I was going to post exactly what @chispa said, only to see that it had already been spelled out for you. This sounds like a case of being penny wise and pound foolish.

No, in general, removing and rehanging the hood isn't a huge deal. But there are so many different things that can and will go wrong on construction projects. Bringing in another party and side-stepping the builder is just not worth it, unless you are talking about life-altering amounts of differences in cost. And if that was the case, then maybe you were in over your head to begin with.

Realistically, what are we talking about here? A few hundred dollars? $1000 dollars? How much more expensive can they be?! If the difference is any more than that, maybe the "local tile pro" gave you an unrealistic bid.

It was about a $1500 difference without factoring in the costs to remove/reinstall the hood. With the costs of that it’s probably closer to within $1000. It’s really not much compared to the total cost of the build but $1000 here and there of inflated costs ends up adding up.

I’ll take the advice here and just have the builder do it. I agree it’s not worth the risks of damaging the new cabinets/counters and not having it be under warranty.

Thanks for the advice!

How big is this commercial hood? My wolf Pro Island hood (covers two cooking appliances) required a sheet rock lifter to hold it in place while the mounting screws were inserted into the interface extension. So, an after installation removal and replacement would risk not only the surfaces involved, but potentially could require equipment difficult to put into a kitchen after cabinets are installed.

I should add that I don't recall seeing commercial chimney hoods so I am curious what brand and model you are installing. Perhaps, if the blower is external and the cooking appliance narrow, your hood sheet metal is small enough for one or two persons to manipulate.

Why not just pay for the hood and its installation but forgo the installation of the portion of the hood that would have to be removed to install the backsplash behind it? (Suggestion: look at the installation instructions for the hood to determine the difficulty of the post-backsplash installation.)

I was mistaken when I said it’s a “commercial” hood. It’s just a nicer chimney hood.

I’m planning on doing tile all the way to the ceiling behind the backsplash, so I can’t just have them not install a portion of it.

It is possible that when Illya says "commercial hood", that's what he means. But quite often on this site, people say "commercial", when they mean "pro-style". In a residential setting, that would be more likely. Of course, a big stainless steel hood is still going to be heavy no matter what. But maybe not quite as bad as the monstrosities that you see in commercial kitchens. So, a sheetrock lift might not be necessary. A couple of strategically placed 2x4s wouldn't hurt, though.

I love the degree of containment that I see restaurants manage with their oversized hoods. But I don't really see most homeowners opt for that. Our 30" deep hood is probably already humongous by most standards. But it would be way too tiny for a restaurant.

M, that’s exactly right. Pro-style is the more correct term. It’s just a nicer hood, cranks up to 1000cfm with baffle filters. It doesn’t seem too different from an ordinary residential chimney hood.

This is still a dilemma for me because while I’d love to be under builder warranty and have the peace of mind that if anything is screwed up during install they would redo it, the affordable backsplash selections from my builder are quite bland and not what I’m looking for. If I go the custom route but still through my builder, it’s outrageously expensive and I don’t want to include a $100/sqft backsplash into my new mortgage.

Having a company lay the tile after the build is complete gives me full creative control but then I lose the warranty and ability to have stuff redone if it’s messed up.