Tile installation contract template — substrate, waterproofing and lippage
Tile contracts should settle three things the customer cannot see afterwards: substrate flatness, the waterproofing system, and what lippage is acceptable.
This is a checklist of what a tile installation contract has to settle — not a ready-to-sign legal document, and not legal advice. Most states regulate home improvement contracts: required disclosures, cancellation windows, deposit limits and licence display all vary, and some trades carry extra rules. Adapt this, then have a lawyer in your state review it before you put it in front of a customer.
Download as a spreadsheet to work through, or print it to sit alongside your own agreement.
What a tile installation contract has to settle
A tile contract has to account for work that becomes invisible. Substrate flatness has a published tolerance and large-format tile needs a tighter one; if the floor does not meet it, levelling is extra work and the contract should price it rather than assume it. Waterproofing in a wet area is a system with a flood test, and the test is a day of no visible progress that belongs in the schedule. Lippage is the acceptance criterion worth naming, because 'uneven' is otherwise whatever the customer decides.
Clauses it needs
- Parties, licence number, and the surfaces and square footage in scope
- Tile size, material, layout pattern, and the waste percentage
- Substrate flatness tolerance, and the rate for levelling if it is not met
- Backer board or uncoupling membrane specified by product
- Waterproofing system in wet areas, with the flood test in the schedule
- Acceptable lippage, stated as a measurement
- Grout type, colour and sealing, with the cure period before use
- Who supplies the tile, and who bears a shortfall or a discontinued lot
- Demolition and disposal of existing surfaces
- Warranty on the installation, separate from the tile manufacturer's
What tile installation contracts actually get argued over
- Lippage judged by eye with no tolerance in the contract
- Levelling work billed after the old floor came up, with no rate agreed
- The flood-test day read as a day nobody worked
- Customer-supplied tile running short mid-job from a discontinued lot
The estimate this contract is built on
A contract can only be as clear as the scope it references. BidWand drafts the itemised estimate — labour, materials, exclusions and assumptions — that the scope and exclusions clauses point at.
Draft the tile installation estimate this contract references
This generates the estimate, not the contract — describe the job and you get the itemised scope to attach. No email needed to see the first one.
What you get — see the format first
A complete estimate you can send to the customer, built from the rate you enter:
| Description | Qty | Unit | Unit price | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor — itemized by task | hrs | hour | your rate | — |
| Materials — with your markup applied | qty | ea / sq ft | cost + markup | — |
| Permits, disposal, access | — | — | — | — |
Plus a plain-English scope summary, assumptions (what had to be guessed), exclusions (what you are not doing — the section that prevents most change-order arguments), and a validity period. Printable, or send the link.
Every figure comes from the rate and markup you supply. We never fill in a market price for you.
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tile installation · roofing · landscaping · handyman · cleaning · general contracting · concrete · drywall
How to estimate
How to write a contractor estimate · Estimate vs quote vs bid — and which one you should send · What to include in a contractor estimate · How to price a job as a contractor · Should you charge for estimates? · How to follow up on an estimate · How to handle change orders · Estimate vs invoice: what's the difference? · How to raise your prices as a contractor