The floor is finished, but the preparation hours sit under installation and the spare adhesive has vanished into the van. Tiler job costing fixes that by putting each cost against the stage and reason that caused it.
Start with the accepted quote. Keep its cost allowance fixed. Then record what the job actually consumed without rewriting the original plan.
Freeze the accepted scope before recording costs
The accepted quote and its internal allowance are your baseline. Record the labour, materials and other direct costs you expected before work started.
Do not change that baseline when the floor needs more work than expected. Put the extra cost beside the allowance. The difference is the information you need.
Your tiler job costing record should identify the rooms, surfaces and tile areas covered by the price. It should also carry the quote number, client, site address and job identifier used on timesheets, orders, supplier credits, variations and the invoice.
Write down the visible substrate condition
Inspect before quoting. Record what you can see and what remains hidden.
Record the observed substrate, preparation included, hidden-condition assumption, tile format and pattern, site access, protection required, and who handles strip-out and disposal. If your price includes grinding, patching, levelling or local repairs, write down the preparation allowance. Do not hide it inside a line called standard preparation.
Strip-out may expose a substrate that needs more grinding, patching or levelling than the quote allowed. Stop there. Compare the exposed condition with the accepted scope before the crew prepares the whole floor.
Photograph the substrate and add a short written note. A photograph shows the condition. The note explains why it matters to the scope and cost.
If waterproofing condition or substrate evidence still needs to be recorded, use the tiler waterproofing checklist before covering the surface.
Separate included work from exclusions
List the work covered by the quote. That may include protection, removal, cleaning, preparation, setting out, fixing, grouting, sealant work and final cleaning.
Then list the boundaries. Hidden substrate repairs, plumbing alterations, electrical work, structural repairs, chasing and work by other trades should not sit inside a vague exclusion such as unforeseen extras.
Record who supplies the tiles, trims and fixing products. Client-supplied tiles remove a purchase from your material account. They do not remove checking, sorting, carrying, setting out, cutting or shortage-related labour.
Resolve approval questions before starting
If the tiling package raises a building regulations approval question in England or Wales, ask building control (opens in a new tab) and write down who will handle the answer. For work in Scotland, check the Scottish building standards guidance (opens in a new tab). For work in Northern Ireland, use the building control route for building regulations (opens in a new tab).
Do not guess whether approval is needed. Do not bury responsibility in the cost sheet. Record the answer with the job documents before ordering products or starting preparation.
Build a tiler job costing sheet around the work
Each entry needs to answer four questions:
- What type of cost was it?
- Which work stage used it?
- Why did the cost arise?
- Can it be charged under the accepted documents?
Use cost types such as labour, materials and other direct cost. Keep the stages recognisable to the crew: preparation, setting out, fixing and finishing.
Give every entry a status. Use accepted scope, variation, rework or investigation. Investigation is temporary. Replace it once you know whether the cost belongs to the original scope, approved extra work or a business mistake.
Split the record into a job header, a stage budget and a cost-entry ledger. This keeps the accepted baseline separate from later variations and actual transactions.
Job header
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Job identifier | [Job number] |
| Quote reference | [Accepted quote number] |
| Accepted quote revenue | [Accepted selling price on the agreed accounting basis] |
| Client and site | [Client, address and postcode] |
| Variation approval references | [Written approval references] |
| Approved variation revenue | [Approved selling prices, recorded separately from accepted quote revenue] |
| Invoice reference | [Final invoice number] |
Stage budget
| Stage | Accepted labour allowance | Accepted material allowance | Accepted other direct-cost allowance | Total accepted allowance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preparation | [Your own figures] | [Your own figures] | [Your own figures] | [Your own figures] |
| Setting out | [Your own figures] | [Your own figures] | [Your own figures] | [Your own figures] |
| Fixing | [Your own figures] | [Your own figures] | [Your own figures] | [Your own figures] |
| Finishing | [Your own figures] | [Your own figures] | [Your own figures] | [Your own figures] |
Do not add variation budgets to this table. Keep the accepted allowance frozen so the original-scope variance remains visible.
