I normally post over on Knots as I am a gunstock maker. I am having the bathroom tiled in my tiny old house and got a quote to do the work but it seems high and I was curious what others thought.
Small square bathroom with door on one end and bath across the far wall. It is an old house and the place was set up for a bath and a shower with a circular curtain. There is a large wood framed window over the bath end of the room.
I want glass blocks in the window, I agreed to remove the window and have it ready to be reframed for the blocks. There will be about 50 square feet of tile put in on the three sides. Tile guy supplies the glass block and I supply the tile. Price is $1,500 and he figures four days.
I have seen his work and it is good enough for what I want but is the price reasonable? Thanks in advance,
Michael
Replies
Go for it. He's probably less expensive than I'd be.
Unless you're the lead dog, the view just never changes.
That sounds pretty stiff to me. I just had a 5 foot shower floor and 9 foot high walls, bathroom floor, hall bath tub to 9 foot ceilings, hall bath floor, entry floor and covered entry outside done for $2690.00 and that included all the tile.
Where do you live? Columbia or Peru?
Does this include the floor? What happens on the outside of the glass block window? Who does that? Is this window in the bath? What steps will be taken to make that wall waterproof? What preparation will be done on the walls?
Bathrooms may be small but there is usually a lot going on in that small space.
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
Good info and questions.This only includes the three sections above the tub, back and two sides. He is scoring the drywall and putting the tile on that, it is old drywall, not modern stuff but it is not cement board or anything.I will have to deal with the outside part of the window and yes, the window is on the wall that the back tub is built up against and will be partially surrounded by the tile.I keep thinking of trying to do it myself, but I have never done it and because of the window I am afraid I would get 2/3 into it and come up against something I couldn't deal with and be unable to finish.I have to get this thing finished so I can rent it out or lose it so time is a bit of a factor which is another reason against taking on a brand new skill/task and I really want to hand this part of the remodel off to someone else.
I forgot to mention, this is in Sacramento CA which is starting to get as expensive as the SF bay area so that will affect prices a bit.
It all depends on the labor. its been my experiance that the smaller the bathroom the more cuts... cuts= time= labor.
How many bids did you get? Where was he in the bidding; top mid, bottom?
But FWIW it does sound like its going to take a lot of cuts to do what you want.
Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
....
wow ... first my tag line ... now my thots?
small room ... big room ... who cares.
Just as many cuts in a small bath as a big bath.
4 days? I'd be at right around $1400 .... so I'll say ... from here ... $1500 sounds reasonable.
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
yea i know jeff, what i was getting at was that baths do cost a little more because of the cuts involved
Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
....
see ..
U steal my tag-line and already yer posts are making more sense!
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
Michael,There are a lot of factors we can't see to determine if this is a good deal or not, but I don't personally think this is a good deal at any price if he leaves the old drywall and tiles over it. Get that crap out of there, put some new insulation in, and cement board around the tub at least to the height of the shower head.Here's how it goes for me, and to give you some background, I do about 20-30 of these bathrooms a year (two in the last 3 weeks).The glass block window is $200 or less. I've done them for $150 including the exterior work though I didn't feel like I made much money on that one.Removing old drywall and installing new cement board: 3 hours, you supply the board. $150 Assuming straight tile pattern, say 6" wall tiles: one 8 hour day to install. 4 hours to grout and caulk. $600Throw in another 3 or more hours for a pattern. $150That's $1100. If I were doing this, I'd have some money built in to cover difficult customers, some to cover people who don't pay their bills, and some to cover other unforseen problems. The $1500 may not be out of line here given your location, though mine is not real cheap either, obviously. But my estimate gives you a much better installation with the cement board.Good luck.
Thanks for all the info!I was bitching about this at a cafe I hang out at where there are a number of guys who do construction/repair but none are tile guys. I have have done favors for all of them (I do misc woodworking stuff for them for free) and so they decided to help me as a sort of "barn raising" event. They have a buddy who does tile and they are going to help him do all the misc related work and I only have to pay the tile guy.He came in, made the recomendation to pull out the drywall, install cement board. I am doing some of the grunt worked. I stripped the trim and window out and lucked out, no dry rot! Yeah!!!I will post a couple of before and after shots when we get done.
Ditto to Mad Dog, Whats with that scoring drywall? 5 minutes with my sawzall and that stuff is gonzo! Put in cement board or other tile backer and do it right, price sounds ok
I think he's reasonably in the ballpark. Even if he can do it in 3 days he has some material expenses to consider.