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I have a customer who bought a cheaper tile for a rental property of theirs. It has a lot of differences in size and seems to be somewhat out of square. They want to use black grout to prevent staining. I think with all the differences between the tile and the contrasting color the installation will look poorly no matter how much time I spend on it. Do you have any information I can give my customer about this?

Grout color selection will make a big difference in how the final installation looks. The NTCA Reference Manual backs you up. Chapter 10 on Grouts states: 

“Selection of a grout color that contrasts with the tile will emphasize the grout joint and correspondingly any variations in tile size and position. Selection of a similar or complementary grout color will de-emphasize such variations.” 

The grout selection guide in the TCNA Handbook adds:

“When a similar color grout is used, it is often more difficult to see the haze left after initial grout cleaning and extra care must be taken to remove all haze.”  

You may want to let your customer know that grouts contain more latex and polymers than in the past and are a lot more stain resistant, and now there are many single-component grouts on the market that perform comparably to epoxy in stain-resistance testing. I understand this is for your customer’s rental property but I would also explain it is important to purchase and install tiles that have been tested to meet industry minimum requirements for size, and shade deviations, as well as wedging and warpage. All these standards and many more are found in ANSI A137.1.