Laying Excellence with Next-Level Tile Installation and Design Trends - Episode 58

Ever wondered how to elevate your tile installation game or create a kitchen that defies the ages? That's what we're unwrapping this Tile Month! Join me, Chris Kerby, and my co-host Adam, as we lay down the foundations of successful tile contracting, from nurturing essential industry relationships to selecting the crème de la crème of tools. We're spilling the secrets of why partnering with interior designers could be your golden ticket and how a trusty wet saw might just become your new best friend. 

This episode isn't just about the nitty-gritty of tile installation; it's about the art that goes behind it. You'll get to hear the great debate: should you start with a center line or trust your instincts? We're breaking down how to strike that sweet spot between technical skill and creative flair that leaves clients in awe. Plus, we're serving up a fresh perspective on design trends that are transforming kitchens from simple cooking spaces to the heart of the home. Think: dopamine-inducing hues and patterns that make a lasting impression. 

Finally, we're stirring the pot on color choices in home design. Say goodbye to the days of playing it safe with greys – we're diving into a kaleidoscope of color, with sage green leading the charge. We're also dissecting how social media is reshaping the way homeowners express themselves through their living spaces. So, buckle up and get ready to inject some personality into those walls and floors. Your tile and color conundrums are about to meet their match, and you won't want to miss it. Subscribe for a dose of inspiration and insight that'll have you seeing your home in a whole new light.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

The Home Building and Remodeling Show. Let's go. Welcome everybody to the Home Building and Remodeling Show. My name is Chris Kirby and I'll be your host. I am the owner of three construction companies on the Alabama Gulf Coast. The show is about residential construction. We're going to cover topics of home building and remodeling. Are you thinking of doing a remodel or building a home? Are you a contractor looking to improve your knowledge base or grow your business? Have you ever done a remodel project or built a home? There were so many things you wish you knew or that you could have done differently during the process. Then this show is for you. We break down the process of building and remodeling and how to have the best results during your project. Whether you're a DIYer looking for tips, someone looking to hire a contractor to do a project, or a contractor looking to expand your knowledge base or your business, welcome aboard. Glad to have you. Stay tuned. We kick off the show with my thoughts on home building and remodeling. I'll share best practices and talk about some of our experiences in business and out in the field. These shared thoughts and lessons learned are meant to help you on your very own journey.

Speaker 1: 1:26

Let's go Everybody at tile month on the home building and remodeling show. So this month we wanted to kick it off with the five key relationships that you should have as a tile contractor, and what I'm trying to do here is just help you improve your, your business, your contracting company. If you're just starting out, these are good tips and valuable advice coming from somebody who has run multiple construction companies, and this is just some of the things that I recommend and that our team recommends that you do, to either launch or grow your tile installation business, and so the number one thing to do is to find those valuable relationships that you can nurture and people that you need to meet to be able to grow your business, to gain business and to have partners and I say partners because a lot of these relationships are partnerships because the more you help them, the more you connect with them, the more they'll help you and connect with you, and it's just a good way to do business. So the number one relationship that I've outlined is your supplier or the manufacturer. So for us, we've got a good relationship with our vendors, and the reason being is that's where we get our materials, that's where we get the new products that are coming out and the more that we that's where we get our materials, that's where we get the new products that are coming out, and the more that we enhance and nurture those relationships and better access that we have to new products, to setting materials, discounted prices on things.

Speaker 1: 3:09

As a contractor, it's great to get a contractor's price because it's going to be cheaper for you to develop those vendor relationships and get the contractor price. Save yourself some money while still being able to charge the client. Give the client a good deal and the better prices you can get, the better prices you can offer, the more competitive you are, the more competitive you are, and not only that, but the suppliers and manufacturers knowing your product and which product and materials that you like is invaluable. So you're going to be able to get what you want when you need it and you're going to be able to establish those connections to have access to better products, more products, better quality, better prices. So suppliers and vendors is that number one relationship Plus, as they get to know you, they're going to refer business to you and in one day, if you want to open up your own tile or tile and flooring store, those relationships are going to be crucial to having the product that you need and getting the discounts that you want so you could offer your clients better pricing. Number two oh, this one is huge, huge, huge the interior designers man, those relationships with our interior designers and we own our own interior design company. But even before then interior designers were our friends. And now we move into Shop Talk.

