I really feel for you. What a dreadful tradesperson. I would actually demand they remove it or public ally shame them by name. That is not acceptable to do works without approval.
Those tiles look expensive, quite beautiful, although I'm not sure what the niche is needed for in a powder room?
Regardless, I think you probably do need a custom unit to extend at least to your niche, keep it slimline, OR I could imagine actually taking the top of your vanity off and placing on top a 40mm piece of stone only as deep as the original top, then install the original top back on top of this slab, so it has a stone slab that extends to be the shelf, while the clean, white top remains in place. It would only require the stone and a waste hole cut in the same place as the original top, which is easily transferable.
The stone could be a soft grey to tie in with your marble, or if you can afford, maybe a marble bench. You could contrast or even include a timber, whichever you choose, it will work without needing to go to extremes, and have a place for a small glass vase or bottle with a flower, a scented candle or somewhere for a soap dispenser.
Good luck.

Thank you so much mldesign0401 (I was hoping you'd respond!) I love the idea of the shelf but the problem is all the pipes are drilled through the tiles AND to make matters worse he's drilled through the hinges onto the side wall tiles too! I am beyond mad. I'd like to publicly shame him but I know he just had a baby so I would feel too bad. I think I will have to go with a custom unit and then I can put in a nice basin. The niche is ridiculous,, but hopefully once the new vanity is in then a candle and some sort of objet will make some sense of it.....If you get a chance to respond again, what colour do you think the paint should be - deep grey? Will that be too heavy or detract from all the problems below. And what colour should the vanity be? Thanks so much for your help. Really appreciate it.

Agree with mldesign on the custom unit.
Honestly what was the guy thinking. The door is now hanging out of alignment because he's attached it to the side wall. Maybe he was worried it wasn't secure enough attached just on the back wall.
Hopefully there isn't too many holes in the side wall and he can carefully patch them if necessary. And maybe you can place the new vanity back to where you want, if the patching is just a few small filled holes.

A stone top with a basin on top could look lovely. And you could get a shallow cupboard ( in timber?) made to fit the holes in the wall.
On the upside, that could hold the loo paper? :)

Yours welcome Melbourne_mum, although my suggestion included keeping this unit, just modifying it to work for you. By taking the top off, leave the cabinet below, install a shelf and then put back the top, it will appear as though a stone (marble) shelf extends beyond your cabinet, It would look quite lovely.
I suggest this as I am reluctant to see a enclosed cabinet that close to your toilet suite, it may feel intrusive.

As for your paint, I would try a taupe grey, so it's subtle in comparison to your veining on the marble tile. I don't mind the white next to your tile, it is clean and complimentary as a fixture as per your toilet.

Thanks Jen, yes, exactly, it's out of alignment! I will have to detach the unit with a sharp knife first to get through the caulking and then I'll take off the unit and see what the holes are like. Thanks.
Fiona, you're right of course! I've since let him go and haven't paid his last bill of $400 but that won't cover the cost of the current vanity and getting a replacement built. You live and learn, thankfully we've got a new builder starting in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately I was so shocked that I didn't know how to get him to fix it since he'd gone ahead and drilled holes in the wall everywhere to install it - and the ugly piping! I really think it's best he's gone as I don't trust him to do anything further at all. From now on I will be ruthlessly vigilant!

I see what you mean now mldesign0401 - what a great idea! I can definitely do that - I will get a piece of marble or stone cut to go in-between the unit and extend it to the niche (or to the end of the niche but that may be too intrusive). If the shelf is 40mm and the basin is 40mm then it will all be 40mm higher? Which is fine. I think that will be quite impressive! Thank you so much!

@melbourne_mum,
This builder must have bought his tradies ticket from the same flea market that a plumber we had years ago bought his!!!
We had a large farm shed put up by a good builder who subied out to a plumber to hang the spouting that leaked at every join. I said back then, that the plumber had to have bought his ticket and could not have done any practical work under the employ of a reputable teacher!!
You should force this builder to fix the problem and he MUST wear the cost of new tiles wherever necessary and put your vanity exactly where you wanted it.
It's quite doeable and it looks like you would have to replace two tiles on the hinge wall and perhaps at most three tiles behind the vanity, so perhaps 5 tiles and it could all be back the way you imagined it would be.
He had no business doing things in your absence and if you just shutup and wear it, he will continue to do such shabby work in other peoples home reno's and I'm sure you wouldn't want other people to go through what you're having to go through right now but you might be able to stop that, if you make him own up to doing things wrong.
Midesign0401 has offered you a perfect solution BUT, you shoudn't have to make things do, as you will always be dissapointed that it's not what you wanted and you will look at it every single day!!!
I wish you the best of luck whatever you decide to do.

I feel for you. That work completely lets down the whole room. If it were me Id replace the sink with a sexy wall basin from Duravit www.duravit.com.au, or Kohler, or Rogerseller. You can get one there that extends to under your recesss in the wall. It looks like you have the room to have a wall hung vanity unity to hide those awful pipes if you cant change to exposed bottle trap pipes. Good Luck with it and I hope you find a soloution with your trades too.

