I honestly believe that regardless of your chosen trade or skill ... finacial progress depends on the individual. I know a lot of plumbers and electricians who just scrape by where as others are doing quite well.
I trained my son to be a tilesetter about 5 years ago and this month he bought his first house.
Then there's me .... I'm always broke.

Thats something else that I've also been think about. I think that If a guys having a slow period maybe its really their own fault for not getting out there and advertising enough. I feel that way a lot sometimes.
One thing I do is not look for work when I'm busy. I know though that I should be looking for work all the time. I don't even advertise on my truck. Thats dumb of me because truck advertising is great when everyone can see it everywhere you go. IF I was willing to work in Ottawa I'm sure I'd be working everyday, but I just won't go there. I'm willing to travel, but an hours drive is my limit.

Id like to chime in on this one if I can. I live and work in eastern Ontario, Canada. I have been self employed now for 7 years. My father who is now 57 still works with me every day as does my brother. We install tile mostly. I like to think we are one of the top 5 installation companys in the area for sure!

After 7 years of installations. we are still not turning a profit. Im not even sure some times how many hours we put into a week. But I can say that my father and myself as installers are only making $500 - $700 a week clear. we pay my younger brother per hr to labour for my dad at $11/hr

Our price has not changes in 7 years. we also supply all grout and motar ( MAPEI) included in a $3 sq/ft start rate for floors, new contruction homes.

Im at the point now that I need to start seeing a profit or find another way to provide for my family. But Im also worried that if my rates increase My "Bread and butter" costomer a stick home builder will just toss us aside and find another sucker. Are my rates to low? to high? I welcome any PMs or advise you can offer

I found that the only way to make decent money in Eastern Ontario, it too do "custom work". Working for 3 bucks a foot is good in a big open area..but if you are doing a lot of cutting,you need to charge quite a bit more, or your helper ends up making more money than you at the end. Hooking up with some high end builders is the way to go.Of course, that means doing high quality stuff too...big walk in showers,heated floors, big stone and marble jobs, Ditra, Kerdi...that sort of thing. I spent 30 years in Eastern Ontario trying to make money...oh, if I could go back in time.

Thanks Bri. We would love to take on a custom home builder. My problem is that most builders like to one stop shop for installers along with there tile. we only install. I do sell schluter shower kits and electic heating kits. We currantly install 95% of our tile on Ditra. little cuting on floors. soaker tubs are the biggest killer for us at this time. Im only making around $200 a tub for the better part of a days work. Not to metion the time spent preping a complete mess before we even start to install tile.

There are so many stores open now in this area. Im worried that trying to sell tile to gain more customers is just diging a deeper hole for my self?

I recently moved from Vancouver to Williams Lake. In vancouver I was charging $35 to $40 per hour and there was never a shortage of work. I usually had a few months wait list.

Here in williams lake I am still self employed, but 80% of my work is for United Carpet. They pay me $30/hour for bathrooms, etc, or $3/sf on the bigger floor jobs. They take care of the estimates, ordering, billing, materials, and even deliver the tile. It's pretty hassle free. For my own jobs I charge $40/hr or $4/sf. for ceramics

My thoughts are that tile setters should make about the same as the other trades. Around here carpenters, plumbers, and such charge around $50/hr, so I am comparatively pretty cheap.

So far I have never spent a cent on advertising and have yet to miss a day of work, in fact I usually have to put in 6 days a week to keep up. My secret is pretty simple: always do the best possible job and always compliment the customer on their choice of tile or design or wall colors. All of my work has been customer referrals, so I must be doing something right.

Hi Guys,
I'm slowly getting out of tile work. I'm still taking on the larger well paying jobs but I've been passing on the smaller renovation type jobs like bathrooms for example. The aggrivation of tripping over cats, dogs, and kids, just pisses me off to much. Mind you I did do a reno job a month ago but the guy said he didn't care about cost he just wanted it done. He's got more work for me at his commercial properties.

I'm getting into timber framing and square log building doing dovetail corners. I've got a 30 year woodworking craftsman teaming up with me. I'm pretty sure in a year or so we'll be kiking ass.