Floor tiling help in Canberra?

I hope the tiling industry isn’t as bad as it was 15 years ago. Have a good look at ‘rubberised’ tiling base. Whatever it is called, I couldn’t get a tiler to use it but it was available. I live in a relocatable house subject to minor movement and tiled the toilet floor using it as a base. Then I had a tiler do the bathroom and laundry and he wouldn’t use that base just the standard mortar. The rest is history. The tiler came back to redo the laundry (no cost that first time) where a straight line crack occurred but that was back then. Now we have a different crack in the laundry and another crack in the bathroom. Thanks a lot Canberra tradies, I guess you like creating work for yourselves – it keeps you going.

Hourly quotes are given where the builder cannot properly scope the work, so can’t determine how long it will take. If you push for a fixed fee, you will get a high fee with a lot of contingency built in (for all those things the builder cannot see). So the hourly rate may not turn out to be higher than the fixed rate (most builders will let you set a ‘cap’ eg they do $2000 worth of work and then stop, you then decide if you want to finish it off yourself). If the builder is trustworthy, then an hourly rate won’t be abused.

Removing tiles is fairly easy. You just remove one (smash it with a hammer or something) then chisel/putty knife under the others. The grout/adhesive usually comes off without too much hassle, although there will be sanding etc to get rid of the residue.

However, lino can be harder or easier. Usually harder because the glue used is tough to remove. Takes a bit (ok, a lot) of physical effort and often the use of a heat gun. Plus there is a high risk of damaging the wooden floor underneath (although usually nothing that cannot be dealt with by a good sanding – or laying new wood over the top, which might turn out to be your best option)

Overall its not a high skill job – probably the builder will use an apprentice anyway or just a general labourer.