There is a contract but he hasn't even finished putting together the rest of the bathroom and other projects in the house which he is already in breach of contract is he chooses not to come back and finish. We haven't fired him but basically I get the feeling he isn't going to come back and finish the job. my friend who is an attorney drafted up an email for us documenting every date we have asked him to fix this (since January) and that he needs to fix the problem and absorb the cost to fix it. He hasn't responded to that email either.

We have also documented every correspondence we have had with him including all the times we have asked him to fix the tile which was back in January - it is now March.

Glad to hear you have legal advise. You must be anxious to move on and get these jobs finished and your life back to normal. If your lawyer says it's ok I would do that. Start moving forward if you can afford to do so before this issue is resolved with this ass clown. Maybe down the road you can try to recoup some of the money you paid him.

We have withheld final payment and confronted the contractor telling him the work is unacceptable and he needs to have it all redone at his own expense. He agreed and said he would be back tomorrow to rip it out. We contacted him and he now is saying he can't come and we asked if he was coming this week and he said no. I have had a lawyer help us draft up an email in which we went over the discussion on Monday to have The work redone and he has to absorb all costs and no payments will be made until the work is redone. I have a feeling he will not come back.

Since he initially agreed, you've got him over a barrel.

TJ - yes we had payments for each milestone, 1/3 down, 1/3 when drywall went up and we paid him for other work that was done other than the bathroom. We haven't paid him any other amount. All of it has been documented.

Hi Everyone,

Good news and bad news. Bad news is that not only did the contractor do a bad tile job, we had second opinions come in and he didn't level the shower pan correctly, the bathroom vent fan was not vented properly (venting into attic) and he wasn't licensed to do the electrical work!

Good news is he is refunding us all the money we have paid him.

One question I have is, he wants to drop off the refund check and he states that he needs us to sign a release/receipt.... is that normal?

I've never been in that situation, so I don't know if it's normal. What I do know, is if you choose to sign a release, tell him you'll do it after his check has cleared the bank, or to bring a cashier's check.

hhmmmmm. I don't know about that. Sounds right as long as you know he hasn't cost you money. I.E. it is going to cost you more to have what he has done, redone than it should have cost to do the work had he NOT been involved at all. Glad you posted the outcome I was wondering how that all shook out.

and 2nd bruce Crawford. AFTER the check clears.

"One question I have is, he wants to drop off the refund check and he
states that he needs us to sign a release/receipt.... is that normal?"

You could be asking your "friend who is an attorney" this question. I advise you to do this.

I agree with everyone about the check. He's lied before. I wouldn't sign anything until I had the money back in my hands.

And this thread is exactly the reason why I would never leave my house while someone is doing work in it. The way most people are now, you've got to keep a watchful eye on the process to make sure they don't cut corners to save themselves money or time. At the very least, set up a camera.

If he is going to give you back your money take it happily and be done with it. Of course it will cost money to rectify the problems, but to expect a "bad" contractor to give you back all the money plus something more to undo or fix things is pretty much dreaming. I would count yourself very fortunate to get your $ back. I guarantee that not many folks will have an outcome like that. Obviously, unless he is giving you a certified check, waiting for the check to clear would be a good idea before absolving him of any further responsibility. Personally I would be running to the bank where the check was issued to get it certified (if it isn't already), or cashed if the bank is willing.

yes, wait for check to clear. even a cashiers check can be bad. tell him when the cash hits your account, you will sign the refund papers. or have him bring it to you in all cash and you'll sign immediately. Do not sign anything without completely reading AND making sure the money/check is good.

Have your contractor email you the release he wants you to sign, so you have ample time to review its contents. If he's going to refund you the money you paid him by check for his shoddy workmanship, meet him at his bank, have the checked cashed with him being present to be assured his checks good. I can't imagine what this release would state??

great idea. meet him at the bank. preferably his bank so you can get the cash or bank check. and yes you are probably lucky only to be out the extra money that you are going to have to pay to have this jokers work redone.

