How much should you actually charge as a tiler in 2026?

The honest range for tiling labour across Australia is wide ($45 to $150 per m²) because tile type and region genuinely change the job, not because the market is disorganised. Basic ceramic floor tiles sit at $40-$65/m², large-format tiles (800×800 and up) run $70-$110/m², and natural stone like marble or travertine can exceed $200/m² once the extra care that material needs is factored in (source).

Region moves the number too. Sydney floor tiling typically runs $80-$120/m² installed, Melbourne sits at $60-$150/m² depending on tile, and Perth tilers charge roughly $55-$120/m² for labour (source). If you're quoting below your region's range because that's what you've always charged, it's worth checking that number against what the market is actually paying this year.

The part that actually gets missed

The headline per-m² rate is rarely the whole quote. Waterproofing and floor preparation can add another 30-50% on top of the base tiling cost. And if that's not itemised separately, it tends to get absorbed into a lower overall margin rather than charged for properly. A quote that only shows one number for "tiling" is hiding the two or three jobs that are actually inside it: prep, waterproofing, and the tiling itself.

Waste is the other quiet one. Cuts, breakages and pattern layout all eat extra tile beyond the raw area measured. If that's not built into the material order as a standing percentage, it shows up as an unplanned second trip to the supplier, on your dime.

Turning this into a quote

None of this is complicated once it's written down. The actual cost is doing it consistently, quote after quote, without missing a line. That's the specific problem Scopeflow's tiling quoting is built to solve: rates per m² by tile type, waste factored in automatically, and prep and waterproofing as their own line items, every time.