On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 17:19:56 GMT, "dadiOH" wrote:

Tony wrote:
I want to thank everyone for their suggestions. In the end, I spoke
to my friend (a builder) and he gave me the phone number of a tile
guy he swears by. For $2000, he will mud and tile the entire
bathroom, not matter what patterns or sized tile I want to use.

What a bargain...only gasp $50 per square foot.

From what I understand, here on Long Island, that is a bargain. I had another guy here who said he
would charge $2400 and he flat out told me that if the wall isnt plumb, it isnt going to look any
better after he installs the tile. This new guy will make the walls perfect before he tiles.

Aside from that, there wasnt anyone that would mud my 5x8 floor for less than $300. So, since that
is included, the tile job is only $1700 to me. My wife's cousin is a tile installer and does great
work and when I was originally only going to tile the floor (40 sq/ft) and the shower area
(50sq/ft), his great family discount price was $1400 and that did not include the mud floor. So,
this new guy is charging $300 more to tile another 180 sq/ft than my wife's cousin.

Labor rates vary by geographical location. My buddy has houses in Delaware and they charge less than
half to do anything over there. So, you are probably in one of those areas where it doesnt cost much
to live. I just bought a small ranch (1000 sq/ft witha full finished basement, but you dont count
the 1000 sq/ft down there because it's a basement) and I paid $350,000. That was a major bargan. I
couldnt find a crappy fixer upper for less than $450,000 30 miles closer to NYC where I was
originally brought up. Prices are all relative. $50 sq/ft is a good deal by me and, the guy is
great. he wont do the shoddy work like the guy who came here a few months back (from the major tile
store) and I banned them from ever coming back in my house again. You get what you pay for.

Tony