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Sonneneck20 Nov 2023 23:39Hi dear forum,
Our tiler is almost finished with the bathrooms, and we have noticed damage to one floor tile (a piece broken off) and a small chip on the adjacent tile.
Unfortunately, the tiler is asking for €1000 (approximately $1100) to replace both tiles.
Is this price justified? We don’t know who is responsible for the damage, as several trades were working in the house at the same time. The tiler also uses this as an excuse.
Apparently, two workers and eight hours of labor are required.
Is it possible to consider a repair instead? Is there a professional method for this?
Unfortunately, the damage is located right in the entrance area.

Our tiler is almost finished with the bathrooms, and we have noticed damage to one floor tile (a piece broken off) and a small chip on the adjacent tile.
Unfortunately, the tiler is asking for €1000 (approximately $1100) to replace both tiles.
Is this price justified? We don’t know who is responsible for the damage, as several trades were working in the house at the same time. The tiler also uses this as an excuse.
Apparently, two workers and eight hours of labor are required.
Is it possible to consider a repair instead? Is there a professional method for this?
Unfortunately, the damage is located right in the entrance area.
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Buchsbaum21 Nov 2023 08:02Someone obviously dropped something there. Annoying.
But the damage is quite small, less than 1 cm (0.4 inches), so it hardly stands out when viewed from a height of about 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in).
Nowadays, there are excellent industrial adhesives that I would use to glue the broken-off corner back in place. Once grouted, it won’t be visible anymore. The tiny damage on the other side will disappear after grouting. That’s why I wouldn’t remove the tile. Who knows what else could happen then.
Especially since with this tile it wouldn’t be noticeable at all.
But the damage is quite small, less than 1 cm (0.4 inches), so it hardly stands out when viewed from a height of about 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in).
Nowadays, there are excellent industrial adhesives that I would use to glue the broken-off corner back in place. Once grouted, it won’t be visible anymore. The tiny damage on the other side will disappear after grouting. That’s why I wouldn’t remove the tile. Who knows what else could happen then.
Especially since with this tile it wouldn’t be noticeable at all.
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WilderSueden21 Nov 2023 08:29Are you building with a general contractor (GC) or using individual subcontractors? With a GC, it doesn’t matter which trade caused the damage; the GC assumes the risk until handover. Otherwise, this would probably be a case for the construction all-risk insurance.
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Sonneneck21 Nov 2023 09:07WilderSueden schrieb:
Are you building with a general contractor (GC) or using individual contracts? With a GC, it doesn't matter which trade caused the damage; the GC bears the risk until handover. Otherwise, this would probably be a case for the builder's risk insurance.We are building with a GC, but the tiler was contracted directly by us. We are close to the house handover.
To be honest, the tiles have not been grouted yet, so you probably haven’t accepted the work. Therefore, the tile installer is the one with the problem.