New Business Idea: Removing tile floors

I got the price for a new tile floor for our kitchen, and it included the cost of the tile, removing the old tile, and installing the new ones. Five thousand dollars. That's a lot of money for a floor, but we really liked the tile we picked out and don't want to go with a cheaper one. I asked the flooring company if there was any way we could cut some of the cost by doing the tear out ourselves. We will save $1500, so of course I got the hammer drill and chisel, hammer, and flat bar and went to work.

I learned a lot of lessons over the last three days, but the main one is that getting tile up is easy and hard at the same time. Smack it with a roofing hammer, not a sledge, and then pry up the pieces; anything being stubborn gets the SDS drill and chisel. Easy in theory, tiring in practice. The first two days I got almost nothing done except for gouging up some of the sub floor and a lot of cursing. The third day (today) went much smoother.

I spent 6 hours over at the new house, and I took a fair few breaks (sue me), so in all fairness I worked 4 hours more or less non-stop. I got almost 60 square feet removed before Cass showed up to lend a hand, and at the end of the day we had removed almost 75 square feet of tile off of a wood sub floor. That's a little under half the kitchen.

If I can get a full kitchen ripped out in a little over 2 full days of work then I could pocket $1500. That's a ridiculous amount of money. Why are more people not doing this for a living? To be fair, it is tiring. Your back hurts from hunching over, your legs get tired from kneeling so much even if you are wearing knee pads. You'll need a mask, especially if you want to run a fan to keep cool - but with the way things are now masks are no big deal for most of us.

You can finish jobs quicker with a second person, and if you're both in it to get the job done fast and make money then you will stay motivated longer by having that other person there. If you can get one bigger tear out a week (like a full kitchen) or two small ones (bathrooms, laundry areas, etc.) then you can earn more than many people make at a part time job for working similar hours. Bump it up to multiple jobs a week and you can be looking at a nice pay day.

If you're interested in giving it a try then I highly suggest trying it at your own house first. Tear that old tile up and have a new one installed. If you don't think the work is too tough then talk to the installer and see if they are ever looking for another crew to do tear outs. Make the connections, establish your name by doing quality work every time, and find someone you can trust to show up and help you get the work done.

Turn this business idea into a source of passive income by hiring 2 people to do the tear outs for you. You form the company, make connections with local flooring companies, and then keep your employees in steady work that can be done year round. Branch out and do hardwood and laminate flooring tear outs as well, or go all out and do install work as well. I can tell you from experience, putting down a laminate floor and peel-and-stick tile is easy.

I, personally, hate tearing up tile floors. I have bad circulation in one of my legs and kneeling for long periods of time really takes it's toll. I'm happy to do it at my house and save some money, but I'll leave the career to you guys.

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