A lot of that answer depends on what materials you choose to buy. For example if you’re installing tile in your home, tile can range anywhere from $2 a square foot up to $100 a square foot. So if your bathroom is 200 ft.². Then you think well I’m gonna spend between $400 and $2000 for a contractor to tile my bathroom…But that’s not true. The realistic answer, is if you choose to hire a contractor and that contractor goes and buys the materials needed for the job, that contractor is going to mark up those materials that he’s going to sell to you for the job. That markup can be anywhere from 1% up to 200%. That markup depends on the contractor. But any business or should I say any successful business, is going to mark up the materials they buy and sell to the customer and install. That’s how businesses operate. I’ve learned this over the years of owning my own construction business.
So take that example above, you have a 200 square-foot bathroom, and you’ve hired someone to install tile. But remember, the contractor has to mark up the cost of materials in order to be a profitable business. So if you see a price at your local big box store and think to yourself, “that material only costs that much, and my contractors charging me this much”. Because he has to or she has to mark up the cost of the material. And that goes for every material that goes into installing tile. So it’s not just the cost of tile. You may need sealer’s, caulking, grout, thin set, mortar, etc.… And each material needs to be marked up. And then the cost of labor also needs to be factored into the proposal by the contractor. Oh and wait, also his operating expenditures, his insurance, licenses, etc… and etc…
Materials are not cheap these days. For example the price of a 2 x 4 has gone up anywhere from $.50 to $1.50 in the last six months since this pandemic started. It’s because of supply and demand. That’s how a capitalist country operates. You capitalize on the demand compared to the supply. A 2 x 4 used to cost around $3 per board. Now the cost for a 2×4 in some places is almost $5 per board. That’s why the price to hire someone has seemed to go up in the last year or two. Because the cost of materials keeps going up.
I wanted to write this to give people a realistic view of what to expect when they hire a contractor. So if you have an idea of how much something is going to cost when you hire a contractor, double or triple that number and you’re probably closer to how much it’s really going to cost. And to not be shocked when he or she shows you the estimate price. And the answer to your question that you’re probably thinking…“I’m sure somebody can do this job for less”, is yes! It’s good to shop around. And get multiple bids from other contractors. You want to find the contractor and price that fits your situation, your budget, and one that you can get along with!