# Tiling – what to charge in 2026 (UK)
Tilers live in that grey area between day rate and per‑metre charges. In 2026 you want both clear, or you'll end up doing show‑home work for trade‑counter money.
1. Day rates – tiling in 2026
Most of the public numbers are in per‑m², but tilers themselves are talking more about day work now.
From trade threads and cost guides:
- Many UK tilers in 2026 charge £200–£300/day, with faster or specialist tilers in busy areas going higher.
- Cheap day rates under £180/day are mostly what other tilers warn against in 2026 cost threads – they only work if someone else is covering your overheads.
Newly qualified / first year self‑employed
- London & South East: £180–£220/day
- Midlands: £160–£200/day
- North of England: £150–£190/day
- Scotland / Wales / rural: £140–£190/day
Experienced (around 3–5 years on your own)
- London & South East: £220–£280/day
- Midlands: £190–£250/day
- North of England: £180–£240/day
- Scotland / Wales / rural: £170–£230/day
Highly experienced / specialist (large format, complex layouts)
- London & South East: £260–£340+/day
- Midlands: £220–£300/day
- North of England: £210–£280/day
- Scotland / Wales / rural: £200–£270/day
ONS‑based salary data puts average tiler employee pay around £29,600/year, with a range from £17,000 to £38,000, which lines up with those day‑rate bands once you factor self‑employment overheads.
2. Common tiling jobs and 2026 price ranges
Public guides focus on per‑m² and per‑room pricing; tilers themselves talk about both per‑m² and day work.
The numbers below assume labour only unless stated – materials on top.
Standard ceramic wall tiling (kitchen splashback / simple walls)
- Typical price: £25–£35/m² for standard wall tiling.
- Includes: Setting out, adhesive, grout, basic cuts, standard grout lines.
- Price goes up if: Tiny mosaics, awkward cuts, lots of sockets, patterned layouts.
Standard ceramic floor tiling
- Typical price: £30–£45/m².
- Includes: Setting out, adhesive and grout, basic cuts.
- Price goes up if: Larger areas needing levelling, underfloor heating to work around, complex layout.
Porcelain floor tiles
- Typical price: £35–£50/m² labour, sometimes more for large format tiles.
- Includes: Extra drilling/cutting time, heavier tiles.
- Price goes up if: 600x600 or larger, rectified edges, tight joints.
Natural stone (limestone, slate, etc.)
- Typical price: £40–£70/m² labour‑only, depending on size and finish, due to extra prep, sealing and handling.
- Price goes up if: Sealing before and after, very uneven substrates, complicated patterns.
Small bathroom walls (e.g. 15–20m² of tiling)
- Typical price: many domestic bathrooms land around £600–£1,200 labour‑only, plus adhesive, grout, trims and tiles.
- Includes: Tiling around bath/shower and basin, standard patterns.
- Price goes up if: Full‑height tiling, niches, feature walls, herringbone layouts.
Kitchen splashback
- Typical price: £200–£400 labour‑only depending on size and complexity.
- Includes: A few m² around worktops, socket cut‑outs, trims.
- Price goes up if: Herringbone, metro tiles with lots of cuts, uneven walls.
Wet‑room floor and walls
- Typical price: £800–£1,800+ labour‑only depending on size and spec.
- Includes: Tiling tray, falls, walls, extra care with waterproofing.
- Price goes up if: Fancy mosaics, multi‑fall floors, tricky detailing, benches/niches.
Hourly / day‑work
- Tilers forums in 2026 show many moving away from per‑m² on awkward domestic jobs and quoting by the day instead: typically £200–£280/day.
- Day work is common for: small patch jobs, repairs, partial refits, and jobs where the m² can't be measured cleanly.
These ranges are what homeowners and other trades are seeing in current tiling cost threads and Checkatrade's own "tiling cheat sheet".
3. What tilers actually earn (2026)
Employee tilers:
ONS/FindCourses data shows average tiler pay around £29,610/year, with a range of £17,000–£38,000.
