How Long Should Professional Tile Installation Take? Timeline Expectations

How Long Should Professional Tile Installation Take? Timeline Expectations

Garry BrownlieAfter completing countless tiling projects across Perth’s diverse suburbs, one of the most common questions I hear from clients is “How long will this take?”

Whether it’s a compact bathroom in Subiaco or a sprawling open-plan living area in Joondalup, understanding project timelines helps homeowners plan effectively.

As a highly experienced tiler, let me share my real-world experience about what affects installation times and what you can realistically expect.

Typical Project Timelines

Before diving into specifics, it’s important to understand that every project is unique. However, based on my extensive experience, here are standard timeframes for common projects:

Standard Bathrooms

  • Basic Timeline
    • Demolition: 1 day
    • Preparation: 1-2 days
    • Waterproofing: 1 day (plus drying time)
    • Floor tiling: 1 day
    • Wall tiling: 2-3 days
    • Grouting: 1 day
    • Sealing and finishing: 1 day

Real Project Experience

One of our clients, Ben McNamara, shared this insight:

“Was an absolute pleasure engaging Garry and the GIB team to tile my bathroom… David (our tiler) did some awesome work, cleaned up each day, left the house as he found it.”

What Ben’s review doesn’t mention is how we structured the project timeline to minimize disruption to his daily routine.

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Garry Brownlie

How to Save on Water Bills: 10 Simple Plumbing Tips

I’ve been a plumber in Perth for over 38 years at my company, Plumb It Right, so I’ve seen first-hand how those water bills can add up if you’re not mindful. The good news is that with a few practical adjustments and smart habits, you can start to see some real savings. Here’s my guide on how to save on water bills with simple, effective plumbing tips that can make a noticeable difference.

  1. Fix Leaky Taps and Toilets Promptly

A dripping tap might seem harmless, but it can waste hundreds of litres of water every month. I’ve come across leaks that, when left too long, add a surprising amount to the water bill. Fixing a leaky tap is usually quick and inexpensive, and it can save you plenty in the long run. The same goes for your toilet—if it’s running continuously, it’s wasting water.

Pro tip: Regularly inspect your taps and toilets, and get in touch if you need a hand with repairs. It’s worth it.

  1. Install Water-Saving Fixtures

In my experience, one of the easiest ways to save water is to switch to water-saving fixtures. These include low-flow showerheads, tap aerators, and dual-flush toilets. These fixtures are designed to limit water usage without sacrificing pressure or quality. I’ve installed them in many Perth homes, and customers are often amazed at the savings they see on their bills.

  1. Take Shorter Showers

I know, we all enjoy a long, relaxing shower. But cutting back your shower time by even a couple of minutes can make a big difference. If each person in your home reduces their shower time, the savings really add up. You can even set a timer or listen to a short song to remind yourself when it’s time to finish up.

Did you know? The average shower uses around 9 litres of water per minute. Imagine the savings with just a few minutes shaved off!

  1. Use Your Washing Machine and Dishwasher Efficiently

When it comes to appliances, washing machines and dishwashers use a significant amount of water. Always try to run full loads, as this maximises efficiency. I always tell clients to avoid using the “half load” setting—despite what it suggests, it often uses nearly as much water as a full load.

And if your appliances are old, it might be time to upgrade. Many modern machines have eco-friendly settings that use much less water per cycle.

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Joe's Home Improvements
Understanding Your Renovation Timeline: A Professional Builder's Guide to Project Planning

Understanding Your Renovation Timeline: A Professional Builder’s Guide to Project Planning

With 16 years in construction and my experience running Northside Developments, I’ve learned that successful renovations rely on careful timeline planning and management. Today, I’ll share insights about project planning based on real experiences and proven results.

Setting Realistic Expectations

Let me start with Lisa Loaring’s comprehensive renovation experience, which demonstrates our commitment to timeline management:

“We did a large renovation on our home with NSD and they were flawless in all aspects of the job. We added on a bedroom, ensuite and walk in robe. We also renovated the old kitchen, laundry and bathroom including taking out walls to open it all up… all the time frames we were given were met, the quality of workmanship was extremely high.”

This project showcases several crucial timeline elements:

  • Multiple room coordination
  • Structural modifications
  • Service relocations
  • Trade scheduling
  • Quality maintenance

Professional Planning Process

My background supervising crews of up to 30 workers has taught me the importance of detailed planning. Jordan G emphasizes our communication approach:

“Northside have been upfront with all decisions since day one and carefully explain the process to ensure we understood the work that was involved, why it was happening and the costs associated… communicate fantastically, hearing from James several times a week.”

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James McMurtrie
10 Tips To Get The Most Out Of A Storage Unit

10 Tips To Get The Most Out Of A Storage Unit

Renting secure storage spaces for your business, like this one from www.brilliancestorage.com.au – can be a great solution if you need more space to store equipment, inventory, or extra office furniture. However, renting a storage unit alone may not be enough to be of help if you do not effectively maximise the space available, organise it properly, and from the outset, ensure that the storage you are renting is suitable for your business needs.