Yes, you're quite right Barbara. It was such a shock as he worked on our previous house and he did a really great job there but it was like a completely different person. I reckon he just left his apprentice to do the work. It's hard because I don't want to go to VCAT so I thought it best to just ask him to go before he did any more damage. I have withheld his final payment (not enough to fix the damage but enough to make him think twice in the future), and he hasn't said anything so I'm just trying to move on. I will never put myself in this position again. I will most definitely be on site no matter Who is doing the job to oversee.

Thanks carlylk, Unfortunately I can't change to the decorative p-trap which is what I originally wanted. Sigh... The marble tiles are 3 months on order, so not an easy fix. I have just had a look at the Duravit site, thanks. The problem is that there isn't one long enough but narrow enough to suit the space. I love the Phillipe Stark round unit - once I take the unit off I'll see whether that would suit, but the other way (from mldesign0401) will still be a great solution - a bit like the shelf unit in the other pic but with the cabinet below.

I agree with everyone here, but as there is a solution available, it's best to live, learn and let go. Often having a trade back to rectify their mistakes can create more, at the Least an uncomfortable experience. You're right to withhold his final payment, and if he contacts you you are within your rights to address that, if he doesn't he is already aware of the issues he's caused. In this case that cabinet would never have been opened very often as it would not be useful, it is simply there to conceal plumbing, if your lucky you can use it for your can of glen 20 and soap refils, but he size of the cabinet would neer be a practical storage element regardless. So try not to stress over its un useabilty, rather it will do as was intended. Not that I'm defending him at all, but part of the issue in not being able to open that cabinet is because of the install, but mostly it's because there is no filler between the cabinet and wall. A filler is a bead of timber usually 20-30mm wide that offsets the cabinet from the wall so the doors can open correctly. When you purchase pre made units you do not get fillers! Cabinetmakers provide them, they are used on EVERY job between walls and cabinets. Applied ends or panels are used at the open ends of cabinets, which dress the sides. Pre made units also do not have these, there sides are finished for you, which is why you often see screw caps etc.
Melbourne mum your tiles are the hero here, and once you complete it, this will look more stylish had you not needed to do it. I'm not saying this hasn't been horrible, it has been a typical trade disater, can we all not say we've been there?
This could have been on my Halloween post.
I'm certain that when your finished, people can be left to ponder more important things in that loo.

mldesign,0401 you are hilarious! Thank you, I am already looking at marble/stonemasons to go and find a nice piece of stone for the shelf and I think it will end up looking unique and unusual, so thank you for all your suggestions. I had already spent a couple of weeks looking for another unit to fit but nothing was the right size and I love your suggestion so I'm on the job today. Just heading down now to measure the top and width to the recess. Feel free to add it to your Halloween post next year!

Why don't you take a look at our range of bathroom designs?
We have a wide variety of vanities that could fit your needs and your space!
Hope we've helped!

I would contact him to correct the situation, at his expense. do it in writing as well as verbal. give him an appropriate amount of time to remedy the situation. if he does not follow through, advise him in writing that you will be dcontacting dept of consumer affairs, and the housing industry association. and if he still doesn't respond...report him. It may not get your bathroom fixed, but it might stop him ruining someones elses dream. some tradies really suck...we are just embarking on an "owner build" addition and renovation, and our plumber has already screwed us, just with the underground plumbing.

@Connie & melbourne_mum,
I do feel so much for both of you and I too echo your sentiments Connie.
If it were me, I would get this forum dilemma fixed, as I mentioned in my earlier post but as Midesign0401 has already mentioned, a solution is available to put all the problems behind melbourne_mum and that's good really.
As for your plumber, Connie, it's not a great start with so much more to do before you get your reno completed, what with the builder, plasterer, painter etc... etc....
I would suggest to ask around the neighbourhood or even further afield, local supermarket or post office and see if others have had recent reno's and if they're happy with their respective tradies, then you could book them following a good report giving you a much better chance to be satisfied and more especially not screwed again!!!
Best of luck to both you ladies.
Cheers, Barbara

Hi Connie, thanks for that. Yes some tradies really do suck and for smaller jobs I like Serviceseeking.com.au and hipages.com.au as those tradies generally want work and know that you can leave a review for them so a bit of added incentive to get it right. I haven't even listed the extent of the things this other 'builder' did wrong. I feel like too much of an idiot. I have take mldesign's advice to move on as I just feel too angry when I think about what has happened. Live and learn. Just about to sign with a new builder for the extension now and everything is in the right place and listed, documented, priced etc. I'm hoping this next section is more trouble free. Good luck with your extension Connie, it's not easy but it's worth it.

Can I ssk - wasn't there some kind of written plan?

oops, I meant "ask"

@melbourne_mum,
Wondered how did you finally finish off your bathroom dilemma after 4 months??
Cheers,
Barbara

Camberwell Bathrooms has a fantastic showroom. Would go chat with Rod and see what he can offer.

Camberwell Bathrooms has a fantastic showroom. Would go chat with Rod and see what he can offer.