jamescorn

Dear forum, We're at the point of choosing tiles for our new living and dining room. Our architect took us to view Italian homogenous tiles at a showroom couple of days ago and the indicative prices range from $70 to $150 psm. We checked out couple of other shops selling MIC tiles ranging from average of $20 to $60 psm. Price aside, are Italian tiles (i.e. made in Italy and not an Italian tile company that manufactures tiles in China) really of better quality than those made in China? I understand it depends on the tile manufacturer, and I have also personally used China made tiles for a place and the tiles were very lasting. The mind says better to buy the best China tiles than the lowest price range of the Italian tiles, but the heart questions if Italian tiles are really of better quality due to QC, manufacturing process, work ethic of workers, impurities in the China tiles, etc. I've read comments doing a google that mostly point towards Italian tiles being of better quality and designs. Thanks for sharing your experience of this.

From the comments and sharing, it sounds like different projects will include/exclude different components in calculating the average PSF. For my project, I signed with a builder at $175psf (reconstruction alone). We're estimating it'll be $205psf if PC sum is included, but excluding professional fees... It's estimated because we are not at the stage where we have determined the detailed costs of the PC sum items. I think BCA's definition of "construction costs" includes the actual building cost and PC sum. Thanks to all owners who shared... we should learn more from each other about the workings in this industry..

I'm doing a reconstruction of a corner terrace of land size 2900sqf. Current built up is small (1600sqf) and we have obtained BCA approval to increase the built-up area to 4100sqf over 2.5 storeys. We have called for a tender and received 3 bids, and need to select the builder soon. Wanted to get a feel of the market rate in terms of PSF for reconstruction projects nowadays. My architect is using mid-range materials. Appreciate if you can share how much you paid if you did a reconstruction project recently. Thanks.