Looks like there's fault all around. Why would you ever switch grout colors from the niche to the wall?

Sadly it is very poor work. In regards to spacing this has caused the grout joints to vary , grout colour should also be closer to the colour of the tile , so when you look at it you see the tiles not a grid of grout. I am afraid you need to start again with someone else doing the installation as the layout is wrong changing the grout will improve but not solve the issues here. Sorry it is not better news. Hope it works out for you.

BEH, I hope this issue has been settled. I'm sorry you had to go through this. You mentioned that this person came recommended by multiple people. Be sure to provide a review on your own experience with him. If I were looking for someone to tile my bathroom, I would want to know about the experience you had with this contractor so that I could make an informed decision. What a disappointing experience for you.

If you have it redone, I would recommend not choosing mildew colored grout.

Kat H,,,,,any update or finished pics? Wondering what the final outcome was. thx.

Hi Beth - we went with a different contractor and it came out a million times better! See picture.

We got our money back from last contractor.

wow Kat! so much better. very happy things worked well in your favor! beautiful shower. Now you can understand why we were so horrified by the other tile work!

Is that a Brizo shower head? I have the square one.

S-o-o-o much better! Years from now you'll be so happy you didn't let this slide and went through the emotional discomfort and financial expense of having this made right. Enjoy!

Thank you! We are so happy we didn't settle. It turned out so much better and how it should have been in the first place.

@beth yes brizio!

Kat,,,you have great taste in shower hardware ! lol Love my Brizo!

Hi Bruce. Would you believe Target? They look like lucite. So much nicer to put the shampoo and conditioner in nice dispensers!

Yes we went with lighter grout this time -

KlukConstruction,,,did you not read the comments? OP did have everything redone. She posted new pics a few spots up from the comment you made.

So I am so confused about caulk vs grout. I have read that grout should be done where the planes change, ie corners. Now I am reading only caulk where the plans change? Our shower just complete was done well except the corners and niche. He used dark grout, then matching gloss caulk over that. Line is very thick. Trying to firgure out how to fix that.

@Kat H,

Hi, we’re going through the very same situation right now and I’d love to be able to talk to you about your experience! It seems that you currently have the messaging feature blocked. Would you mind contacting me directly, pls.

Hi Kat, it's about a year later but I just saw your thread. We just had our bathroom done and the results are just as bad -- maybe worse! I saw that you said you got your money back from the last contractor and I'm wondering how? We already paid our contractor. He agreed to reduce his fee by a mere $500. to redo the floor but that's no enough. We've had two other contractors look at it for repairs and both said they'd have to redo the bathroom. We paid this guy 6K for his work, which all has to be ripped out, and also lost our materials. Did you have to bring him to court? If you're still reading this post, I'd appreciate your help. Thanks.

Hi Kat and Char and Wendy, I am reading your posts and getting sick as we are in middle of a bathroom remodel and are having similar horrors. Our contractor started our bathroom with very make sift plumbing that was actually dangerous to our health. We had to have it ripped out and redone. he also vented the fan wrong which still have correct. Becuase we have already paid him close to half down we let him come back to do the tiling which he is about to do. The shower is pan complete, but we have no idea if its correct. I live in the Chicago suburbs, if any of you also live in the area, and your contractor has the first name of Peter, please let me know. If he is the same person will stop the work and just cut our losses, before we lose even more with terrible tile job.

Hi - I live in the DC Metro area in Virginia. I will share that we ended up hiring an attorney to draft a contract and letter that demanded our money back or else... i also had enough evidence against our contractor that showed he was not properly licensed and using his license to perform work outside of what he was licensed to do. We ended up getting all our money back and hiring another contractor who was exceptional but a bit pricier.

I also documented everything including pictures of the shoddy work and shared it on our list serve to warn other people in our area of him.

cropitsk,,,,start your own thread w/pictures and we can advise you. take pictures every chance you get as it progresses.