Bathroom remodel rant

[cypher1]

Just wanted to vent about my bathroom remodel project experience I've been dealing with for the last two months. I paid a contractor (family friend of my now Ex) to tile shower, and floor of my main bathroom. Big mistake using family friends/ for referral for a so called "professional".

Long story short, while everything looked ok for the tile job, the shower pan/floor (mosaic tile) pools up water on one side. So I have to use a squeegee to move it to the drain. So now he needs to come back and rip out the bottom and then repitch it to the drain. The core reason of why I wanted to hire an expert was for that drain work and making sure that shower is waterproofed properly.

Originally I paid him the rest of the money believing the job was done, but had to wait one day (for everything to seal) before confirming no leaks, etc. in the shower. So that was when it was discovered.

When I brought up the issue, he checked it out, and gave me $200 cash to reorder the tile and grout. Believing he'd fix it soon, but has now continued to make excuses with his work schedule for the last 8 weeks.

Previously I was familiar with his work, believing he was a "professional", but after the fact discovering hes not truly a licensed contractor. Based on the deal he gave me for the labor since it was a side job, I thought I was still in good hands which unfortunately I was wrong. Nothing was in writing, and it was all paid in cash.

So I'm stuck in a hard place of waiting for his schedule to "free up" on the weekends in order to fix his mistake. Even if he does come to do work, I'm concerned he'll just do more damage or make it worse somehow. Or just bite the bullet, pay more $ to find another contractor to redo his work. I realize it's not the end of the world, as I have another bathroom downstairs. But it’s a been a very frustrating experience, and I just want it fixed.

Just another reason or experience of why I'm cautious of hiring family or friends for these types of jobs. Oh well, lesson learned. Anyone else been in a similar situation, and what did you end up doing to resolve?

[Smallsteps]

I too hired someone I should have thought twice about.
I had bids from others using a well known home site but they were rude to me and dismissive so I hired someone through a friend.
At first he was super helpful and made suggestions but soon he was not listening I have a super old home and it is not the average dimensions. I told him and insert would not work for bathtub, as we had measured numerous times and did the research. He bought one anyway then told me "hey it does not fit".
Like no duh I TOLD you so. Then he was mad because he had to return it I was not going to do it I would have never bought it.
Many items we had for project as we were going to DIY it( husband had a job requiring too much travel to finish it) and contractor was not wanting to use what I had on hand.
I lost it after I overheard him tell his helper that he thought he could suggest numerous other projects cause he thought I was loaded or something.
Budget overruns ended up costing me more then I expected but he did do beautiful work but it took about a year to get over the disagreements and cost issue to appreciate it.

[cypher1]

Budget overruns ended up costing me more then I expected but he did do beautiful work but it took about a year to get over the disagreements and cost issue to appreciate it.

I wish I could say he did beautiful work, but the whole time I felt he rushed himself knowing he had other jobs lined up. The two choices of tile I picked looked nice, but the finishing cuts, corners, transition pieces just ruined it all. There are areas outside the shower that need to be re-grouted, and he didnt use caulk on joint between the backsplash and vanity top.

I can accept those above mistakes. But I will not accept the drain issue. Even if I wanted to sell the place, there's no way I would let someone else have to deal with that huge of a flaw.

[Smallsteps]

Thank heavens I did not have any thing but very minor flaws to deal with at the end but I had to hold off paying him until all we agreed on was done. He was doing 2 bathrooms/ a stairway railing and one other project. We had a long meeting pointed out the small stuff but agreed to let most go but held him to finish some projects.
He had a bitter attitude and tried to rush it and I stayed and watched him like a hawk.
I was sorry that it ended on such a sour note but unfortunately so many independent contractors underestimate projects and what they will encounter along the way. Probably why his bid was lower then some on the home site I used.
He was a nice guy and did good work but it took longer then he planned he had other people calling all day to start or finish their projects he often disappeared in the day then stayed way too late each night keeping whole house up and I had work and kids had school.
Beyond cost the aggravation is why so many people put off these projects, I know I would hate to go through it again with any contractor.
I would be bold in discussing the worst case scenario and what would they do with someone before I hire them.

[creditcardfree]

I think you may need to end up cutting your losses and hire an actual professional to fix the drain. At least if you are not willing to wait endlessly. I'm sorry this happened to you.

[TexasHusker]

I am currently rebuilding a $300K cabin that was destroyed by fire. The project was supposed to take 150 days, and we are now in the 300 day range. Meanwhile, the contractor has spent all but about $10K of the available monies and much work remains.

Likely going to have to sue him after all of this is over.

Contractors...

[rennigade]

Not a remodel since we do that type of work ourselves...but we did hire a plumber to do a rough install then all of the finishes.

When the one person came back for the finishes we received a bill that seemed really high. Almost as much as the rough in job...which was a LOT more work and a lot more hours.

We exchanged emails and we asked for a detailed bill. They billed us for 2 workers...when only 1 was on site. It was an additional $250 I believe. I have security cameras set up and could clearly see only 1 person was on site. I responded to the email letting the owner know that I had cameras and only 1 person was present...never heard back. We deducted the phantom 2nd employees amount from the bill and sent them the check. Case closed. Bummer too since they did nice work and they only charged $45/hr.

