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Nobody starts a hotel tiling job by asking for a price list. The architect’s specification and the bill of quantities (BOQ) come first, and commercial tile specification in Croatia follows from them. The specification says what each area gets. The BOQ says how much. The programme says when it has to be on site. As the buyer, you’re turning those three documents into container lots, delivery phases and matched stock, so that when a tile cracks in year three, someone can replace it from the same shade.
This post is written for Croatian distributors, contractors and procurement leads who supply hotel and apartment projects. We go through what a specification asks for in each area, how a BOQ turns into 20ft lots, how to phase call-offs against the programme, and when a local stockist is simply the better route.
In this guide: Project buying · Specification by area · BOQ to lots · Batch matching · Outdoor areas · Local stockist · Wolf support · FAQ
If you run a shelf, you pick what to stock, how much of it, and when. On a project you pick none of that. Three documents do it for you.
The specification names the tile for each area: size, finish, slip class, frost resistance, thickness. The BOQ fixes the m² per area, usually with a wastage allowance already added by the quantity surveyor. The programme sets when each floor or zone is ready for tiling, and the handover date is the deadline nothing can slip past.
That changes the buying problem.The quantity is already set, so you cannot buy on sell-through the way a shelf buyer does. Delivery is phased, because a hotel has no room to store 5,000 m² of tile on day one. And someone must hold matching stock, because a replacement tile from a different batch shows on a lobby floor.
The handover date is where the Croatian context bites. Croatia recorded 110.1 million overnight stays in 2025, 104.6 million of them on the Adriatic coast, according to the Croatian National Tourist Board’s eVisitor figures, which include private accommodation. Coastal hotels and apartment blocks are timed to open ahead of that season. Your delivery schedule is counted backwards from the opening date, and it will not move for you.
The architect’s specification governs. The table below is not a substitute for it. It is a reading guide to what a typical hotel or apartment specification asks of commercial specification tiles in each area, and what to confirm with the supplier before the proforma.
Slip resistance is set per area, usually as an R class (R9 to R13) for shod use and a barefoot class (A, B or C) for wet areas; German guidance puts pool surrounds in class B. Anything outdoors or unheated needs frost-resistant tile. Water absorption is what separates porcelain from other ceramic tile under EN 14411. The documents behind each are in our Croatia tile import compliance checklist.
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Area
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What the specification asks for
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What to confirm with the supplier
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schedule. Start with the m² per design, because a 20ft is filled by weight before volume, and the yield depends on size and thickness.
Take a 5,200 m² package of one 600×1200 design. At about 1,470 m² per 20ft, that is three and a half containers, so four lots with the last one part-loaded or topped up with trims. A 20mm outdoor tile fills a container at far fewer m², so the terrace line in the same package needs its own calculation. Our container loading guide shows how pallets are built and why the yield differs by size.
Don’t ship those four lots as one delivery. Build a call-off schedule against the programme instead:
The lead time from call-off to site is the subject of our next post on the tile import timeline from India to Croatia.
With Wolf: m² per 20ft for each size and thickness, so a BOQ can be broken into lots before the proforma.
Porcelain is fired in batches, and shade and calibre can drift between them. On a shelf that is a nuisance. In a 400-room hotel it is a defect, because a corridor tiled from two batches shows the join.
Two controls handle it. The first is batch matching across lots: every lot ships with its batch record, every box carries a shade and calibre code, and later lots are checked against the site reference set before they leave the factory. Where a zone needs more than one batch, agree with the contractor which batch goes in which room, so no single floor mixes them.
The second is attic stock: a small overage from the same production lot, set aside at handover for future repairs. It is decided at BOQ stage, not after the floor is laid, because by then the lot is gone. The quantity is agreed between the specifier, the contractor and the client. It is a line in the BOQ, boxed, labelled with batch and shade codes, and listed in the handover file so the facilities team can find it in five years.
With Wolf: one batch record per lot, and matched stock from the same lot held or supplied for repairs.
Specifying a project in Croatia? Request 3 free samples for the architect’s approval, and we will send the test-report pack for the same line
Terraces and pool surrounds are where a coastal specification is strictest and a wrong tile is most visible: a barefoot wet slip class, frost resistance on every external surface, and often 20mm thickness for pedestal or gravel laying. What matters to the buyer is that the slip and frost reports cover the exact product line being shipped, not a similar one from last year. Ask for the reports with the batch record, and check that the Declaration of Performance states freeze-thaw (frost) resistance before the lot leaves. The document side is in our Croatia tile import compliance checklist.
With Wolf: slip and test reports for the exact line, and 20mm availability in the chosen designs.
Importing direct is not right for every project, and the specification does not care where the tile comes from as long as it complies.
A Croatian stockist, or a porcelain tile distributor in Croatia who already holds the specified line, is the better route when the package is small, when the programme leaves no room for a sea voyage, or when the specification names a product the stockist already carries. It is also the safer route when nobody on the project can manage proformas, inspection and clearance, or when the client wants one local party responsible for replacements.
The trade is margin and control. You pay the stockist’s price for stock someone else chose, and you depend on their batch for attic stock. For a package that runs to several containers, with a programme that allows the lead time, direct import (uvoz porculanskih pločica iz Indije) gives you one lot per zone and your own batch record. Run both routes against the BOQ and the programme before deciding, and remember that the architect’s specification governs either way. For the cost side of the direct route, see our Croatia landed-cost post.
Wolf is a porcelain tile manufacturer in Morbi, Gujarat, exporting to more than 40 countries. You can see who you are buying from on our exports page. Here is how Wolf supports a specification from BOQ to handover:
If you are working back from a handover date, our next post sets out the tile import timeline from India to Croatia week by week. For a project enquiry, contact our export team, or start with 3 free samples.
As a baseline, CE marking with a Declaration of Performance under EN 14411 for ceramic tiles, plus whatever the project specification adds, such as slip resistance for wet and outdoor areas. The architect's specification governs. The supplier should provide test reports for the exact product line and a batch record for each lot.
Buying tile against a project specification and bill of quantities rather than for general stock. It involves fixed quantities, agreed delivery phases, matched shade across lots and documentation for the handover file.
A small quantity of extra tile from the same production lot, set aside at handover for future repairs so replacement tiles match the original shade.
Yes. Deliveries can be split across several container lots aligned to the programme. Each lot should carry its own batch record, and shade should be approved against a site sample before later lots ship.
Get 3 free samples plus a Croatia project specification pack: the test-report set for your shortlisted lines, m² per 20ft by size, and a call-off schedule template to map against your programme.
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