Self‑employed:
- At £220–£280/day, billing 180–200 days/year, top‑line revenue is £40,000–£56,000/year.
- After van, tools, blades, wet cutter, insurance, adhesive/grout stock, downtime, and under‑priced jobs, a realistic net can easily sit in the £25,000–£40,000 band unless your pricing is tight.
Employed tilers average just under £30k. A self‑employed tiler on realistic 2026 day rates and per‑m² prices can do better, but only if they stop pricing full bathrooms at £100 a day because they "like the work".
4. What's usually NOT included in tiling quotes
The tiling jobs that go sour nearly always come back to assumptions:
Subfloor and wall prep beyond "normal" Self‑levelling, overboarding, replacing rotten boards, straightening bowed walls – often extras, not included in the base "per‑m²" price.
Removal of old tiles and waste Stripping old tiles, taking away bags of rubble, tip fees – frequently separate line items, especially upstairs.
Waterproofing / tanking Proper tanking kits around showers/wet rooms – often priced separately, not in a basic "tile per‑m²" number.
Silicone and sealants Many tilers treat silicone and specialist sealers as extras; a basic quote might only include grout.
Plumbing and carpentry Moving pipes, altering baths, trimming doors after tiling floors – usually separate trades/costs.
5. How tilers charge – per m² vs day rate
Tiling is in transition: lots of tilers are shifting from pure per‑m² to day rates + job pricing on domestic work.
Domestic work
Traditional way: per‑m² price (e.g. £25–£35/m² walls, £30–£50/m² floors) multiplied by area.
Increasingly: per‑job or per‑day pricing when:
- Room is full of cuts, niches, angles.
- Substrates are unknown until you start.
- Layouts are complex (herringbone, large format, stone).
Most good tilers now:
- Use per‑m² for simple, clean rooms with good prep.
- Use day rate for messy or high‑risk domestic jobs, based on an internal target of £200–£280/day.
Site and commercial work
New‑build and commercial tiling is still heavily per‑m²:
- £X per m² for ceramic, more for porcelain or stone.
- Day rates used for remedials, snagging, weird areas the QS hasn't given a rate for.
Per‑m² still exists, but in 2026 more tilers are quietly shifting to day‑work pricing on awkward domestic jobs so they're not losing their shirt on pretty patterns and bad floors.
6. Materials and markup – tiling (2026)
Tiling materials can be a decent chunk of the job and carry real risk if they fail.
- Adhesive, grout, trims, boards, tanking, primers – many tilers add 10–20% on their cost to cover sourcing, storage and waste.
- On premium systems (uncoupling mats, specialist tanking, branded adhesives), markups of 15–25% are common because you're taking on product choice and warranty risk.
- Customers often supply tiles themselves; that's fine, but you lose that part of the margin and may want a higher labour rate to compensate.
Straight explanation:
"There's a small margin on materials like adhesive, grout and tanking to cover my time and waste. You're supplying the tiles, so my labour rate reflects that I'm not earning on the tile side."
What to do next
- Read: 14.1 – Day rate vs price work vs quoted (tiling sits in both worlds)
- Read: 14.2 – How to price your first job without underselling yourself
- Read: 14.8 – Materials: who supplies, who pays, where's the margin?
- Read: 14.3 – When to raise your prices
- Download: Payment schedule and deposit terms template
- Use: Late Payment Calculator – to see what unpaid "extras" and slow payers are doing to your yearly income
Sources (UK, 2026‑relevant)
- TilersForums "Tiling rates per square metre / day rates compared UK" – live 2026 thread on per‑m² vs day‑rate pricing.
- Checkatrade tiling "cheat sheet" and cost guides – typical per‑m² rates for walls and floors.
- FindCourses/ONS tiler salary – average UK tiler salary around £29,610/year.
- Contractor markup resources – typical materials markup ranges.
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