ENQUIRY → QUOTE → PREPARATION → FINISH
Four movements, and none of them can swap places
Enquiry, assessment and a written quote, preparation and waterproofing, then tiling and finish. Each movement closes before the next begins, because every layer of a wet area depends on the one beneath it being right.
WHY SEQUENCE MATTERS
The finished surface is the last decision, not the first
Tile sits on top of a build-up: substrate, fall and screed, membrane, bond coat, then adhesive bed. Each of those has to be sound, flat and properly cured before the next goes over it, and none of them can be corrected once the tile is down. That is the reason a job is organised as four distinct movements rather than one continuous visit — there are points where the work has to stop and the materials have to be left alone.
What follows is the pattern behind every job we take on across Murrumbeena and the surrounding south-east suburbs, whether it is a full bathroom, a splashback, a balcony or a single failing shower. Alongside each movement is the part you are asked to decide, so nothing waits on an answer at the wrong moment.
The four movements of a job
Read left to right; the columns step down the page the way the strata do.
What to send us
Start with what the space is doing. A few photographs taken back far enough to show the whole wall or floor, rough dimensions, your suburb, and a sentence on the problem or the plan — skirting staining in the hallway, a bathroom coming back to bare sheeting, a balcony that pools after rain. That is usually enough to tell whether the job needs a site visit and what to bring to it.
On site, then in writing
Most work is assessed in person. We check the substrate and how flat it is, the fall to the waste, the state of any existing membrane, the perimeter junctions and the access. The quote then comes back written and broken into stages — preparation, waterproofing, fixing, grout and finish — so the cost sits against the layers rather than arriving as a single figure.
Substrate, fall and membrane
Tile, grout, silicone
Setting out comes first, so full tiles read from the doorway and the cuts land where they are least seen. Tiles are fixed and levelled, left to set, then grouted, with silicone at every internal corner and change of plane. We clean off and walk the finished space with you.
REFERENCE PHOTOGRAPH — MOVEMENT THREE
Adhesive combed to an even ridge height, tiles bedded into it while it is still open, levelling clips holding the faces flush until it sets. The comb size and the coverage are chosen for the tile, not the other way around.
What you decide, and when
Very little of a tiling job waits on the tiler. Most of the pauses come from a choice that hasn’t been made yet, so these are the points worth settling early.
Tile selection and quantity — before preparation finishes. The size, thickness and material set the adhesive, the comb and the joint, and cuts and breakages mean ordering more than the bare area.
Grout colour and joint width — before grouting day. A matched grout makes the surface read as one plane; a contrasting one draws the grid. Both are legitimate, but the choice changes the room.
Waste, screen, tapware and who fits them — at quote stage. These set the order of trades, the height of the hob and where the membrane has to be detailed.
Access, parking and water shut-off — before the first day. Materials are heavy, and preparation often needs the water off for part of it.
Whether the room stays in use — early. A second bathroom changes how the cure periods are staged, and it is easier to plan around than to work around.
The same four movements, scaled to the job
WHAT MAKES A QUOTE MORE ACCURATE
Photographs of the whole surface, not just the damage
Rough wall and floor dimensions
Whether tiles are chosen, ordered or still open
The age of the room, if you know it
Anything already noticed — movement, damp, drumminess
Tell us what the space is doing
Send the photographs and the short description, and movement one is done. Everything after that happens in order.
WHERE WE WORK
Murrumbeena, Carnegie, Hughesdale, Oakleigh, Chadstone, Malvern East, Bentleigh East, Ormond and McKinnon.