Quotes for tilers, dictated before the adhesive goes off
Speak to Quote works for tilers. Say the room, the metres, the pattern and who's buying the tiles, and get back an editable, priced quote with the prep, the tiling and the finishing as their own lines — sent before the customer has rung the next number on the list.
What a tiling quote has to carry
Most tiling disputes are settled — or started — before the first tile goes on. Who supplies them, what the wall is really like under the old ones, and what the pattern does to the labour: a quote that names all three is one you can hold to.
- Who supplies the tiles — and the wastage
Customer-supplied tiles are the tiling trade's commonest flashpoint. Say whose they are on the line, and that cuts need roughly ten per cent extra — so running out mid-wall is a supply problem, not your problem.
- The substrate, priced honestly
Tiling onto fresh board is not tiling onto blown plaster or old adhesive ridges. Stripping, boarding, levelling and tanking are their own lines — the cheap quote that skips them is planning to find them later.
- Metres measured, not guessed
Put the square metres on the line. It shows the customer how the figure was built, and it is your defence when the "small bathroom" turns out to have five walls.
- The pattern premium
Herringbone, diagonal and small-format mosaic are more cuts, more time and more waste than stack bond. If the customer chose the pattern, the quote should show it was priced — not absorbed.
- Grout, trim and sealant, specified
Colour and finish named — "grey grout, chrome trim, silicone to all joints" is a spec the customer signed up to, not a decision relitigated at the end.
- Whether VAT is in the figure
Many sole-trade tilers are under the registration threshold. If that's you, a line saying no VAT is charged reads as clarity, not smallness. Date the offer and name the deposit if you're buying materials.
A worked example
A family bathroom, said once, into a phone — from a tiler who is not VAT-registered, which the document simply states. The prices are illustrative — yours come from your own price book, or from what you say.
What you said
Family bathroom. Strip the old tiles off the walls, board where it breaks up, tank the shower corner. Fourteen square metres of walls in the customer's porcelain, herringbone above the bath. Five square metres of floor in the same tile. Chrome trim, grey grout, seal all the joints.
Quote · T. Okafor Tiling · TTA member
| Description | Qty | Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
Strip existing wall tiles Strip and dispose; make good where the backing breaks up | 1 | £180.00 | £180.00 |
Board and tank shower area Backer board and tanking kit to shower corner | 1 | £240.00 | £240.00 |
Wall tiling, 14 m² Customer's porcelain; herringbone above bath priced in | 1 | £700.00 | £700.00 |
Floor tiling, 5 m² Same porcelain; floor levelled before laying | 1 | £300.00 | £300.00 |
Grout, trim and seal Grey grout, chrome trim, silicone to all joints | 1 | £140.00 | £140.00 |
This quotation is valid until 21 October 2026. Not VAT registered — no VAT charged. Tiles supplied by the customer — allow ten per cent over the measured area for cuts. Removing and refitting sanitaryware is excluded. Materials deposit on acceptance, balance on completion.
Prices shown are illustrative, not a price list.
Every line is what you said, in the order you said it. Nothing on it was invented: a line whose price is not in your price book comes back at £0 for you to fill in, never with a made-up figure. Edit any line, take one off, add one, then send.
How Speak to Quote handles it
Set your trade to tiler in Business details and the extraction is worded for it — the metres stay on the tiling lines, "customer's porcelain" stays where it settles the supply question, and the herringbone lands as part of the priced spec instead of disappearing.
Your metre rates are yours. Put "Wall tiling, per m²" and "Floor tiling, per m²" in the price book once and every dictated bathroom comes back priced at your rates, not invented ones.
"Shall I do the en-suite while I'm set up?" is an optional extra. Add it as an optional line the customer can tick when they accept — priced on the sheet, outside the total until they choose it.
The document looks like your firm, not ours. Your logo, your colours on paper, your branding on every quote — with TTA membership or any other registration in the header, and the badges along the bottom if you upload them.