How to Get Tiling Leads in Australia (2026)

Tiler marketing built on partnerships and a portfolio · Updated October 2026

Tiling is a trade where the work speaks for itself, but only if people can see it. A clean bathroom with tight, even grout lines sells the next one. The challenge is that much of a tiler's work arrives through someone else, usually a renovator or builder, so the homeowner may never know who did it. Good tiler marketing fixes both problems: it puts your work in front of new customers and builds the trade relationships that keep the diary full.

Where tiling leads come from in Australia

Most tiling work comes through four channels.

• Renovators and builders. Bathroom and kitchen renovation businesses, builders and project managers who subcontract the tiling.
• Google search and Maps. Searches like "tiler near me", "bathroom tiler" or "floor tiling" plus a suburb show the map pack first. A complete Google Business Profile with good reviews puts you there.
• Lead sites. hipages, ServiceSeeking and Airtasker carry tiling jobs, from small repairs to full bathrooms.
• Referrals. Plumbers, waterproofers, tile shops and happy homeowners all send work to a tiler they trust.

Partnerships and Google search are the channels most worth building, because both keep sending work without a fee each time. Our guide on how to rank for near me searches covers the local search basics.

Google Business Profile for tilers

A free Google Business Profile is the foundation for homeowner work. Get these four things right.

Use Tile contractor as your primary category

For a business people hire to lay tiles, the primary category is Tile contractor. Bathrooms, floors, splashbacks, outdoor areas and regrouting belong in your services list under it. Google's category list varies by country, so type your trade into the category field and choose the exact match it offers.

Set realistic service areas

Set yourself up as a service area business and list the suburbs you will actually travel to. A full bathroom justifies a longer drive than a small repair, so think about where you want each kind of job.

Build a photo portfolio

This is where tilers can stand out. Upload photos of finished bathrooms, floors and feature walls, taken straight on and in good light, plus close-ups of corners, edges and grout lines, since that is where quality shows. Add a few before shots of tired old bathrooms. Update the profile after every good job so it stays fresh.

Keep reviews coming, and be clear about licences

Ask every satisfied homeowner for a review the day you finish, with a direct link by text. Licensing rules for tiling and waterproofing differ by state, and in some states waterproofing needs its own licence or certification, so check your state's regulator. Show any licence you hold on your profile and quotes. For more on the profile, see our Google Business Profile tips.

Free download: our Google Business Profile Checklist for Tradies runs through the 20 settings that decide whether locals find you on Google.

Google Ads and Local Services Ads

Paid search adds homeowner enquiries quickly, and works best once your profile already has reviews and photos.

Standard Google Ads charge per click and let you choose the searches you show up for. For tilers, that usually means bidding on the jobs you want most, such as bathroom tiling or floor tiling in your best suburbs, and excluding searches you do not want, such as tile shops, tiling jobs or DIY tiling. Set a daily budget you would be comfortable losing while you learn, and judge the ads by jobs won.

Local Services Ads are Google's pay per lead format. They appear above the standard ads on some local searches, and you pay when a customer contacts you. You have to pass Google's business screening before they run.

Local Services Ads only run for certain trades in certain countries. When we checked on 3 October 2026, Google's own help centre did not publish a category list for Australia, so we are not going to tell you whether tilers qualify. Check by starting the sign-up in Google Ads or reading the Local Services Ads help centre. Our guide to how Local Services Ads work explains the mechanics.

Renovation partnerships and your portfolio

Two things set tiler marketing apart from most trades.

Bathroom renovation partnerships

Bathroom renovators, kitchen companies and builders need a tiler they can rely on, and finding one is a real headache for them. A good partnership can fill a large share of your diary. To build one:

• Make a list. Search Google for bathroom renovators, kitchen companies and small builders in your area. Note which ones look busy and well reviewed.
• Introduce yourself with proof. Send a short message with your portfolio, your availability, your licence and insurance details, and the areas you cover.
• Be the easy one to work with. Turn up on the day, keep the site clean, communicate when something changes. Reliability is what earns repeat work from renovators.
• Work well with the other trades. Plumbers and waterproofers on the same jobs are good referral sources, and the reverse is true too.

As with any subcontract work, watch how much depends on one partner. If one renovator supplies most of your jobs, your homeowner channel is your safety net.

Turn every job into portfolio content

Homeowners choosing a tiler want to see work like theirs. Organise your photos by type (bathrooms, floors, splashbacks, outdoor) and use them everywhere: your Google profile, a gallery page on your website, and quotes. A short project page for your best bathrooms, with the suburb and the tile used, ranks for local searches and does the selling before you arrive. If you work through a renovator, ask whether you can photograph your work for your own portfolio, leaving out the client's details.

Building a portfolio, a review routine and a mix of partner and homeowner work is what our course for tradies walks through, one short lesson at a time.

Lead sites: use them, then rely on them less

Lead sites can help tilers fill quiet weeks or get started in a new area, with no website or ads needed.

Know what you are buying. Depending on the platform, you pay to quote or pay per lead, the same job is often sent to several tilers, and the reviews you earn stay on their site. Our breakdown of whether hipages is worth it and our review of ServiceSeeking for tradies explain how they work.

Use them as a tap, not the foundation. Ask every lead site customer for a Google review and photograph the job for your portfolio, so each platform job builds something you keep.

For the wider picture across trades, read our guide to how tradies get more leads online.

Frequently asked questions

Let your work find the next job

The busiest tilers have a couple of renovators who rely on them and a portfolio that wins homeowners on its own. A complete profile, good photos and a review routine do most of the work. None of it needs an agency, just a plan and some time each week.