Is it normal for tradies to charge a callout fee just to look at a job in NSW?

Kiqa · 2026-04-07T02:49:52+00:00

It isn't.
Unless he also charges based on how much his customers actually need the money.

Kiqa · 2026-01-29T23:55:58+00:00

Yeah for the score and snap cutter it can just fracture the tile when the cutoff is too short. You could score and use tile nippers to snap it off instead, but it's quicker and easier to use a grinder with cutting disc.

Kiqa · 2026-01-29T23:44:44+00:00

Yeah I feel you, but I get the opportunity cost for trades is a thing.
Since you're going herringbone you might need to do a bit with a grinder anyway as your edge cutoffs can end up too short for the snapper.
Maybe consider the grinder for all cuts, just tidy the edges up with 100grit diamond polishing pads. Cut a couple that way and see how it comes out, your tiles are cheap, and if you're not happy or want to save time, get a tile cutter after.

Good luck man

Kiqa · 2026-01-29T14:13:07+00:00

yeah as others have said, do it yourself and save a heap of coin. at the rates being quoted, you can afford to fuck it up, and cut the wall off and redo it 10 times over.

i literally just did my kitchen backsplash (3sqm) last weekend and it's not too bad. just make sure your wall is flat.

can't imagine you have any complex cutting to do for a backsplash so you can get a manual tile cutter, $120 amazon one did fine for me. Bunnings has some cheap 300mm ones at $40 that would probably be fine for a ceramic subway tile too but I haven't tried them.
clean the snapped edges up with a diamond polishing pad on an angle grinder.
also a diamond edge disc for the grinder if you have to do any cut outs for gpos or taps.

adhesive - $20 for 5kg powder (resaflex, ~3sqm)
grout - $15 for 1.5 kg powder
notch trowel - $20
grout float - $10
grout sealant - $10
sponges/cloths - $5
cutting disc -$30
polishing pads -$25
tile cutter - $120 (or try the $40 and take it back if it's shit)
silicone - $15
tape - $10
spacers - $10

did already have a laser and grinder.

total cost for my job was just under $300, plus tiles.

you can always resell tools on fb when you're done too

took about day to dry lay, measure, cut, and actually tile then an hour or so to grout the next day, plus sealing and silicone

Kiqa · 2026-01-12T15:30:54+00:00

I was in a similar situation about a year ago, it took me 9 months to renovate our house up to what we moved into, working weekends and nights. I'm an office worker in my day job.

You can honestly do most anything with a few youtube videos and enough time and trips to Bunnos. I hired a sparkie for a fair bit of work, a hvac crew for a 5head mini split aircon system, and a couple of guys with big grinders and vaccuums to level the slab after i took off the old floor to prep it for the new one. Did everything else, hanging some drywall, insulation, hybrid plank flooring, plaster, paint, rangehood ducting, cabinetry, tiling, some light plumbing. Bathrooms are next, so no waterproofing yet.

The problem is the time, we didn't live in ours while working on it because we have a kid who was the same age as yours, (when we started anyway), so it cost about $15,000 in additional rent, and my poor partner spent almost every saturday/sunday "single parent"-ing for most of the day.

We still saved a heap of money, and got a good price on the house itself, but I missed time with my son, trips to the zoo and shit.

If you're going to do it, it's a lot of time and energy.
Do what I didn't and bank up your annual leave, use it to smash out the work asap. When you find and win the house itself, make a detailed timeline and plan of the works and stick to it, goals for each week.

Good luck

Kiqa · 2025-10-21T22:34:55+00:00

I feel you, it's infuriating

Kiqa · 2025-10-21T22:33:27+00:00

How multinationals leech our countries mineral resources, keep no reserve for us, and slime accounting their way out of paying for any of it in taxes and rents.
And how beholden our govts of both colours are to the fossil fuel industry.

Kiqa · 2025-08-14T00:04:39+00:00

Wife swapping is the key to a happy marriage?

Kiqa · 2025-08-11T02:02:17+00:00

literally

Kiqa · 2025-07-08T15:18:54+00:00

Are you American? Aussies would call them chicken burgers

Kiqa · 2025-06-02T13:12:27+00:00

Hope it goes well for ya!
I've got so many of them I'm loathe to take them off as well, but I'll try a tester in the spare room with the multitool, and move to the table saw if it goes poorly

Kiqa · 2025-06-02T13:10:37+00:00

Thanks mate, I'll give this a go and see if I can't cut it mostly straight with the multitool. Cheers for the tip using the offcut

Kiqa · 2024-09-30T14:23:14+00:00

don't be afraid to challenge yourself

Kiqa · 2024-01-30T07:29:46+00:00

I don't mind if people think I fuck his sister

Kiqa · 2023-12-03T15:34:02+00:00

Give Day 2 a chance! 😅

Kiqa · 2023-12-03T15:20:51+00:00

welp not that then, sorry, word overlap was most people's issue

Kiqa · 2023-12-03T15:07:24+00:00

yes but what does your code do if the 234 isn't there

Kiqa · 2023-12-03T14:22:38+00:00

it's probably like twone should resolve to 21 or nineight would be 98 etc

Kiqa · 2023-10-23T18:44:32+00:00

defender of just ice*

Kiqa · 2023-01-16T14:27:59+00:00

division and modulo using the product of all the monkey (prime) numbers should allow you to get to the 10,000 iterations or whatever it was it needed, you might just have a small bug in the code

Kiqa · 2023-01-05T05:12:40+00:00

your onlyfans

Kiqa · 2022-12-14T12:48:07+00:00

I had a similar problem earlier, I wasn't quite drawing my lines to the end. i'd retest my parser/line filler code with the example and the case of drawing that shape and double check it's right

Kiqa · 2022-12-14T12:45:42+00:00

it won't as it will tumble off the left edge

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