than the current. Really though… who cares if its installed properly and level (or i guess in some cases just flat) or is this an ego thing?

You’re right charles. I agree with you. I thought i vetted these guys that screwed up the windows (among other things). 2 carpenters with probably 60 years between them. Referred from someone i know in the trades. Saw their work. I felt confident in the decision and it still kind of bit me in the a**. Hard to see the future, but im happy i found the issues. I did not trust them enough to continue with them so i moved on.

I also acknowledge your comparisons to other fields. I just cant get behind trusting a carpenter when my windows arent plumb. That’s literally window installing 101. ”You have one job”.

"Carpenter" is a pretty general classification of trade skills. My framing contractor has a large and competent framing crew, but he only trusts four members of his crew to set windows and doors. He hires a specialty contractor to install cornice. And none of those individuals would be an appropriate choice to install interior trim. "Time in grade" isn't a reliable metric for assessing skills. Some individuals work an entire career without ever mastering their trade. That makes any vetting effort a really difficult task.

I'm not aware of any formal certification as "master carpenter" in the U.S. like they have in Germany, but theirs would be a good model to follow if we want to elevate the competencies of our trades.

Back to your bid - seems low. All the rooms that you mention and the different areas require A LOT of fitment and cutting. Square footage is not a reliable metric when you have so many rooms - maybe if it was all one big layout - but you've called out at least 6 different areas and they are all pretty "fussy". I could see it being more like $15K just for the labor. Good tiling folks are artists.

And ignore Minardi. They like to speak in absolutes, seem to know that anyone posting on here is both poor and uneducated, and spend the bulk of their answers antagonizing the poster.

Curbless REQUIRES the tile pro to build the whole. Or they will just have to demo what you have done and start over.

Capital letters do not make statements facts.

I like you just_janni. Thanks for pointing that out. I’ve learned that there are a few pros on these boards assume ive never touched a hammer or make me feel like how dare I ask that question. For the most part, there are really good answers on the board… just have to sift through the disgruntled ones.

Thanks for your answer.

Minardi… i said in my post i will not touch the curbless part, including the build-out/recessed portion. I am just levelling the rest of the floor. Pretty simple actually. Just ask my kitchen.