A bathroom re-tile should not cost more in labour than the tiles themselves, and a hairline crack above a window is not a reason to knock down the wall. Here is what each common masonry job actually involves, what you should expect to pay in labour in a typical Indian city, and the five things that separate a careful mason from a careless one.
The short answer
Most household masonry jobs are priced per square foot of surface, and the labour sits between ₹14 per sq ft for a putty finish and ₹90 per sq ft for a new 9-inch brick wall. The visit charge is around ₹300 and most masons waive it when the job goes ahead. Materials are separate, bought by you, and you are entitled to the bills.
| Job | Typical labour | Priced per |
|---|---|---|
| Floor tiling | ₹45 | sq ft |
| Wall tiling | ₹55 | sq ft |
| Bathroom re-tiling, floor and walls | ₹15,000 | bathroom |
| Removing old tiles | ₹15 | sq ft |
| Grouting or epoxy re-grout | ₹18 | sq ft |
| Crack repair and patch plaster | ₹1,200 | job |
| New plaster | ₹28 | sq ft |
| Terrace waterproofing | ₹60 | sq ft |
| Bathroom waterproofing, before tiling | ₹6,000 | bathroom |
| Wall seepage treatment | ₹45 | sq ft |
| Brick wall, 9 inch | ₹90 | sq ft |
| Partition wall, 4.5 inch | ₹65 | sq ft |
| Demolition and debris removal | ₹25 | sq ft |
| Mason on daily rate | ₹1,000 | day |
Metro cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru run about 30 percent higher. A same-day call adds roughly 20 percent. Flexible timing takes a little off. These are the figures the TheHire cost estimator uses, so what you read here is what it will quote.
How masons actually charge
Four parts make up the number, and most arguments happen because only one of them was discussed on the phone.
- The visit charge. Around ₹300 to come and measure. Nearly everyone waives it when the job goes ahead. Ask: "Is the visit free if I get the work done?"
- Labour, by the square foot or the job. Tiling, plaster and waterproofing are per sq ft of surface. Cracks, steps and slab patches are per job. A full bathroom is a lump sum. If the quote is one number for everything, ask for it broken down this way, with the square footage written next to each line.
- Materials. Cement, sand, bricks, tiles, adhesive, grout, waterproofing compound. You buy, or the mason buys on your account and shows the bill. A bag of OPC 53 cement is ₹380 to ₹450 in most cities; PPC a little less. Red bricks are ₹7 to ₹12 each; fly-ash bricks ₹5 to ₹8. Floor tiles range from ₹40 per sq ft for plain ceramic to ₹150 and above for large vitrified.
- The helper and the debris. Every mason needs a helper at ₹600 a day. Debris removal is its own line at ₹25 per sq ft for demolition work, and the tempo to the dump is extra in most cities.
The eight jobs every home eventually calls for
1. Floor tiling, ₹45 per sq ft
Laying tiles on a cement-sand bed or on tile adhesive over an existing floor. The labour covers levelling, cutting, laying with spacers and grouting. Large vitrified tiles, 2 ft by 2 ft and above, cost more to lay because they need two people and a levelling system; agree that rate before buying the tile. Removing the old floor first is ₹15 per sq ft on top.
2. Bathroom re-tiling, ₹15,000 per bathroom
The single most common masonry job in Indian flats. A standard bathroom is roughly 40 sq ft of floor and 180 to 220 sq ft of wall, which is why it is quoted as a unit rather than per sq ft. The number should include removing the old tiles, re-laying the floor with a slope to the drain, and wall tiles to the ceiling. It should not include waterproofing, which is the separate ₹6,000 line, and it should be done before the first tile goes down.
3. Waterproofing, ₹6,000 to ₹60 per sq ft
A bathroom gets a two-coat cementitious or acrylic coating over the floor and up the walls, then a water test for 48 hours before tiling. A terrace at ₹60 per sq ft gets either the traditional brickbat coba or a chemical membrane, and both need a slope to the drain. A wall with seepage is ₹45 per sq ft for scraping, treating and re-plastering. The compound is ₹150 to ₹400 per kg and goes a long way; the labour is the cost.
4. Cracks and patch plaster, ₹1,200 per job
Opening the crack in a V, filling it, and re-plastering the patch. A hairline shrinkage crack in plaster is cosmetic. A crack that is wider than a 5 rupee coin's edge, runs diagonally from a window corner, or keeps widening is structural, and the mason should say so rather than fill it.
5. New plaster and putty, ₹28 and ₹14 per sq ft
Plaster is 12 to 15 mm of 1:4 or 1:6 cement-sand on a brick wall, cured for seven days. Putty is the smooth skim coat before paint, and some painters do it instead of masons. If the painter's quote already includes putty, do not pay for it twice.
6. A new wall, ₹65 to ₹90 per sq ft
A 4.5-inch partition at ₹65 per sq ft divides a room and carries nothing. A 9-inch wall at ₹90 per sq ft is a proper wall. Neither should be built on a slab without an engineer confirming the slab can take the weight, and that is the one question to ask before the first brick.
7. Steps, platforms and slab patches, ₹4,500 and ₹6,000
A kitchen platform, a set of three steps at the door, a patch to a spalled balcony slab. Priced per job because the size is small and the work is fiddly. A slab patch where the steel is showing needs the rust treated and the concrete rebuilt, not just plastered over.
8. Bathroom and kitchen renovation, ₹35,000 and ₹28,000
Labour for all trades under one mason: demolition, plumbing, waterproofing, tiling, electrical and the platform. The lump sum is a convenience, not a discount, so ask for the trade-by-trade breakdown and the days each one takes. Materials for a bathroom run ₹40,000–₹1,20,000 depending entirely on the fittings you choose.
One rule that saves money: have the plumber and electrician finish and test before the mason closes the walls. Opening a tiled wall to fix a leak is the most expensive rework in the house.
Five signs of a careful mason
- They measure the room with a tape before quoting, and write the square footage on the quote.
- They ask what is above and below: a bathroom over a bedroom, a terrace over a flat. Water goes down, and the careful mason plans for it.
- They cure. Plaster is sprinkled twice a day for seven days, a new floor is ponded. A mason who leaves the day after plastering and never comes back to cure it is leaving you a wall that will crack.
- They tap-test tiles before grouting and lift any that sound hollow.
- They tell you when something needs an engineer rather than a mason, and they refuse to chase a beam or a column.
Every mason on TheHire is ID and phone verified, and reviews after each job are public.
What to keep ready before they arrive
- Access to water and a place to mix mortar; a corner of the balcony or the parking is usual.
- Permission from the society for noise hours and for debris in the common area.
- The tile boxes and adhesive on site before the start date, with 10 percent extra tile for cuts and breakage.
- A photo of the problem if you are posting a request; a damp patch with a scale object in the picture tells a mason more than a paragraph.
When the price is not the price
Hollow tiles underneath. If the mason lifts the old floor and finds the bed is loose, the whole bed has to come up and be re-laid, and the ₹15 per sq ft removal line grows. Ask them to tap the floor before quoting.
Seepage from the flat above. No amount of ₹45 per sq ft treatment on your ceiling fixes a leaking bathroom upstairs. The careful mason says this on the first visit; the careless one takes the job.
Monsoon. Exterior plaster and terrace waterproofing cannot be done in rain, and plaster that gets rained on before it sets is scrapped. Book exterior work for the dry months and expect a mason to decline it in July.