RESIDENTIAL DELIVERY INFO

Tile Inspection Hints

Updated January, 2006 

Vallefuoco Contractors, LLC charges $150 per truck-load per vendor.  We pick up from most tile vendors in Rockville and Bethesda, MD (including Architectural Ceramics, Best Tile, Capitol Tile, Morris Tile, The Tile Shop, Bartley Tile, Mosaic Tile and some others.)  Our flat fee of $150 is based on the assumption that pick up will be done once all tile is in.  The biggest benefit to having us deliver tile is that we do not deliver tile until start of work, so client does NOT have to store tile at job site prior to start of installation. 

Our delivery fee is based on anticipated time for wait, loading, checking inventory, and on current fuel prices.  We offer delivery as a courtesy, but encourage our clients to check with their vendor to see who provides most cost effective delivery option.  Although we charge a flat fee per pickup, your vendor may charge a variable fee.  Vendors often base their delivery fees on distance from their central warehouse, hourly unloading rate and size or weight of order. We are usually less expensive than most vendors. Our delivery fee is not intended to make a profit, but rather to cover the time and expenses incurred.  Please remember, an average car can hold about 100 SF of tile in the trunk.  If your order is less than this, you may consider picking it up yourself.

Don’t confuse “freight” with “delivery.”  If you see a “freight” fee on your invoice from your tile vendor, this means you purchased something they do not stock.  “Freight” refers to the transport (usually by truck) from the vendor’s supplier to the vendor’s warehouse or showroom.   Most vendors will not drop ship the tile directly from their supplier to your home.  The reason for this is that the vendor must inspect each order before you (or we) can pick it up. 

Occasionally, your vendor may overlook a broken or wrong tile order.  Furthermore, nobody is familiar with each and every piece of inventory in the warehouse.  This is why it is so important that you inspect your order before we pick it up.  Only you will recognize and remember what you ordered.  The warehouse personnel will not.  They will only check that the order matches the packaging on the box (most of the time).  If you feel your order is wrong or the “dye lot” does not match what you had ordered, let the vendor’s order department  know immediately.  If you’re not sure, ask to compare a piece of tile from your order with a sample tile or sample board you were shown when you ordered. 

If your tile looks significantly different than what you ordered, don’t scream yet!  Take a deep breath!  Often tile has a vast range of color and shade variation.  Try to view several tiles from different cartons before assuming the whole “dye lot” is different.  Most importantly, open your mind to the lot you get.  One of the most desirable qualities of natural stone and hand-glazed tile is its shade variation.  If, after sorting through it,  the tile genuinely looks like the wrong color, it may well be. Have your salesperson check the material, so if there’s an ordering error, he/she can correct it as soon as possible.

These situations are rare, but not too rare.  If an ordering error has bumped your installation date back, let us know immediately.  This will allow us to prioritize you on our schedule and it will give us notice so we can temporarily fill your spot.  We are accustomed to dealing with scheduling surprises in the Home Improvement Industry.