clipped

When we started looking for a contractor, we ended up with the first one
we talked to. He mentioned that he could have ordered the same or very
similar tile, but it was no big deal. You might be in better favor with
a contractor you buy tile from, but that is life. If he is offended, he
doesn't need to accept your business.


See above. In your case, he probably saw that your motive
was as you described it, you like the tile and bought it before
it went away. No problem. He perceived you weren't trying
to be cheap.


There were issues with our job that we settled thoroughly in advance.
First, tore up the carpet to make sure there weren't cracks in the slab
that might have made tile a bad choice. Did that before we ordered the
tile.

Some really tricky issues with tiling up to unlevel adjoining rooms,
tiling around a step with bannister embedded in the face of the step.
We had the baseboards undercut so the tile would go under them, not up
against as some of our neighbors have done. We had considered laying
the tile ourselves, as I have always liked DIY. Glad we didn't. He
even helped solve how to get grout lines in the right place where there
is a long "line of sight" that would have looked weird with other
placement.

His price was decent, but (I suspect) very good money for him. There
was no discussion of his price - paid what he asked. He did a superb
job. The contractor has been in biz a long time, and we could tell he
was serious about his work.