ᐅ Tiling Installation with Additional Costs for Large Format Tiles

Dear forum members,

I have been in a construction phase for two years now. Finally, the tiling is being done. The builder has invoiced me an additional cost of 7,977.00€ for large-format tiles. This concerns the floor tiling of 94 square meters (1,012 square feet). The tile size is 120 x 20 cm (47 x 8 inches). The additional costs are listed in the invoice as follows:
1. Additional material costs for tiles: 2,707.00€
2. Additional labor costs for installation: 1,770.00€
3. Additional costs for large-format tiles: 3,500.00€

My question is: Are these extra costs justified? I would be very grateful for any helpful advice.

Kind regards,
Th. Tiede

Good morning. We are also building with a developer. Based on my experience, the reasons could be the following:
The construction and specification documents include a budget for tiles, if tiling is planned at all. You are obviously exceeding that budget (point 1).
For us, only the tiling in the bathrooms is included in the price. We have to pay extra for the hallway and kitchen. That could explain point 2 in your case.
Deviations from the standard tile size, both smaller and larger, can make installation more complex, for example it takes longer or requires two people. That would be point 3.
Without seeing your construction and specification documents, this is just a guess. However, your developer should be able to explain this to you in detail. I cannot say whether the prices are reasonable, though.

120x20 or 120x120?
We are currently installing tiles, and our construction service description states that for tiles larger than 30x60cm (12x24 inches) and calibrated tiles, significant additional work will result in extra costs. That’s why we coordinated everything in advance. In the end, we stayed within our "budget" because we tiled fewer walls than specified in the construction service description.

Installation of large-format and custom-size tiles requires additional effort and therefore higher charges apply. Some tilers charge more, others less. Some general contractors charge more, others less.

Th. Tiede schrieb:

1. Additional tile materials cost €2707.00

2. Additional installation cost €1770.00

3. Additional large-format cost €3500.00

More waste
More effort
Difficult handling, longer execution time

Hello, I’m just a DIY enthusiast, but I’ve already laid about half the house using 120x20cm (47x8 inches) tiles.

The waste also depends on the laying pattern. For example, if a random bond pattern is used, the waste is very low.

There will probably always be a second person involved who prepares the tiles (using the buttering-floating method) and hands them over – this increases labor requirements.

It’s likely that a leveling system will be used as well, since these kinds of tiles often have a slight crown.

Also, it may be that an S1 adhesive was used instead of a standard flexible tile adhesive.

Overall, I wouldn’t have expected such high additional costs. Material costs alone amount to 2707 euros. You can get nice wood-look tiles in this size for 30–40 euros per square meter (about 3–4 USD per square foot). If you then add 5 euros per square meter (about 0.50 USD per square foot) for the extra cost of the S1 adhesive, the tiler would have had a waste of 60 square meters (about 650 square feet)...

The second item of 1770 sounds realistic.

But what is the third item supposed to be?

siegthread schrieb:

...
But what is supposed to be the third item then?

Most likely, no tiles are planned for this area in the construction and performance specification. In that case, there is an additional charge, which should actually be offset against the other floor covering method. At least, that’s how our builder handles it. The other extra cost is for the tile size, as you explained. However, only the original poster can tell us what exactly is stated in the construction and performance specification!