Tiles and flooring — buying by area across concurrent projects
Moderate potential, very high competition; explicitly marked for later.
The range above is an indicative planning figure taken from our own research, not a quotation and not an offer. buytogethr is pre-launch and has closed no pools.
What you are actually buying
Tiles are bought by area against a schedule of finishes, and the price a builder sees depends less on list rate than on volume, batch availability and how much wastage the site plans for. Quotes vary on shade batch consistency, thickness, slip rating for wet areas, and whether adhesive, grout and skirting are inside or outside the number. The common error is settling a rate per square foot without fixing the batch, then discovering a shade variation across a floor delivered in two lots.
Why tiles suits collective purchasing
Tiles are an honest example of a category that pools less well than equipment, and it is worth saying so. The founder's own ranking puts them at moderate potential against very high competition, and the reason is that the market is already crowded with distributors competing hard on rate, so the headroom a pool can create is thinner. Where aggregation still helps is batch consistency and delivery scheduling across concurrent sites, rather than headline rate: several builders committing to one batch get a shade guarantee that none of them commands alone.
Pin down before price
- Shade batch and the guarantee that one batch covers the whole area
- Thickness, wear rating and slip rating for wet and circulation areas
- Whether adhesive, grout, spacers and skirting are inside the quoted rate
- Wastage allowance and who carries it
- Delivery scheduling against the site programme
What drives ten-year cost
- Replacement cost when a later batch does not match an installed shade
- Wastage above the allowance, which is real money at volume
- Maintenance and sealing requirements for the finish chosen
- Cost of remedial work where slip rating proves inadequate in wet areas