To ensure you get not just those three points correct but take further steps to get the most out of your business’s commercial storage unit, in this blog post, we are going to outline ten tips you can follow to achieve these.

Tip #1 – Choose the Right Size Storage Unit

Choosing the right size storage unit is crucial because, if you select a unit that is too small, you won’t have enough space to move around or add more items later. Conversely, if you rent a storage unit that is too large, you will be paying for storage space that you do not need.

The best way to choose the right size unit is to create an inventory list of everything you plan to store and select a unit size based on that. The staff at the storage facility you plan to rent from will be more than willing to advise you on storage unit size selection.

Tip #2 – Protect Your Inventory

While your items are in storage or being transported there, it is important to protect them from damage. Make sure to use appropriate bubble wrap or packing paper to protect fragile items and items of high value. If you are storing items that are sensitive to temperature and humidity changes, it is best to invest in a climate-controlled unit.

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Joe's Home Improvements
A Beginner's Guide To How Solar Panels Work

A Beginner’s Guide To How Solar Panels Work

Solar systems to generate electricity in homes are becoming increasingly popular with homeowners, not just for the financial benefits but also as the focus intensifies on the desire for increased use of renewable energy sources. However, many people still need to learn how solar systems work, mainly how solar panels can transform light from the sun or any other source into usable domestic electricity.

In this beginner’s guide, we will discuss the basic principles behind solar panels and how they can be used to produce electricity for homes. Fear not; we will not make it so technical that you would need a solar energy or electrical engineering degree to understand it.

What Are Solar Panels?

Let us start with the absolute basics: answering the question, “What are solar panels?” just in case anyone reading is unaware of them. Solar panels are devices within a solar power system that convert sunlight into electricity and can be used for residential and commercial properties. They comprise numerous photovoltaic (PV) cells, composed mainly of silicon and some other materials.

When sunlight hits these PV cells, it causes electrons to move, creating an electrical current. At this stage, the electricity produced is direct current (DC), akin to the electricity supplied by the battery and alternator within your car, so it has to be converted into alternating current (AC) for use in domestic properties.

How Do Solar Panels Work?

The whole process of converting sunlight into electricity has three functions: collection, storage, and usage, and these require four components: solar panels, charge controllers, inverters, and storage batteries. Solar panels act as collectors, and they work by transforming sunlight into direct current (DC) electricity.

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Joe's Home Improvements

5 Ways To Get Rid Of Weeds From Your Landscape Garden

Whether you are into landscaping, rock gardening, vegetable gardening, or indeed any other kind of gardening, there is one blight on the landscape which every gardener must face up to, and that is weeds. Weeds are a phenomenon that grows just about anywhere you can think of such as growing out of brickwork, through your stone cladding from www.meteorstone.com.au, and of course, in just about every garden on the planet.

It might seem wrong that we give weeds such a hard time as, after all, they are a natural entity, in the same way our plants, flowers, and grasses are, however, that is like saying we should treat poisonous snakes in the same we treat our pet dogs. Weeds are no friends of the living plants in our gardens, and here are some reasons why.

  • Weeds Hide Our Beautiful Plants
  • Weeds Are Unsightly
  • Weeds Compete With Our Plants For Nourishment
  • Weeds Promote, House And Nourish Bugs, Pests, And Diseases
  • Weeds Can Hinder The Germination Of Other Plants
  • Weeds Make Harvesting Edible Pants More Difficult

In the spirit of even-handedness, we must point out there are some gardening enthusiasts who claim that weeds are actually a positive presence in gardens as they protect the soil from the sun, and in doing so aid the insects and other organisms on the ground by shielding them from too much sunlight.

If you agree weeds are not a problem, then there is no need to read on. However, if you are one of the millions of gardeners who are fed up with their garden being ruined in multiple ways by weeds, then here are 5 ways you can control and get rid of weeds, some of which you might find surprising.

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Does Your Landscaping Company Need Digital Marketing?

Does Your Landscaping Company Need Digital Marketing?

As an owner of a landscaping company, doubtless, you will have tried several ways to acquire new landscaping clients. According to the SEO specialists, SEO Perth there is no better way to find and gain those customers than through digital marketing, so let us look at 7 ways in which digital marketing can benefit your landscaping company.

#1 It Can Target Your Desired Audience

Many marketing campaigns fail simply because they did not know how or where to target those who might actually benefit from the product or service being marketed.

One of the first tasks within a properly planned digital marketing campaign will be the identification of the desired target audience. This then allows any specific marketing strategy to target those potential customers and clients that are likely to be interested in landscaping designs and thus ensuring that no resources are wasted.

#2 Builds Trust and Reputation

One of the biggest assets any business can have, including a landscaping company, is its good reputation. A close second to that will be trust in its brand. Digital marketing can help enhance both of these by ensuring that your brand can be seen, that wherever possible online your reputation is further enhanced, and that clients have the means to give glowing reviews about your landscaping service.

