How to write a tiler invoice

What goes on a tiler invoice

Six things, in the order they belong on the page. The invoice generator opens a tiler document with the lines already in place, so most of this is checking rather than typing.

1. Show the area and the rate per square foot. It is the unit the trade prices in and the one a customer can check.
2. Charge for the format, not just the area. Large format, mosaic and patterned lays take different time on the same wall.
3. Put preparation and tanking on their own lines. Boarding, leveling and waterproofing are separate work with separate materials.
4. List adhesive, grout and trims. They are supplied goods with real cost and they vary by substrate.
5. State the waste allowance. Cuts, breakages and pattern matching consume tiles beyond the floor area.
6. Note who supplied the tiles. A customer buying their own changes the warranty, the shortfall risk and the batch matching.

The lines a tiler invoice usually carries

These are the lines the generator opens with when you pick Tiler. The figures are a starting point to type over rather than a going rate: this site runs no pricing survey, and the number on your invoice should be the one you charge.

Add, rename, reorder or delete any line, and set tax per line where it applies. Priced as they open, that comes to $1,790 before tax.

A worked tiler invoice, filled in

This is the same job as the table above, written out the way it would leave your phone. Every figure on it is a starting point rather than a going rate, and the tax line is shown at ten per cent purely so the arithmetic is visible: set your own rate, or none, per line.

Subtotal $1,790, tax $179, total $1,969. The parts worth copying are the structure rather than the numbers: the job reference next to the client, every line separately priced with its count showing, the tax on its own line, and terms that name a number of days instead of saying on receipt.

Preparation, tanking and the wall you cannot see

A tiled surface is only as good as what it went onto, and most tiling failures are preparation failures that appear months later.

Bill preparation as its own line: removing old tiles, boarding, leveling, priming. In a wet area, tanking is a separate line again with the system named, because it is a warranty item and because it is the part a customer will otherwise assume was included in the tiling rate.

This also gives you the record you need if a customer declines it. If they chose not to have a shower tanked, the invoice showing it offered and not taken is what protects you when water finds its way through.

Format, cuts and why two identical areas price differently

Six square feet of six hundred by six hundred porcelain and six square feet of mosaic are the same area and completely different jobs.

Reflect format in the rate rather than trying to explain it after the fact, and say on the quote which format the rate was based on. If the customer changes tile choice after quoting, that is a re-price, and it is much easier to have that conversation with the original assumption written down.

Cuts are the same story. Niches, windows, curved walls and a herringbone or brick bond lay all add hours, and where they are significant they belong as their own line so the customer sees the complexity they chose.

Customer-supplied tiles, breakages and the batch that ran out

Tiles bought by the customer are the most common source of a stalled tiling job, because the shortfall appears on day two and the same batch is no longer available.

Put the position on the invoice: goods fitted as supplied, breakage and cutting waste at the customer cost, and no responsibility for batch or shade variation. Then advise the ordering quantity in writing at quote stage, including the waste percentage, so the shortfall is visibly not your decision.

Where you supply, the opposite is true and you should say so, because supplying is a service worth paying for: correct quantity, matched batch, replacements handled by you.

Hourly, fixed price or per unit: how tilers price the work

Tiling is priced per square foot and then adjusted for everything the square foot does not know about: the format of the tile, the lay pattern, the number of cuts and the state of the wall behind it. Two identical areas can be a day apart.

Set the rate against the format you were shown and say so on the quote. When the customer changes tile after quoting, that is a re-price rather than an argument, and having the original format in writing is what makes that a two-line conversation.

Working out what to charge

This guide is about what goes on the document, not what the number should be, and nobody should hand you a rate for your own market. What the site can do is the arithmetic: the freelance rate calculator works back from what you need to earn, the service price calculator prices a service against your costs, and the profit margin calculator checks what is left once the job is done.

Writing it on your phone, in five steps

Most tilers write the invoice standing next to the work rather than at a desk a week later, and the week later version is the one that gets details wrong. The generator is built for the first case.

1. Open it with your trade already chosen. The tiler invoice loads with tiling (per sq ft) and the rest of the lines already on the page.
2. Put the client and the job reference in first. It is the part you will not remember accurately in three days, and on agent, landlord or contractor work it is the reason the invoice gets paid at all.
3. Edit the lines rather than starting from empty. Change the quantities and the rates, delete what you did not do, add what you did. Keeping the descriptions means the wording stays consistent from one job to the next.
4. Set the terms to 14 days and add a payment link. A due date that is an actual date gets chased. A link and a QR code means it can be settled before you have packed up.
5. Send it before you leave. The clock on your terms starts when the invoice arrives, not when the work finished, so every day it sits unsent is a day added to getting paid.

Getting paid once it is sent

Put a due date and your terms on the document, because an invoice without them is hard to chase. Add a payment link and a QR so settling up is a tap rather than a transfer somebody has to set up. When part of it lands, the receipt maker records it as a part payment and prints the balance still due. If the due date passes, the late fee calculator works out what your own terms allow and writes the chasing letter to go with it.

Five dates decide whether a tiler gets paid on time, and four of them are set before the work starts.

Mistakes that cost tilers money

• One price for the room. No area, no rate, nothing checkable.
• Same rate for every tile format. Large format and mosaic take different time and it should show.
• Tanking assumed to be included. A wet area failure with nothing on paper about who declined it.
• Waste not advised in writing. The tiles run out on day two and the batch has gone.
• Adhesive and grout absorbed. Materials that vary with the substrate paid out of your margin.

Tiler invoice questions

Free tiler invoice template

The free tiler invoice template opens with the lines above already priced, in any of 200 designs, and exports a print-ready PDF with no signup and nothing saved to a server. If you would rather edit a file offline, there are 72 Word templates, 72 Excel templates with the totals already calculating, and 72 fillable PDFs.

Invoicing guides for related trades

The same billing questions come up next door. These four guides cover the trades closest to tilers, and each one sits alongside its own free template.

Every trade has one: see all 46 invoicing guides, or go straight to the 46 free invoice templates they describe.

Everything on this site, set up for tilers

The whole toolkit, with the reason each one matters to tilers rather than in general. The five marked links open with tiler already selected.

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