Cost-entry ledger
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Cost date | [Date incurred] |
| Cost type | [Labour / materials / other direct cost] |
| Stage | [Preparation / setting out / fixing / finishing] |
| Status | [Accepted scope / variation / rework / investigation] |
| Item or task | [What was used or done] |
| Operative or subcontractor | [Name] |
| Labour hours | [Actual hours] |
| Internal labour cost | [Cost assigned under your labour-cost method] |
| Material movement | [Purchased / issued / consumed / damaged / returned / credited] |
| Material quantity and unit | [Quantity and unit] |
| Material stock cost | [Cost assigned under your stock method] |
| Cause note | [Hidden substrate / access delay / cutting / breakage / ordering error / failed work] |
| Variation approval reference | [Written approval reference, if applicable] |
| Source document | [Timesheet / receipt / order / supplier credit / variation approval] |
| Stock return location | [Named shelf, bin or van location] |
Keep the same job identifier and labels from quote to close-out. The tiling job workflow can hold the operational record while the cost fields preserve the comparison.
Decide what counts as a direct job cost
Choose whether supporting work belongs to the job or overhead, then use that method every time. Do not move costs between the two just to improve a weak result.
Capture tile labour costs when the task changes
Tile labour costs come from actual time multiplied by your internal labour cost. The rate charged to the client is revenue pricing. It is not the cost of employing or supplying that labour.
Set the internal labour cost from your own records and use the same basis across jobs. For employees, include the payroll costs your accountant tells you belong in an hour of direct labour. For subcontractors, use the cost charged to your business and assign it to the job and stage performed. For a working owner, choose a consistent cost basis with your accountant rather than treating the time as free. Confirm payroll and owner-cost treatment with your accountant before fixing the method.
Record the operative or subcontractor, work date, stage, hours and internal labour cost when the task changes. If the crew prepares the floor before lunch and fixes tiles afterwards, split the entries so each can be checked against the timesheet.
Useful stages include:
- strip-out, cleaning, grinding, patching and levelling
- measuring and setting out
- mixing, cutting and fixing
- grouting, sealant work, cleaning and handover
- return visits and remedial work
Good tiler job costing also includes working-owner time and direct supervision. That time consumes job capacity even when it does not appear on payroll in the same way as an employee’s hours.
Keep delays visible
Record waiting time against the job and name the cause. Site access, another trade, a client decision and missing products are different problems.
Do not automatically call a delay a variation. The cost record shows what consumed time. The accepted quote and written approvals decide what can be charged.
Review the labour entries while the room is still fresh in the crew’s mind. Replace “took longer” with a useful cause such as extra grinding, repeated edge cuts, restricted access or a changed setting-out instruction.
Assign tiling material costs to the job that used them
Tiling material costs include products bought for the job and stock already sitting in the van or workshop. A product does not become free because an earlier supplier invoice paid for it.
Record every material the job consumes, whether or not the accepted quote allowed for it. The accepted scope decides whether you can recover that cost from the client. It does not decide whether adhesive, grout, tiles, trims or protection materials belong in the cost record.
Put the job identifier on each order, receipt, delivery charge, return and supplier credit. Record the movement type, quantity, unit, stock cost and any supplier-credit reference. A credit posted only to the general accounts will leave the job looking more expensive than it was.
Record van and workshop stock when it leaves
Enter adhesive, grout, trims and consumables when they move from stock to the job. Use the same stock-cost method each time.
Do not wait for a new purchase invoice. There may not be one. The job still consumed an item bought earlier.
For an opened adhesive, grout or membrane unit, record the quantity issued to the job. When it comes back, measure the usable quantity returned and post that quantity to a named stock location under the same stock-cost method. The balance stays on the job as consumed material.
Credit the job only when the returned product is usable and can be found again. “Back in van” is not a stock location.
Opened, contaminated or damaged products remain a cost of the job when they cannot return to usable stock. The same applies to offcuts that have no practical use elsewhere.
Record material loss by cause
Do not apply an invented wastage percentage after the job. Compare the quoted material allowance with what was purchased, consumed, damaged and returned.
