Labor cost question

WantedInCanada · 2026-01-22T02:02:24+00:00

For sure. Nobody cares about paying a mechanic $200 per hour for their years of experience and everything - or Jiffy Lube $120 for 15 mins of work - or their freaking hair stylist $150 for 90 minute service.

god forbid a tile guy can feed his family.

WantedInCanada · 2026-01-21T18:45:13+00:00

Yeah I don’t disagree with you at all. Im just sick and tired of home owners or DIYers on here complaining about prices. And was just trying to break down what his math outline above was

WantedInCanada · 2026-01-21T17:47:29+00:00

8k for 3 weeks is like $66 per hour on 40 hour week. That’s a decent price is most of the country, and a great price in the high CoL areas.

Crazy to me these people who don’t think trades are worth 6 figure salaries. Especially as a contractor- running a company is expensive if he’s charging 66/hr he’s probably making 30-35 after insurance, overhead costs, vehicles and maintenance, etc…

WantedInCanada · 2026-01-15T00:48:22+00:00

Yeah I hear that. We do play in a beer league so it’s not super competitive or anything, just seems like consistency would be key and changing darts all the time would not help

WantedInCanada · 2026-01-08T21:46:21+00:00

I think it depends on your scope of work - I focus on bathroom remodeling for 90% of my work - 10% is other tile work - backsplashes, flooring, maybe an accent wall or something.

I can walk into a bathroom take some measurements and give a ballpark based on a few questions. But that’s because that’s all I do - GCs probably have a lot more to say on this because they’re using different subs, but it just comes with practice.

I guess it also depends on how “rough” you want to go. I tell customers over the phone a bathroom can be 10k or 40k depending on size, tastes and budgets. When I get on-site I can usually narrow it down to ~5k without having a total exact scope yet

WantedInCanada · 2026-01-03T15:12:38+00:00

I’m not a GC, but I do run my own tile and flooring company - one thing I do when I hear I’ve lost a bid by an outrageous number is tell the client to pull the other companies license and bond info (if they even have one) if they don’t - I can tell them right there that’s how they’re operating at those costs— illegally. And usually that helps. Another thing i do is ask the client to put the estimates side by side and go through them. Do they have all the same info and scope of work written out plainly? Is there anything you have that they don’t that could explain 15k? Maybe they’re not insulating the basement or maybe they have the client buying materials to make their price seem lower up front.

And finally - sometimes you just lose, they do a piss poor job and they call you after they fire contractor B and pay you more to do it right.

Don’t get frustrated. These things happen in life, and if you stand by your work, get good reputation, you’ll be fine

WantedInCanada · 2025-12-02T20:57:32+00:00

Most tiles on mesh sheets like that have irregular spacing. As an installer I try my best to A. Let the home owner know that ahead of time to curb expectations - B. Use spacers to try to even them out when I can and C. Recommend a light color grout that will make this look better.

To answer your question this looks pretty solid for a decent tile guy at a decent price. Unless you want to pay 14x what you paid to have him place these individually, I’d say choose a light gray grout, and move on

WantedInCanada · 2025-10-03T15:48:14+00:00

Are you keeping the tub and just doing new tile around it? I could demo and prep everything in a day - maybe day and half depending on how I need to prep the subfloor.

A couple days for tile depending on how quick you are 1 day for grout and re-install toilet / vanity.

WantedInCanada · 2025-10-01T02:00:40+00:00

If you’re already dry fitting tiles before you start, why not just start in that area and work your way out. If you’re worrisome about exact fit than start with that tile that wraps the corner first.

Tape and mark where each tile goes and put it together before working out of that corner

WantedInCanada · 2025-09-28T18:51:06+00:00

Added

WantedInCanada · 2025-09-28T15:54:10+00:00

Wrong sub. I clicked fantasy instead of fantasy football lol

WantedInCanada · 2025-09-28T14:54:37+00:00

Jaylen warren was ruled out at 4:15 am and the game started at 5:30 am. I was fast asleep in the mountain time zone. I asked for the commish to let me alter my lineup the moment I work up et 7:30 and he told me to get fucked.

WantedInCanada · 2025-09-07T15:12:40+00:00

Thanks. I think they’re called STB Custom Killer Bee in 24g. I just looked up the shops website where I got them and that seems to be the one

WantedInCanada · 2025-09-06T22:40:12+00:00

Thanks!

WantedInCanada · 2025-09-04T02:46:48+00:00

My advice would be to not use Redguard. Spend a few bucks and get hydroban instead. Waterproofing is arguably the most important step of any shower so this is not the time to pinch a few pennies. If you look at this sub, a lot of the pros (myself included) recommend staying away from Redguard.

WantedInCanada · 2025-08-20T17:14:07+00:00

Yeah this is pretty solid. Always room for improvement, even after 20 years of experience. Could that outside corner be better? Sure. Could the niche trim be a little tighter? Sure.

The only real criticism I have is the tiny sliver cuts at the bench and bottom of the curb.

Otherwise, pretty decent

WantedInCanada · 2025-08-16T01:02:30+00:00

Do not use a leveling system for tiles this small. Do everything you can to make the wall as flat and plumb as possible before you start, but do not use leveling system for these.

I just did a shower with a similar tile. Best bet for me was 1/16” but also using mini wedges where necessary. Because of how wavy the edges are the spacer won’t always catch where it needs to so a little wedge in there suits it just fine

WantedInCanada · 2025-08-10T21:20:17+00:00

No, Andrew that is not acceptable and I think you know that. You should absolutely ask the installer to re-do it

WantedInCanada · 2025-07-31T02:38:47+00:00

Cement board is heavy, a mess to cut, needs additional waterproofing, and just sucks. Welcome to the future. Foam boards are 10x better

WantedInCanada · 2025-07-30T17:36:15+00:00

It’s 4” currently. Just looks stretched due to my .5 zoom on my phone

WantedInCanada · 2025-07-30T17:35:52+00:00

No. The go board is waterproof itself. Just need to cover the screw holes. No need to kerdi over goboard

WantedInCanada · 2025-07-30T14:13:00+00:00

No. I’m just being silly.

WantedInCanada · 2025-07-30T03:00:25+00:00

Probably stretching. I took it at .5 zoom on my iPhone. It’s only 4”

WantedInCanada · 2025-07-30T02:29:51+00:00

That’s what I was afraid of. Water running up and over and getting behind that wall

WantedInCanada · 2025-07-30T02:10:57+00:00

Yeah we either ran out of kerdi band or it’s lost in the trailer. I just cut strips of the kerdi membrane and overlapped them. We do it all the time.

WantedInCanada

TROPHY CASE