Figure out exactly how many tiles — and how many boxes — you need for any floor or wall. Enter your area, tile size, and waste, and get a buy-list in seconds.
Area: 100 sq ft
Waste covers cuts, breakage, and future repairs. 10% is standard for straight layouts; use 15–20% for diagonal or herringbone patterns.
Tiles to buy
111
Tiles = area (sq ft) × 144 ÷ (tile width × height in inches), rounded up after adding waste. Buy from the same dye lot so colors match.
Tile is sold by the piece and the box, but jobs are measured in square feet — so the math is a unit conversion plus a waste allowance. Here is the whole process:
The most common tiling mistake is buying just enough. Perimeter cuts, doorways, and the odd cracked piece all eat into your count, and running short mid-job means a second trip — or worse, a mismatched dye lot. A 10% waste factor is the baseline for simple grid patterns. Diagonal installs, small mosaic tile, and rooms full of angles push waste to 15–20%. Large-format tile is unforgiving of cutting errors, so lean toward the high end there too.
If you install tile for a living, the material count is only half the quote — you still have to price labor, overhead, and profit on top. Pair this with the job pricing calculator to build a number that actually clears your costs. And if you are turning handyman and tile work into a full business, start with how to start a handyman business. Browse the rest of the free tools for more job-costing helpers.
Measure the area in square feet (length times width for a rectangle), then convert to square inches by multiplying by 144. Divide by the area of one tile in square inches (tile width times height). Add a waste factor, usually 10%, and round up. This calculator does all of that for you.
Ten percent is the standard allowance for a straight or grid layout, covering cuts, breakage, and a few spares for future repairs. Bump it to 15–20% for diagonal, herringbone, or complex rooms with lots of cuts, and toward 20% for large-format tile where mistakes are costly.
It varies by tile size and manufacturer. A box of 12x12 inch tile often holds 10–15 pieces (about 10–15 sq ft), while large-format tile may be 3–6 pieces per box. Enter the tiles-per-box figure from your product's spec sheet and the calculator returns the number of boxes to buy.
Yes. Always buy from a single dye lot and keep a few spare tiles after the job. Dye lots vary between production runs, so matching a cracked tile years later is nearly impossible if you did not set some aside. The built-in waste factor already accounts for spares.
Count your tile here, then run the whole job in Fieldtics — quotes, scheduling, and invoicing in one free app. The free tier covers unlimited clients, job scheduling, a customer CRM, and the mobile app with no credit card. The $29/mo Professional tier adds quotes, invoicing, online payments, and team scheduling. Trusted by 500+ service businesses.