Separate planned cutting from accidental breakage, ordering errors and damage after installation. These causes need different fixes.
Planned cuts around corners, penetrations and edges may belong to the accepted installation method. A broken tile caused by poor handling does not. Tiles ordered in the wrong finish point to an ordering check, not a cutting allowance.
Add the tile format, pattern, batch limit, room shape and edge detail beside the variance when one of those facts affected yield. Area alone does not explain repeated cuts or unusable pieces.
Record surplus material properly. A full box returned to a supplier needs the supplier credit against the job. A full box kept by the business needs a stock credit and named storage location. Material left with the client remains consumed by the job unless your records and agreement say otherwise.
Separate approved variations from rework
A variation changes the accepted scope. Rework corrects failed, damaged or incorrect work. Never use one status for both.
When hidden preparation appears, stop the dependent work. Describe the condition, the extra task and any effect on the programme. Price the extra labour and materials. Get the client’s approval before continuing.
Keep the approval under the original job identifier. Record the approved variation revenue, approval reference, labour, materials and other direct costs with variation status.
A return visit to replace damaged or failed work belongs under rework when the business must absorb it. Record the replacement materials and every labour hour. Do not turn the visit into a client variation merely to protect the job result.
The same rule applies when responsibility is still unclear. Use investigation while you check the cause. Then move the cost to accepted scope, variation or rework.
An increased invoice does not prove the job made more money. Match the added revenue to the labour, materials and other direct costs that produced it.
Keep CIS deductions and VAT treatment clear
Keep recoverable VAT outside operating cost. If some VAT cannot be recovered, record it on the accounting basis agreed with your accountant so the job cost includes it consistently.
Use the same basis when comparing quoted revenue with actual cost. Do not compare a VAT-inclusive invoice value with revenue or costs recorded on a different basis and call the difference profit.
Keep CIS deductions separate from gross revenue and gross subcontract cost. Attach the payment and deduction records to the correct job without reducing either operating figure merely because money was withheld.
Check VAT treatment with HMRC’s VAT guidance (opens in a new tab) and CIS treatment with HMRC’s Construction Industry Scheme guidance (opens in a new tab). Ask your accountant how each applies to your records. Do not copy an old threshold, deadline or deduction rule into your process.
The operating result should show accepted quote revenue, approved variation revenue, labour used, materials consumed, other direct costs, credits and rework on the accounting basis agreed with your accountant.
Calculate tile job profit from matching figures
Tile job profit is revenue minus the complete costs that produced it. Do not use the final invoice automatically if some variation costs are missing.
The Oak Street house example is electrical work, but the costing rule is the same. R. Chen at 14 Oak Street accepted quote Q-1847 for a bathroom exhaust fan and four LED downlights. The quote was 1,105 sample currency units.
The ceiling was lined and the quote excluded chasing. Extra cable and chasing became an approved 160 variation, so invoice INV-1847 was 1,265.
The costs of that variation are not given. Profit therefore cannot be calculated by subtracting the original job cost from the 1,265 invoice.
Use the matching original figures instead. Original quote revenue was 1,105 and job cost was 850. Profit was 1,105 − 850 = 255. Margin was 255 ÷ 1,105 ≈ 23%, while markup was 255 ÷ 850 = 30%.
These are sample currency units, not tiling rates. For tiler job costing, apply the same rule: do not count variation profit until its labour, materials and other direct costs are posted.
Markup is added to cost to form a price. Margin is profit as a share of the selling price. Use the markup and margin guide when updating the next quote so the two do not get mixed.
Turn the result into a better allowance
Compare allowance with actual cost by stage and cause. Change the next quote only where the record supports a change.
If extra preparation caused the overrun, adjust the inspection questions, substrate assumption or preparation allowance. If setting out consumed the hours, record the tile format and pattern more clearly. If materials went missing, fix the stock return process before increasing every material allowance.
Do not spread one mistake across every future job. Correct the line that failed.
Use the job pricing guide to carry the corrected tiler job costing allowance into the next price.