7 Florida Tile Questions Every Facilities Buyer Should Ask

I'm the office administrator who handles purchasing for a 90-person building-services company. I manage roughly 60–80 orders a year for maintenance and renovation work, so when I talk about a supplier, I'm not guessing. This FAQ is the one I use myself before I put material into a project schedule.

No supplier can be all things. I'd rather get an honest no than an expensive yes.

What can Florida Tile do for a commercial project?

Florida Tile's real strength is tile: porcelain, concrete-look tile, wood-look tile, clay barrel roof tile, and the tile installation or removal side of those jobs. If my project needs new large-format tile in a corridor or a clay barrel roof repair, I send it to Florida Tile. What I don't do is ask them to act as a general contractor for electrical, plumbing, framing, or specialty floor coatings. That's not a criticism of the brand; specialized suppliers are usually better at exactly what they sell. When I picked a generalist once for the sake of convenience, I bought a delay and a change order that I can't get back.

Is the Florida Tile Blue Ash location worth a trip to see Bellanova?

If you're near Cincinnati, yes. The Florida Tile Blue Ash, Ohio location gives you a chance to see the Bellanova collection and compare it with other large-format porcelain before you commit. But don't treat a showroom visit as your final spec. Ask for a physical sample from the actual production lot they'd ship. I have learned the hard way that a display tile only tells you what the line looked like when the sample was made. The lot you receive can be close but not identical. Look at it under the same lighting you'll have at the project, not just under showroom spots.

Does Florida Tile Bellanova contain recycled glass bottles?

Here's where I put on my procurement hat. Recycled glass tile and porcelain tile are not the same thing. If your project requirement says post-consumer recycled glass or glass bottles, you should be looking at a manufacturer that makes crushed-glass tile. A porcelain collection like Bellanova is fired clay, and although some porcelain products contain recycled content, you can't assume it comes from glass bottles. The only acceptable proof is a product data sheet or environmental declaration that states the exact recycled content. If you want a third-party check, look for the Green Squared certification mark under ANSI A138.1, but even then ask for a current data sheet for your exact product.

Can a tile vendor also handle garage floor epoxy?

I recommend no for most projects. A garage floor epoxy coating is a concrete coating job, not a tile job. The crew needs to test the slab, prep the concrete, and mix chemicals that have little to do with thinset and grout. I keep Florida Tile for tile work, and I keep garage floor epoxy with a separate coatings contractor. If you want a polished-concrete look in a sales office, Florida Tile porcelain may be worth a sample. If the floor is a real garage slab that has to resist oil, impacts, and hot tires, epoxy is more often the better call. A tile supplier saying yes to every floor category should be a yellow flag.

Can the tile crew install a bathtub faucet while the shower wall is open?

Don't let them unless they're licensed to do plumbing. I realize that sounds obvious, but project schedules get tight, someone pulls up a video named how to install a bathtub faucet, and decides to save the day. Then the valve gets set at the wrong depth. The plumber has to place the rough-in valve inside the wall first. The tile installer then cuts and tiles around the valve according to the manufacturer's template. After the tile is set and cured, the plumber comes back for the trim. If a generalist tries to do all three steps in one visit, the faucet trim won't sit flush, and you'll be opening up a wall you just paid to tile.

How long does a Florida Tile order really take?

That depends on stock, freight, and whether the product has to be manufactured after the order. In Q3 2024, a stocked porcelain order took eleven days instead of the promised two because the branch consolidated freight to a different day. I stopped trusting the word stocked after that. I now ask my rep to confirm quantity, lot, and shipping date on the written quote. As of January 2025, I plan with a three-week buffer for a standard job unless the quote says otherwise. If you need Bellanova for a scheduled opening, don't count the delivery day as the install day. Build in solid days for inspection and unloading.

Why do all procurement people obsess over tile lot numbers?

Because tile color consistency can vary between production runs. It's not a quality defect; it's how fired clay behaves. When I order tile for a building, I request the lot number and I still order roughly 10 percent extra for cuts and future damage. That extra material also covers one bad box or a contractor who expected more waste. If you run short and need a second order, the new lot may not match the old, which usually means pulling out installed work or living with a contrast. Extra boxes on site are cheaper than reordering air freight or rematching after installation.