Tiles landed in Adelaide

The tiles we priced

150 m2 of 600 x 600 matt porcelain, one production batch, 10 percent spares, palletised.

Landed in Adelaide, line by line

Every line from the factory gate to your site. Low, middle and high use the low, middle and high of every published rate at once. Estimate: no delivered Elje job sits behind this figure yet.

By the container

About 1,000 m2 in its own 20 ft container into Adelaide: about $17,825 landed, $15 to $22 per m2. Estimate.

Shipped with a kitchen

On its own, a tile order pays the full set of fixed charges and Elje's minimum fees. Added to a kitchen in the same shipment it adds about $2,244 to the kitchen's landed price ($1,713 to $2,961), because the port, broker, delivery and Project Plan are already paid. Estimate.

Against Adelaide prices

Supply only is the fair comparison with a landed price; installed prices include labour, which you pay either way.

Retail, supply only, inc GST, 600x600 and 600x1200 porcelain. WTD (Oct 2026): mid-range porcelain $50 / $70 / $120, large format 600x1200+ $50 / $85 / $160. National chains seen 17 Oct 2026: Beaumont 600x600 $62.50 to $67.95, 600x1200 $149, 595x1192 travertine-look $132; National Tiles 600x1200 $59.95 to $129.95; Tile Cloud 600x1200 $74.31 to $138.89. Value chains run lower: Amber $37.77 sale ($62.95 RRP), The Tile Collective $28.95 to $38.95.

Beaumont is Adelaide-founded but prices nationally online. National figure used. WTD tiling $37 to $92, cheapest of the eight.

Is it worth it?

It depends how you ship them. 150 m2 on its own lands at about $41 per m2, close to what local porcelain costs ($50 to $150 per m2). With a kitchen they add about $15 per m2, and a full 20 ft container lands at about $18 per m2. Estimate.

The Adelaide market

Adelaide is the cheapest of the eight on the cost index, about 8 percent under Brisbane: kitchens $11,050 to $41,400 installed, bathrooms $9,200 to $32,200, tiling labour $37 to $92 per m2. Stone fabrication is 15 to 20 percent cheaper per metre than in Sydney or Melbourne. Cheaper local prices mean a smaller gap to landed here than on the east coast.

How it gets to Adelaide

Foshan factory to Nansha, Shekou or Yantian, then a service to Outer Harbor, often with a stop or a transhipment on the way, then about 25 km by road to the city.

One container terminal, Flinders Adelaide Container Terminal at Outer Harbor, about 25 km north-west of the city.

Most Adelaide suburbs take a container at the kerb. Older inner-east streets can be narrow; ask before booking a 40 ft.

What moves the number

• Weight, not volume. Tiles fill a container's weight limit long before its space. A shared container charges the larger of cubic metres and tonnes, so 150 m2 of porcelain pays for about 3.4 tonnes.
• Quantity. Around 1,000 m2 of 600 x 600 porcelain fills a 20 ft container by weight. At that size the landed price per m2 drops sharply.
• Size and thickness. Large formats and 20 mm outdoor pavers weigh more per m2 and break more in transit.
• One batch. Order every tile for the project from one production batch, with 10 percent spares. A second batch will not match.
• Testing. Slip rating reports for wet areas, and an asbestos-free test report for any new tile body.

What it has to comply with

• Wet areas and outdoors need an AS 4586 slip rating (P3 wet indoor, P4 outdoor is common). Ask for the P rating report, not a European R rating.
• Australia bans asbestos. The ABF can test ceramic imports at the importer's cost, so get the test report before shipping.
• Porcelain tiles: tariff 6907.21.90, general duty 5 percent, Free from China with a certificate of origin. Mosaics under 7 cm are Free anyway.

Notes for Adelaide

Hot dry summers and mild winters. Check veneers and solid timber are kiln-dried to suit dry air, and specify UV-stable finishes outdoors.

• Adelaide has fewer direct calls from South China than the east coast ports, so transit is longer and less predictable. Build the extra weeks into the program.
• Shared-container (LCL) services into Adelaide are thinner. Some forwarders route LCL through Melbourne and truck it across; ask which.
• Plumbing and building work is licensed through Consumer and Business Services SA. Imported WaterMark and RCM products go in the same way as local ones.

Questions