← Kitchen tile backsplash bid calculator
Owners call with a weekday number: “Can you do Saturday so I can cook? Same $35 a square foot?” That sounds like the same wall. It is not the same crew day. After-hours is time-and-a-half. You cannot leave mud overnight in a kitchen they still use, so it is a second evening trip. Working around a cook on a weekday is the same wage on a slower set.
Open the free kitchen tile backsplash bid calculatorAn empty weekday herringbone still carries the wage you already timed. After-hours raises that wage to time-and-a-half and adds a starting second trip. On a typical 42 SF herringbone demo — $38 wage, 30% burden, 15% overhead, 20% target margin, 16 miles, six outlets, cooktop, Schluter — the empty-weekday bid is $3,858.00. After-hours is $5,251.26. The walk-away jumps from $3,086.40 to $4,201.01. Taking $1,470 ($35 / SF) to “just do Saturday” still loses money — even on the weekday.
| Weekday, empty | They cook around you | After-hours / weekend | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wage | Weekday | Weekday | Time-and-a-half |
| Set hours | Same | Slower set + punch-list | Same set, plus a second trip |
| Your bid | $3,858.00 | $4,155.54 | $5,251.26 |
| Walk-away | $3,086.40 | $3,324.43 | $4,201.01 |
| At $1,470 Saturday special | Loses | Loses more | Loses more |
The Saturday special is more tempting on a 30 SF subway splash. The empty-weekday bid is $1,134.41. They-cook-around-you adds $110.07. After-hours adds $467.97 and the walk-away is $1,281.90. A $1,100 “same as weekday” Saturday number covers the empty weekday and loses $181.90 after hours.
Leftover on the van is your stock after a kitchen you bought — see do leftover boxes cover the laundry wall. Customer-supplied tile is their boxes and an install-only number — see should I install customer-supplied backsplash tile. After-hours is when you can stand in the kitchen. A walk-in shower is a wet area, a slope, and glass. This prices a dry kitchen splash.
Open the kitchen tile backsplash bid calculator, pick the herringbone demo preset, and put their Saturday number in “price you’re considering.” The access table scores that number against an empty weekday, they-cook-around-you, and after-hours / weekend. Nothing is uploaded.
This is the same arithmetic as how much to charge for a kitchen tile backsplash. It is not a labor-law determination, a union scale, or a reason to refuse a customer — it is the walk-away number on each access window.
Only after you price time-and-a-half plus a second evening trip. You cannot leave mud overnight in a kitchen they still cook in. A $35 / SF Saturday special on a herringbone demo often sits under that walk-away number even on an empty weekday.
Yes. Same wage, slower set and punch-list. On a typical 42 SF herringbone demo the they-cook-around-you bid is $4,155.54 versus $3,858.00 when they leave.
Usually not on the job they actually want. On a 42 SF herringbone demo the after-hours walk-away is $4,201.01. $1,470 ($35 / SF) still loses money. On a cheap 30 SF subway, $1,100 covers an empty weekday and loses $181.90 after hours.