Victorian Tiling in Hallway

[MusicMum80s]

We are getting quotes for getting our hallway tiled in a checkerboard tile pattern with a border in a standard Victorian style. The main tiles are 10cm so not super small. Its about 1.2m wide by 7m long so 8.4 sqm. We have two quotes so far and they are miles apart so not sure if the low one is a cowboy or if the high one is ripping us off. The low quote (excluding the tiles) is circa £1,400 including floor preparation. The high quote is £4,000. I've never had such a large gap in quotes before so its thrown me! Any advice for anyone whose done something similar would be great. We are in London.

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What are they quoting for? Are they screeding? Are they including grout? Who is providing the tiles? Are they taking up the existing flooring? Are they doing the waste removal?

Quotes should be itemised and then you can compare between the two.

@Alicana 👌
Exactly this.
Some are only quoting for sticking the tiles down and how many square meters they expect to get done in a day, others are doing a more thorough end to end job.

I've checked and they are on the same basis. Both include preparing the floor and both exclude the tiles but include all other materials. I'm trying to get more quotes but it can be difficult to get trades people to quote so wanted a general sanitycheck.

I've just had my floor tiles done. Paid £230 a day for his labour if that helps (NW). He was able to skillfully (all level, nice grout joints etc) lay about 10-12 meters in a day, though exactly how much he did in a day depended on how much cutting, faff with awkward corners there was... And then grouting was more time on top (after adhesive had set).

Maybe that's a useful anecdote.
I was very satisfied with his skill and work rate.

That's helpful cleopatras. The lower quote said it would be about a 4 day job which when you add in materials would be coming in a bit above what you've mentioned which makes sense given we are in London. The other quote makes no sense-- I imagine he may just not want the job.

Having done some tiling recently in London, I found rates can vary from £100 to £300 per sqm. In addition to the above advice, I'd ask to see examples of their recent tiling as expertise and finish can vary significantly!

Square meters that should say (I expect you realised).
We hired a guy earlier in the year who we had to sack, he was more expensive but was just crap, he was a huge ego though. 🙈
Do you also have any previous work clients to speak to?
Maybe expensive guy is the mutts nuts... Or just a prima Donna...
Maybe cheap guy is ace or not?

@LucyinMoldova completely agree!