Six details that tell you how a tile job was done

Lippage that climbs out of tolerance

Industry-standard lippage tolerance is roughly 1/32" for rectified tile and 1/16" for pressed tile. Anything more visible than that, on a flat substrate, usually traces back to the substrate or to a leveling system that came off before the mortar had set — worth asking about, because the answer is often about the floor underneath, not the hands on top.

How to spot it: get down at floor level and look across the surface. If the highlight bands look jagged from edge to edge — lippage. If they form clean continuous lines — the install respected the spec.

Grout joints that breathe

Grout joints should be consistent in width within the same room. A 1/8" joint that swells to 1/4" near a corner usually traces back to a room that is out of square, which every installer has to absorb somewhere.

Walk the perimeter. Cuts at walls and cabinets are ideally at least half a tile wide. Narrower cuts usually mean the room forced the layout somewhere, and your installer can tell you where that decision came from.

Backer board fastening pattern

Common industry practice is roughly 6" on center along edges and 8" in the field. You can't see the fasteners on a finished floor — but the proxy is movement. Step in the middle of a tile and apply real weight. If you feel any deflection, the substrate isn't fastened the way it should be.

The other tell: hollow sounds when you tap. Run a coin or a key across the surface — solid tiles ring; floating tiles thunk.

Waterproofing in wet areas (the one that bites later)

Showers and tub surrounds need a continuous waterproofing layer — either a branded sheet membrane or a liquid-applied system — running to the curb and up the walls. It is the layer that decides whether the shower is still dry in ten years, which is why it is the first thing a careful installer photographs.

You can't inspect this on a finished install. This is exactly why good installers photograph it before the tile goes up — it is the only record of that layer that survives the job.

Pattern alignment at transitions

Where tile meets adjacent flooring (hardwood, carpet, the room next door), the cuts should land at consistent depths. A run that hits a doorway and skips from 6" to 1.5" without explanation is usually a transition the layout had to absorb, and it is a fair thing to ask about.

The part nobody can see later

Most of what decides how this holds up gets covered before the job is over. Once it is closed in, the only record of how it went in is the photos taken while it was still open.

Supervisr's tile QA model works from common industry practice and the installation instructions that ship with the materials. It can review tile photos for lippage tolerance, joint consistency, layout, and substrate bond. Upload a few photos and you'll get a documented evaluation back in minutes.

For a homeowner, that record is a straightforward way to understand what you paid for. For a contractor, it is the milestone documentation that stands behind a workmanship warranty years later, long after the crew has moved on to the next job.

About Supervisr

Supervisr is an AI quality-assurance platform for residential tile installations. It works from common industry practice and manufacturer installation instructions, and analyzes tile installation photos to flag issues with waterproofing, layout, and substrate prep.

Contractors use Supervisr to document quality at each milestone — backing up a workmanship warranty and building a track record of work they can point to. Homeowners end up with a clear record of what went into their home.