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Joe's Home Improvements

Giving Your Soil a New Lease on Life

Lawn care can often be one of those things you’ll ‘get around to’ eventually. However, it can end up being something you combat sooner rather than later, particularly if poor soil health contributes to a pretty disastrous looking lawn.

But if you know your soil health is suffering, what do you do next? Read on to find out. The lawn care experts at www.lawncareman.com.au tell us it can be a lot easier than you think to bring your soil or lawn back to optimum health.

Identify Your Soil Type

To know the best course of action, it pays to know what soil type you have. The three most common are loam, clay, and sandy. Loam soil tends to be the most desirable for lawn health.

If your soil doesn’t appeal to be healthy, you can add a soil mix of sand and clay with heavy soil and composted material to give it a health boost. The sand and clay will form a base, while heavy soil on top can aid in moisture retention and water movement.

You can then add chicken manure and green waste, along with other nutrients, to create a balanced pH level for premium grass growth.

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Joe's Home Improvements
Shade Sails

How to Avoid Legal Issues with Your Shade Sail

While you may think that council permission will not be needed to erect a Shade Sail from One Shade Sails on your property, there are many rules and regulations to look at – and to make it more difficult they vary from state to state and sometimes from council to council within the same state. Most of those regarding shade sails are aimed at them not causing a public nuisance or causing an annoyance to your neighbours.

However, if you intend to install a shade sail it is imperative you discuss the matter with your council and adhere to their rules and regulations to avoid any legal issues. One of the main requirements is that the material of the shade cloth should be permeable material if you want to skip getting permission. Nearly all councils are agreed on this one point.

While an actual building permit is not normally required for the installation of a sail shade structure, there are often other regulations regarding size and height.

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Joe's Home Improvements
Colorbond-roofing

Reasons to Choose Colorbond for Your Re-Roofing Renovation

The time usually comes when those tiles are old and leaky and do nothing to make your home look good or keep its value. It is time for re-roofing but what material should you choose? Staying with tiles will eventually give you the same problem that makes your home look rather old and awful right now; namely, mould.

This black growth over your roof is one of the major problems of tiles. It is hard to remove and often keeps coming back. This is because the roots penetrate into the tile and cannot be scrubbed away. After you have gone to the cost or time of having it all washed down and treated it will end up back on your roof as bad as ever.

Tiles are not good for another reason. Because they are so small they need to have a lot of infrastructure underneath to support them.  And because they are quite heavy it needs to be strong, so no cutting costs there. In addition, the very shape of tiles and the way they have to be aligned means that there are many niches in and around each one. In bushfire season, this allows red hot embers that are blown onto your roof to lodge there securely, thus your roof is most likely to catch on fire, so installing fire protection with the help of Fire Services Perth would be advised.

Happily there is a great alternative to tiles. Steel roofing does not have any of the above problems. It is light and the sheets are large, so less infrastructure is needed and it is quick to erect. No mould can grow on it because it does not absorb moisture; the spores cannot get a hold in it.

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Joe's Home Improvements
Decorating-Stairway-Space

8 Tips for Utilising and Decorating Stairway Space

If you have a stairway in your home there are many ways in which you can utilise the space above or below it to add character and space to your home. That said, stairways are often rather dark areas, so they should have specific lighting either on the stairs or the wall to ensure you don’t overbalance and fall. A qualified electrician can do this work for you and give you advice on where the best place is to install the lighting.

Decorating-Stairway-Space

So how can you use the space around a stairway?

    • Use the wall where the stairs go up to hang a family album of photos or several beautiful landscapes. Make sure the frames all have something in common such as toning colours, but they don’t all have to be the same shape or size. You can have round, square rectangular or oval shapes to break things up a bit.
    • For a really modern look, you could have all the frames the same colour and paint the landing and/or stair rail to match. Try bright green, red or yellow for some eye popping fun. Match the colour with some other nearby accessories such as a table lamp or rug.
    • If you are not into photo displays you can create visual interest and a most elegant look by displaying a wall of mirrors with gold and silver frames. These can be found at op-shops or flea markets and you can spray on the gold paint yourself. An electrician can install pendant lighting to match.
    • Replace the plain banisters with a filigree of wrought iron lacework to lighten up the area and make it really eye-catching and decorative.

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Joe's Home Improvements
Patio-floor

How to Floor It – the Patio That Is

Not all patios have floors, but you might want to floor yours so it can be used more like a room. Without a floor the base of the structure will eventually get wet, no matter how dry your climate is. This means that the furniture or anything else sitting under the patio will also get wet from the ground up.

Chair and table legs made of timber will end up rotting, while cupboards will the ruined, especially if they are clad with MDF, which absorbs moisture and expands, then falls to pieces. So what kind of floor will you have for your patio? Much depends on how you want to use it. If it is just to park the car under, there is no real need for any floor.

Patio-floor

But if you want to use it during rainy weather or put furniture in it, then a floor of some kind is advisable. Here are 7 suggestions for a patio floor.

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Joe's Home Improvements