Speaker 1: 4:26

It's the portion of the show where I bring in a co-host and we cover trending topics in home building and remodeling. Hope you enjoy. Let's go. Welcome back everybody. I got Adam here with me and we are talking tile this month. From the contractor's perspective, may is tile month and we started off this month. From the contractor's perspective, may is tile month and we started off uh, this month with some basic tool videos, tile tools. You're going to need to do tile work, um, and adam was gracious enough to talk about all the different types of tools. We brought out some cool tools. One of our guys, jeremiah, had a pretty nice tile. That was the first time I've ever seen that tile cutter.

Speaker 2: 5:06

Yeah, he's got all the stuff of like when I was talking about nips, tile nips and everything.

Speaker 1: 5:10

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 5:11

He was just tired of running back and forth to his truck because he had him. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 5:15

Well, dude, I was surprised, though, that the actual, when he cut that small piece with that slide cutter, I was impressed, you know what I mean. But what we also noticed, that, uh, that thicker tile. You know, justin tried to, he brought over that thick piece and it really, it really didn't snap it.

Speaker 2: 5:33

Well, yeah, because it's only scoring just the top edge. So the thicker the tile is, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 5:39

So let's talk about it, though. Man. The reason that we kick off all of our trainings every month with tools right and then we go into materials is how important is it as a contractor, and especially you? You know, I was rarely out in the field man, just just a little bit, but you spent a lot of time out in the field, from framing to trim, carpentry to tile, installation, cabinets, all this different stuff. How important is it as a contractor, even for the DIYers out there listening to have good tools, or have the right tools the right, I mean it's key to success.

Speaker 2: 6:18

You know what I mean Like. Having the right tools makes your work better, and it makes the job so much easier too.

Speaker 1: 6:26

You got to invest, yeah, I mean you got to Well, and especially with tile right, because it's becoming more of a. I mean, look, these are craftsmen and women out here installing this stuff and I call it the pretty works. Just like paint Dude, the client is going to eat you alive if that tile doesn't look right. Right, and they're going to ask questions, right, and they're going to YouTube and all this stuff. But it starts with not just knowledge but your tools, how you do it. So talk to us about some of this stuff. So one of the more important things I noticed we had Justin installing some subway tile out at one of our new home builds and I questioned him because he wasn't using a laser level. Right, and I'm like man, that's kind of one of the most basic things, but he was able to do it. He ran his first row out and then he kept checking level as it went right. So how important is it to keep level?

Speaker 2: 7:19

Very, very important. Yeah, it's probably the most important thing. Setting tall is keeping everything level.

Speaker 1: 7:28

So how do you do that then? What separates people that just go in and slap the stuff in from somebody that's taking their time and getting it right?

Speaker 2: 7:37

Well, you can see it in their work. So you can look at the back of a shower wall and see somebody that kept it level and somebody that didn't, by the size of the tile, grow or get smaller on the ends.

Speaker 1: 7:50

So usually, if you're walking in so let's just say you were going to inspect a job, a tile job, one of our tile jobs when you're walking in, what are you doing? How are you analyzing whether or not our team did a good job on a shower or a floor? How, what are you doing? How are you inspecting that work?

Speaker 2: 8:08

I'm starting off the placement of the grout line, so their layout means a lot. Making sure it's not broke up in little pieces near like the top of the pony, I can't stand that, or those little baby livers, yep. Especially when you're using a small format tile.

Speaker 1: 8:27

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 8:27

It matters the most because, yeah, if you have a quarter inch slither, yeah, next to something. It just don't, it does not look good at all.

Speaker 1: 8:36

Right. And then if you, if, if the client which these days it's it's not that much, but if they want a thicker grout line and you've got a little sliver in these thick, I mean is it doesn't look this?

Speaker 2: 8:48

is know, just an adjustment to your layout before you start. There's, I mean, sometimes you can't get away with, sometimes you're going to have it, yeah absolutely but there's. If you lay it out correctly, you can hide it somewhere. That's not.

Speaker 1: 9:03

Right, yeah, absolutely, and that's kind of we've run into that. We've actually ripped out walls before to fix it and make it right or lay it out differently and look. It costs time and money but ultimately the product, the quality of work that you put out, is your reputation and you know, for us. So we talked about it being level and things. You're going to walk in and you're going to eyeball it. I usually look at the corners, I look at the niches or if there's a window.

Speaker 1: 9:31

In that case we had a niche and a window right and it was subway tile, which is a, you know, three by six, a smaller tile, and I got onto our guy. I got onto him because he went in there and just kind of ran out that bottom row and didn't make adjustments and I was arguing with him that he should have, you know, established a center line, ran it out and cut even on both sides. But he was right. I was wrong because I think the second crew that went, went in, did that right and had little chips and little pieces and and so sometimes that's where that knowledge piece comes in right. Man is, uh, he knew better than I did and it actually turned out the one he did without using the laser, without finding that center line turned out. You know it turned out looked pretty good, but it was a layout thing.

