Tile Installation Cost Calculator

What moves the labour rate

• Pattern — a straight grid is the baseline. Offset adds about 10%, diagonal about 25%, and herringbone can add 50% because nearly every perimeter piece is cut.
• Tile size — very small and very large formats both cost more to lay than mid-size tiles.
• Room complexity — columns, niches, thresholds and skirting all add cutting time that is not visible in a per-sq-ft rate.
• Site access — upper floors without a service lift add shifting charges for tiles, sand and cement.

Removal and preparation

Breaking an existing floor is usually charged per sq ft and includes debris removal — cities with restricted dumping charge more. Preparation covers levelling screed, crack filling and priming, and is only needed where the base is uneven. Both are shown as separate lines above so you can compare quotes line by line rather than as one lump sum.

How this estimate is calculated

Every figure on this page comes from the same formula. Rates are stored as configurable low–high bands per flooring type, overridden by city-level bands where we have them, then scaled by the quality level you pick.

effective_area = floor_area x (1 + wastage% / 100)
material_cost  = effective_area x material_rate
labour_cost    = floor_area x labour_rate
adhesive_cost  = floor_area x adhesive_rate
grout_cost     = floor_area x grout_rate
other_cost     = floor_area x other_rate
total_cost     = material + labour + adhesive + grout + other

Areas entered in square metres are converted using 1 sq m = 10.7639 sq ft. The low total uses every low rate and the high total uses every high rate, so the displayed range is deliberately wide — real quotations usually land somewhere in the middle.

Rates are configurable estimates maintained in our own database, not scraped live market prices, and we do not publish supplier names, reviews or ratings we cannot verify. Rate configuration last reviewed: September 2026.