# Most Profitable Tile



## Journeyman T (Feb 21, 2007)

I'd like to start specializing in tile applied in kitchens and bathrooms. Are there any tiles more profitable to install as opposed to others?


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## Norrrrrrrrrrrrm (Jan 20, 2007)

Natural stone is usually more expensive than ceramic. Walls, back splashes and showers give a good return. Mosaics and inlays are expensive to set. If you are going to charge for make sure it looks good. Make sure you have the right trowels for different tiles, thin sets and what ever else you need.


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## thom (Nov 3, 2006)

Profitability is more about marketing than about a kind of tile. If you expect to make more, the customer must be willing to pay you more. That means you must market yourself. You must be better than average, or at least the customer must believe you are.

Many people will pay more for a Lexus than a Buick. Both nice cars, but people believe the Lexus is better so they will pay more, a lot more. Current studies show the Buick is actually a higher quality car. People pay more for the Lexus because they believe it's better, not necessarily because it is better. That's marketing.


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

It's my experience that tile setters make their money on two things :

#1 Is being fast to take advantage of open layouts with large square footages.

#2 Is being highly skilled to take advantage of being able to do the type of work that takes highly skilled setters.

The long and the short is there isn't any tiles that are more profitable, I'm not a tile setter but in my opinion making money as a tile setter is absolutely no different then making money in every single other trade skill. The more skilled you are at your craft the more money you will make. 

Sorry, don't want to poop on your parade, but I don't see any free lunch out there in tile. See you in 6-10 years when you should be good enough to be making good money at tile.


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## Bill_Vincent (Apr 6, 2005)

Actually, there IS a a more profitable side, and that's commercial work. You may not see the same prices per square foor, but you see expansive footages that will more than make up for it in the time saved of not having to cut in as many tiles as you're setting full.

Here's the thing-- You need to really research it, first, before you jump in, for a couple of reasons. First, there will be hidden costs on many commercial contracts, such as bid bonds and completion bonds. Also, you have to take great care in not missing any details when putting together a bid. Miss a detail, and the GC will still expect you to take care of it-- on YOUR dime, because you already GAVE him a price. The other reason is that you can go as long as 45 days waiting for your money, especially on larger commercial work. Each month you have to submit an AIA requisition for payment form, and it has to be to the GC's office by a certain time on a certain day. 5 minutes late, and you're waiting ANOTHER 30 days (been there, done that!). Once you submit the form, they have 15 days to submit THEIR requisition to the the owner, who then has 30 days to make payment. After that 45 days, you then see 90% of your money (the other 10% is held as retainage, and although most contracts call for that to be held for 12 months, usually it gets released once the project is closed on). 

So believe me when I tell you-- you can make ALOT of money fast in commercial work. You can also LOSE alot of money fast.


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