Speaker 1: 10:29

He did take his time and I I did a video on it, but he went into the living room, laid it on and he laid it out on the floor. Is that, I mean? I know some people might think that's waste, it's wasting time. I've done this 100 times, yada yada right, but it proved valid and this and this. And he didn't use a laser. One of the reasons, though. He said he typically would, but because he was doing the tub hop-up, he didn't use the laser. Because he's saying that it kind of cuts If he's in front of it, because he's sitting in the tub setting the tile, you can't see it anyway. The laser shot isn't, it's hitting his back and cutting off the line. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 11:12

So sometimes it's a matter of space too right that you can't always use that laser, so you're gonna have to continuously check your level and things like that and you know sometimes the way it looks.

Speaker 2: 11:23

You know I mean yeah let's see that if that tub's not quite level, sure, you put a level run in there and it's growing right there at the beginning. Yeah, sometimes that looks worse too.

Speaker 1: 11:37

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 11:38

So you got to kind of play with it a lot sometimes Gotcha.

Speaker 1: 11:41

So you're saying that you got to give it an eyeball test. I mean realistically sometimes you do. Exactly so. That eyeball test sometimes, you know, from a client's perspective especially, is going to tell the truth, sometimes more than just getting it 100% accurate, right when the levels.

Speaker 2: 11:58

Level. It'd be level, but it don't look good. Yeah, I mean you can fight with the customer and be like well, look, it's perfectly level. This is your problem, right?

Speaker 1: 12:08

But it looks terrible. I got you Okay. So we're talking level. We're talking laser. What else? The slide cutter versus a wet saw. So let's talk about those two different scenarios. You know my brother-in-law, mark. He always used a daggum slide cutter almost for everything. So what scenarios do you want to use? And you've got the side grinder as well, so what scenarios do you want to use? What tools when installing tile?

Speaker 2: 12:38

So slide cutter is handy to have inside the home right there next to you. Yeah, it speeds up process. Depends on some of the tiles, like those, those clay tiles.

Speaker 1: 12:50

They do not that slide cutters, it doesn't break well and it bridges. It's real, it's just. You're not going to get a good clean line, right, okay? So that's when wet saw comes in mitering yeah because you know so you, you would rather use a wet saw when you're, when you're having to cut 45s or when you're yeah, okay and you know, I mean that's more professional.

Speaker 2: 13:15

Outside corner, yeah, a good minor cut, that's more professional. Yeah, but yeah, and then a grinder you know your regular grinders handy to have if you got to do a little cutting inside as well, and it helps like do circles and stuff like that.

Speaker 1: 13:34

Okay, and then you showed off these, the suction cups, right. So is that going to be for more of your heavy, large format tile? Is that what those are used for?

Speaker 2: 13:45

Yeah, you should use them on anything that you can fit a set on. Oh, really, just for placement. It's a lot cleaner. You know what I mean, because when you put a 12 by 24 piece of tile on the wall, and you're pressing and you're not using it, and then it's getting all over you.

Speaker 1: 14:02

It's just messy. Yeah, you're pressing and you're not using it. All over you, it's just messy, yeah. I mean, yeah, and that's one thing in tile man, that's again, it's one of the the finishings, right. Uh, before you grout, you're checking your level, you're making sure it looks good, but when you're done, if your tile looks wonky, I mean, it's easy to tell when your tile is off. One of the things that make a difference for me, and the reason I look at corners and niches, is man, it's hard to cut sometimes and that's where I see those corners of niches. Right, that's where I see the most mistakes.

Speaker 1: 14:41

Now we're going to move into the portion of the show where we talk interior design. We're going to bring in an interior designer and we're going to talk trending design and products. Hope you enjoy, let's go. Welcome back everybody. We have Courtney with us again and she's one of our interior designers. May is going to be tile month for the Home Building and Remodeling Show, and so we're going to kick it off with the top five trends. I don't know if they're the top five, but five trends in tile design today, and then one of our audience members also had a question about timeless design. I guess they yeah. If they want to remodel, they only want to do it once. So they were looking for a timeless look, classic look.

Speaker 3: 15:31

And timeless. Really, it transcends through many, many things, depending on the person, but timeless generally means it's very monochromatic, and monochromatic just means tone on tone when you start adding in color. Color a lot of times is what people tend to think of when they think of dated periods you grew up with. When you were a kid it was the turquoise and that mauve color.

