here are a few more

That looks like grout in the corners...It really shouldn't be.

He needs to pay someone who knows what he is doing. To me it looks like he got a general laborer to do the tile work.

Edit for clarity: tiles should be caulked with a color matching caulk at all plane changes. When done correctly it will look very similar and it could have been done here, but something makes me doubt it. Your grout in the corners will Crack over a very short time period and fall out.

I did subway tile surround when I redid my bathroom in my house and it was my first ever tiling experience. I wasn't anywhere close to perfect, but I would take what I did in a heartbeat over what you got. I would be extremely upset and make it be redone if I had actually paid for the tiling job you got.

Horrible craftsmanship. I would not accept this.

Talk to the GC. If he is as great as you say he is, he will agree with you. You might be surprised and probably will feel bad that you did not ask before.

Ask him to do at least the demo, before you move.

I did my own tile and it looks better than this. Have him fix it. That looks awful!

I work for a flooring/tile store and I agree this job looks bad. I will also say that since you picked a contrasting grout color, the imperfections will be more noticeable even on a good job. But is shouldn't look like this :(

Do you know what grout was used?

Post in the bathroom forum. You can also look at previous examples of what tile installations problems look like. I wonder what type of waterproofing was applied. The tile cuts, the amount of grout used in the arabesque tiles and change in plane of the tiles are just unacceptable and looks like an amateur did the work.

Good luck!

Yes I'd be worried about what he did behind the tiles if this is the tile job he did.

This would not be acceptable in my custom build. Sorry you have to deal with this, but I would have him fix it.

Thank you everyone for the comments and validation. I am so emotionally invested in this house and wanted to make sure I wasn't out of line or being a crazy person, haha. It honestly looks worse in real life than the pictures show. CsSlaughter27, this was Mapei warm gray unsanded grout. I know a contrasting grout color will show more mistakes but white grout would have its downfall too because we live on a farm. I am fairly certain NO caulk was used anywhere because I supplied all of the tile and grout. Everything but thinset. I don't know what he used behind the tiles but a lot of the tiles pop out funky. So I'm educated, what is the proper thing to do behind the tiles?

Naf_Naf, i will talk to them tomorrow about moving in and having one bathroom redone at a time. Thank you for the suggestion of having demo done before we move in.

I could feel reluctance from the GC to admit it needed to be torn down and I'm assuming that's because it comes off of his $$. I asked him today if this work would be ok if it was done like this in his own house. He was like, well sure. Then acted a little surprised when I pointed everything out to him like he hadn't noticed it before. The tile guy says he'll fix it, I'm not sure I want him to until we talk tomorrow morning. I'm thinking he may say it was his helper that did the shoddy work since I saw that he left him there alone all the time but we'll see.

Homepro01, I cross posted this in the bathroom forum but put it here too since there's so much more traffic. If y'all have time to check them out, I posted a few more pics on that thread that I'm too tired/lazy to repost and type again right now.

I will post just these, is the chair rail UPSIDE DOWN?? And should the chair rail go to the end of the bullnose or is this method normal? Questioning everything now which pisses me off! It's not my job to know how to install tile professionally!

Unfortunately, there is just nothing about this that looks like it was done right. The joints should definitely line up in the corners and all grout lines should be the same width, not some skinny and some thick. Did the tile installer use spacers? Are there supposed to be two different sizes of tile? Whoever installed this didn't take the time to lay it out right and maybe having the smaller tiles above threw him/her off and that's why you have that thin strip at the top. A good tile layer will avoid little thin strips at the top and bottom or around a niche. I think you're right and the "chair rail" would probably look better turned up the other way. The only reason to stop the chair rail at the bullnose is to leave space for a shower door because it's too difficult to notch glass to fit over a thick, curvy tile. Also, that big hunk of grout in the accent tile looks like he/she chipped it when they were cutting it and they just filled it up with grout instead of cutting another piece.

I'm so sorry this happened to you and your GC needs to make this right. Best of luck to you in getting this resolved.

Yes the chair rail is upside down.

Thank you suru and cpartist...

I assumed he used spacers because they were laying all over the place but it sure doesn't look like it. There will not be a shower door, so should the chair rail go to the edge of the bullnose or stop at the bullnose? I did choose two different sizes of tile, the method to my madness was that I like the subway tiles but this will be the shower I can see getting the most dirty and I figured if I had larger tile at the bottom then it would be less grout lines to clean. Maybe from a design/layout standpoint I should've just stuck to all subway tiles.

I just checked my tile invoice from last month, not sure if this is average pricing or not but he charged me $600 each for the two tub surrounds, $1100 for the master shower, and $436 for "shower materials" which I'm hoping was the appropriate stuff to go behind the tiles since I bought all the tiles and grout.

$436 for the "waterproofing system" for 3 showers? Should be more than that for certain. How much I am not sure and it would depend on the system but the cement board alone with be dam near that.

I have no idea what the $436 for shower materials was for. The backer board was already on there before he even got hired.

You got about the level you paid for. That is about a third of the cost of an actual real professional tile mechanic, with the more time consuming proper waterproofing being done. The tile could be problematic too, if purchased through a seconds or discounter. The walls behind the tile have to be straight, courtesy of the framer. A LOT goes into a perfect tile job, and the GC has to know every step and very material was done correctly. The contrasting grout never helps when the tile and the walls are poor either.