Also...just an fyi...just because someone is licensed and insured doesnt mean you'll get better service. Its not difficult to obtain those documents.

[Thrif-t]

Oh my gosh this exact (well not really exact) same thing happened to us!

We needed a new corner shower unit in our master bath. Wasn't really planning on doing a whole bathroom remodel at this time because of other needs, so we were just going to go to Lowes and pick a unit and get someone on the side to install it. My friend has a nephew that is an independent contractor for Lowes so we went with him. I did know a few people who he did work for and everyone was happy. This family of boys are all very handy and have worked on their own homes and relatives.

Long story short he talked us into a better unit from another place, that was ok, but he SUBCONTRACTED us OUT to someone else. ggrrrr I was not happy but the guy who showed up to do the work was actually friends of friends and lived next door to cousins of mine growing up. So even though I was mad, I was like ok,he's not bad, and he remodeled friends of ours house and it was beautiful.

Well he didn't know how to do this unit. The other guy (we hired) would have to come back and fix things, new pieces had to be ordered for parts that were done wrong, it was just a big mess! A job that should've taken a weekend took 2 months!

I paid my friends nephew in cash after the job was done thinking all was ok until my DH went to take a shower in it and things were wrong. It eventually got fixed but I'm nervous as heck that down the road things will start leaking.

Lesson learned! No more getting people on the side, they don't show up when they're supposed to, they don't communicate, and their all around customer service and professionalism is always lacking. Next time I'll spend the dang 1k more and have a professional do it right and save myself the aggravation

[msomnipotent]

I was just ranting about our bathroom remodel last week. We paid about $10,000 12-18 months ago for a guy that came highly recommended to redo our bathroom tile, refinish the hardwoods, and paint. He screwed everything up. The floors have to be replaced and all of the grout is falling out of the tiles. Some of the tiles are uneven very noticeably, and he forgot to put in the soap dish thingy in the shower. And now we have a water stain in our kitchen ceiling because I found out that the tiles in the shower are angled wrong. We are going to have to redo everything. He is the third person that came recommended and turned out to be a clown. I'm going to just learn to do this stuff myself.

[Gailete]

When I got divorced from my boys father, I moved into a row house/townhouse owned by a friend. He offered to paint the living and dining room. Great. He pulled everything away from the walls including the decorated Christmas tree. He did the first coat and said he would be back in a few days to finish. Finally I got tired of living with all my furniture huddled into the middle of the room for weeks, so I put it all back. He never said a word about it to me. Then he decided to remodel the kitchen. The stove got pulled into the dining room, the fridge went downstairs in the basement. My dishes and cooking things all over the place. It took almost six months or more while the whole time I was paying full rent, I lived in jumbled up mess. I had come out of a marriage where my opinions were not welcome, so I wasn't used to complaining about things. But I ended up buying a new double wide which was set up exactly how I wanted it.

I have had to live through many remodels at this point and would be happy to not live in a remodel ever again. The original tile floor hubby laid in the kitchen all loosened and the tiles broke and came up. Bathrooms were same tiles and grout with no problem. Hubbies current project is fixing the floor and making it wood to go with the living room floor. What a mess and he doesn't see it because of poor vision.

[cypher1]

I was just ranting about our bathroom remodel last week. We paid about $10,000 12-18 months ago for a guy that came highly recommended to redo our bathroom tile, refinish the hardwoods, and paint. He screwed everything up. The floors have to be replaced and all of the grout is falling out of the tiles. Some of the tiles are uneven very noticeably, and he forgot to put in the soap dish thingy in the shower. And now we have a water stain in our kitchen ceiling because I found out that the tiles in the shower are angled wrong. We are going to have to redo everything. He is the third person that came recommended and turned out to be a clown. I'm going to just learn to do this stuff myself.

I'm with you on just doing it all myself. I've done plumbing and tiling throughout my home, but figured I'd pay a professional for the main bathroom and and water proofing the shower. Boy, was I wrong. Everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong for labor. Not holding my breath, but the contractor is supposed to redo it this coming weekend.

[rob62521]

We've also been caught in the same trouble where we hired a friend to do something and then it didn't work out. Never again.

This isn't the same, but along the same thought...a few years ago when I was going to sell my mom's house, a friend wanted his son to buy it and he wanted to get in and clean it while the bank got the loan ready. He's our friend, no problem, right? Wrong! He decided to take all the interior doors off and order new ones, pulled down all the blinds, but didn't replace them, and wanted to take out the tub. I put my foot down on the tub and said the bathroom remodel could wait until it was official. Seems sonny boy wasn't honest and didn't tell me he had "forgotten" to pay a credit card payment a few times. And dad then realized he couldn't swing the loan for him, but dad wanted us to pay for the new doors and for all the work he had already done in the house. Work I didn't ask him to do. I paid him for the doors and a few other things, but I told him this was supposed to be his deal since he wanted to get in the house early and get it cleaned and painted. Sadly, we have little to do with them now.