Speaker 3: 15:52

We talked about this last time cranberries and greens. Well, you really can't date a cream or a white. It is timeless. So when I think of a timeless kitchen, I do think of something that's a little more tone on tone, a little more monochromatic. However, you can have fun with that too. So if you're doing a backsplash tile, most people think subway. Yes, absolutely that's timeless it is, but it's becoming so trendy that it's not going to become timeless again for quite some time, after this trend slows over.

Speaker 1: 16:21

So trends tend to fade in and out is what I've noticed. Yes, okay, because when we first started seven years ago on the remodeling side, we did a bathroom that was all subway from the floor to the shower. We did a clawfoot tub. They wanted a subway tile around it and then really it's been spotty. But now recently, we're doing more subway, but it's not just the classic white as well. Right, right.

Speaker 3: 16:51

It's a little bit more tonal and then it has some bright whites, a little ivory and even a little bit richer of a color. You can also take what we consider a boring classic and elevate it. Do a chevron backsplash.

Speaker 1: 17:03

Gotcha.

Speaker 3: 17:04

It gives you a little more visual interest. It's adding in pattern. Which pattern is a trend that? We're seeing come to the market more and more. You can go for fun shapes, go with an arabesque. It does not have to be your simple elongated tile, even if it's laid in a different pattern. But if you really want to keep it classic, it is about keeping it on that monochromatic side where it fluctuates with trends. You can elevate it with other things in the home. Your decor on the countertops can be color.

Speaker 1: 17:29

Sure.

Speaker 3: 17:29

You know, your artwork on the walls can be color Basically. Having a blank palette to work with keeps it classic.

Speaker 1: 17:35

Well, I've seen people that will do a lot of neutral. Or they'll do the white cabinets and the subway tile lot of neutral. Or they'll do the white cabinets and the subway tile. Maybe they'll use a darker grout, but also they'll have pops of color in their decorations that go on the countertops or just something that's a little bit different. The island may be a different color, a pop of blue or green, hunter green or something like that, just to kind of change it up your hardware even yeah.

Speaker 3: 18:03

I love hardware, so having fun with that that is so simple and easy to switch out and change. So if you're like you know what I really like this at the moment. I'm not sure if I'm going to like it five years down the road. Sure, but you loved it for those five years.

Speaker 1: 18:15

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 18:16

How hard is it to switch out?

Speaker 1: 18:21

Absolutely. So let's kick off tile month appropriately and let's talk about the number one trend that you're seeing, and these may not be in order, but these are just five trends that are popular, just five trends that are popping up.

Speaker 3: 18:34

I'll touch on one of the first ones, that's the most prevalent, is color Gotcha, and I heard it referred today as dopamine colors, and I love that.

Speaker 1: 18:43

Dopamine.

Speaker 3: 18:43

Dopamine colors. Dopamine is what your body gets when it's happy.

Speaker 1: 18:47

Sure.

Speaker 3: 18:47

You know when something good's happening. You're eating good food, you're having a great conversation.

Speaker 1: 18:51

So a Friday, not a Monday. Today is Monday, that's right, exactly Okay.

Speaker 3: 18:57

We're making it dopamine Monday.

Speaker 1: 18:58

That's okay, all right.

Speaker 3: 19:00

Color, lots of rich, saturated colors. Right now, people are really taking it upon themselves to live in their homes. So we did touch on classic. That's something that you know years down the road you're going to sell and it's really not going to be something trendy, but a lot of people are now saying you know, this is my home. I want to make it feel like me, yeah, not like what's just trending. So we're doing a lot of color saturation, a lot of color drenching where your cabinets and green is a very prevalent color. Sure, let's say there is a really soft, sagey green and then the backsplash is about two to three shades darker, but still in that green family.

Speaker 1: 19:34

Oh, so you're actually blue in color on color, okay, in the same palette, same family. So, wow, okay.

Speaker 3: 19:41

You see that too, with a lot of paint you're taking and you're wrapping color all the way around the room, including the door, the frame, and across to the other side.

Speaker 1: 19:49

So you don't mean light gray and dark gray.

Speaker 3: 19:52

No, I don't. Okay, and I love it, because if you're on social media now and they have all these different outlets where people can reach out and talk to each other, somebody says well, I was going to do this gray floor with this gray countertop. The immediate reaction is no.

Speaker 1: 20:07

Thanks for joining us today. As always, we are grateful for our listeners and your continued support. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Follow us on social media via Facebook, instagram and TikTok. Get more info at our website, wwwthehomebuildingshowcom. And, as always, remember who we are the Home Building and Remodeling Show. Bye.