if hack existing tiles or parquet flooring .. then additional labour cost

some contractors ... those with better workmanship .. might charge for "Plastering" labour cost for wall tiles

small stone/ pebble stone actually more expensive

not necessarily the contractor overcharge ... 'koz if they're contractor of good workmanship, they would use enough material to make sure the job is done properly and the outcome meet or above client's expectation ..

i dun think the contractor u're negotiating with right now is professional enough ..
usually contractors would calculate the labour cost by sqft .. not by the size of tiles..

and if u wanna save some cost, sometimes when there're tile promotion, large size tiles, for example 16' x 16' might be cheaper in total tile cost, compared with if u buy smaller sqft size of tiles.

have u tried getting a few more contractors' quotations ?

have u tried getting quotation from chinese contractors ?

i asked those ppl selling tiles, they said in fact Niro, Guocera, MML are about the same quality ..

And u're right. It takes good sifu to do these kind of tiling. u need to find those really experienced in laying porcelain tiles, 'koz those are large-size tiles and need more laying material and work. Not all contractors know how to lay porcelain tiles *properly*.

A good contractor, b4 laying these kind of tiles, they would lay a relatively think layer of cement on the hacked floor (if hacking jobs needed), wait for this base layer to fully dry in a few days, then only proceed to lay ur Niro/Guocera/MML tiles on the base layer.

On the other hand, a contractor who doesn't really have much experience in doing procelain tile laying jobs, chances are they would put a few big dots of cement in the 5 corners under the tiles and then lay on the floor... So in the years to come, the tiles, after going thru differences of high and low temperatures along with the weather, would start cracking ... Mayb in any day out of the blue u would suddenly heard a strong "pop" sound when it cracks.. This is some of the things i heard from a procelain tiles seller and also saw from some online video clips.

Thus finding a realiable contractor thru word-of-mouth is critical.

jln Ipoh.. a couple of tile shops . i think there're another round of sales on now.

+1
super ceramic's price are pretty competitive

that's why u would need to monitor the renovation progress, say, by spot check.

Usually The Star weekend can find a lot of promotion ads on tiles.

btw u may try take a look along Jln Ipoh. Lots of tile shops there. Look around and compare for urselves. Average the tiles price at Jln Ipoh are quite attractive.

guocera and MML are tough and thick enough for the table top and especially for the flooring.
guocera in general are with higher pricing.

u may try to consider MML procelain tiles if u want resilient, thick tiles, but at much cost effective way.
There're many places having the tiles on sales. Jln Ipoh tiles shops are among the good place to look for good quality tiles at good price.




This post has been edited by Life_House: Apr 14 2013, 04:48 AM

Whitehorse i have no comment. But MML have the similar resilience quality as Guacera etc, but at much cheaper price.
Try walk along jln ipoh, and u can see for urself the many different types of tiles. At times there would be sales season that u can find good tiles at cost effective price.

u may go by public transport then drop by the bus stand somewhere near the small temple along the cross junction traffic lights, then walk along the jln ipoh .. and u would see and experience more things; could be a bit tired but at the end u might find it's worth the walk.

who knows, mayb even u would discover some of the nice free parking spaces around there : )