But, why is the bill coming to you? And why are you buying materials? It should all be going to the GC. The GC should be the one who has economic leverage over the guy. In a fixed cost situation, you would never see it. In a cost plus, you would see it, the GC would add his %, etc. But if you saw that low bid on the front end, it should have rang warning bells.

Sophie Wheeler,

At the end of the month the GC gives me the receipts and an invoice for the draw, that's where I saw the cost breakdown. It's cost plus, I found the materials so I bought them and brought them to the site. I did the same with my light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, appliances, and granite. He arranged for the plumber and electrician to install what I bought and charged his % on those amounts. I never saw a bid from the tile guy on the front end. I live in a rural part of East TN which may be a factor in pricing as well. Probably not a good idea for me to ask about $ amounts since they vary so much by region.

Did your GC hire a tile guy?

To me this looks like he had a laborer do the job. I see a lack of knowledge rather than a lack of care in this installation. There are several things that a professional installer would have known and even with the brother-in-law discount would have done better. It is not a good tile installation but it is a horrible grout job.

If I was in your position I would have them fix the chair rail, remove the grout, install a matching grout and refund the installation charges. A little elbow grease and an attention to detail when grouting will hide a lot of the problems. It never hurts to try for a complete reinstall but I suspect you are going to have to pony up a couple of thousand more for an experienced tile professional rather than the $2,300 you paid.

Thanks, bry911. The GC did hire a tile guy but it was not his normal tile guy who apparently went up in price. But as I think I mentioned in my cross posted thread, he had his helper at the house ALOT unsupervised. The GC has been trying really hard to keep us within a certain budget but you're right, we're gonna have to put out more $$ for a better job. The mandatory meeting this morning didn't go too well, the tile guy said he can "fix" the issues we pointed out without a re-do but honestly he didn't seem to see what we saw, or didn't want to admit it. He was very surprised when I said the chair rail was upside down. He said that people put the larger part on the bottom section so water can drip off easier. I pointed out that the chair rail is above the shower head so why would water ever be rolling off of it? I emailed the GC after the meeting that I was not confident this could be "fixed" and I referenced the feedback I've gotten here. Thanks so much everyone for giving me the confidence to speak up on a trade I admittedly know nothing about.

Yes, the chair rail is noticeably upside down. And the tile work is horrid. Someone needs to fix it.

For people reading this thread who have never built or remodelled ...

I am always amazed that people leave it to the GC or tile installer to lay out the tile design ... and then complain when the design looks like a 5 year old put it together. The layout and symmetry of a tile job can be so taste specific, that it makes no sense when you let someone else make the choices.

I had scale drawings made for my tile layouts and went over the details with my tile installer. When there were issues, my tile installer called me in and we discussed the different layout options and how they would look, most times we agreed on the best way to proceed, but I made the final decision on which look I wanted. My bathroom , my money and my design choices!

But I paid top dollar for a tile installer (and GC) that take pride in their work. I was also willing to pay more money, above the original quote, when the project turned out to be more complicated.

Chispa, that's great advice for lurkers and probably would've been a good idea here. It never occurred to me to need to do that. I figured I picked the tiles out, said what I wanted where and left it to a professional to lay them professionally. I have no idea about tiling as a trade (obviously) but I did think this work was pretty straightforward and simple. Tiles in a running bond pattern. Arabesque tiles in the master that join to themselves in corners. It seems like common sense that a professional would have evenly spaced grout lines, straight cuts, and corners that don't get progressively smaller the higher up they go.

Chispa, I just talked to the GC about that very subject. He said that usually that's what happens, either with architectural drawings or a layout on the floor. He said he thought that was happening between the tile guy and me. So yes, for those of you reading...look at pictures not only of the style and color you like but the way they're installed and be specific, not assuming they'll do it a certain way.

At this point, unless I had proof that proper waterproofing was behind the tiles, I would want a do over with a different tiler. If They could prove that it was properly waterproofed, I would consider the issues cosmetically horrible, but not likely to create mold behind the walls. A complete refund of the labor as the discount to keep it could keep the build on track, and would be cheaper on everyone concerned over a do over. But only if it is properly waterproofed.

Thanks live_wire_oak. I will check on the waterproofing. Update for everyone that was nice enough to take the time to comment...the GC had his normal tile guy come look at the workmanship (his schedule was funky that's why my GC didn't use him this time. Lesson learned. Also the current tile guy laid all our wood floors so it seemed to make sense to use him for both jobs). This guy agreed with everyone's points. The GC called the current tile guy and basically gave him the option to tear it out or walk away. He chose the latter and said he'd give back the money we paid for the labor. The GC said he was "hurt" and said he's never not finished a job before. So we start over.

skw27, sorry you are dealing with this, but it is a good lesson for those still at the research phase.

You really can't assume anything or start to guess what is going on inside someone's head, even with the simplest of tile designs. A good example was your Arabesque ... who would ever lay it going the other way ... your tile guy did!

We also all have different tolerances for symmetry and patterns. I hate small tile slivers in corners, so I would tell my tile guy upfront and figure a way to make the pattern work without them.

Do not assume your tile guy can look into your mind and see your vision for how the bathroom is supposed to look, however simple you might think it is! Provide diagrams, notes, sketches, photos, etc. and check in on the job site daily, to catch any issues as quickly as possible.