Hi Mark,

Can we clarify some of your terminology before the sharks arrive? You mention handyman but state he has a crew. Is he a licensed insured contractor or is he someone in the neighborhood who has friends helping? 4k worth of work for 5 days doesn’t sound like handyman prices so I’m inclined to believe this is a contractor who (hopefully) came with good references. If that is the case, what does your written contract say regarding early termination?

He is a handyman. He’s not licensed/insured. He and one other guy do most of the work. I think he brought on a couple guys for the demo. He was referred to me by a client. So far they have done demo, rebuilt the shower floor which was rotted away, built shower cubbies, installed hardiebacker in the shower walls and floor of bathroom, moved some plumbing around a bit, installed rough in valves, installed 2 electrical outlets, installed a new exhaust fan, new drywall boards throughout bathroom and mudded them (although it doesn’t look great) and tiled the shower floor and tiled one 4’x5’ wall wainscot. There isn’t really a contract, just a bid estimate of the work. It isn’t itemized. One line is for demo and retiling ($6700). The other line is for installation of outlets, installation of vanity, vanity light. Medicine cabinet, new toilet, exhaust fan, new toilet drain ($1100)

Also, we had a contractor bid the same job, his quote was $20,000 just for labor. I’m in SoCal.

I’m in socal as well. The problem with handymen is they don’t do certain jobs enough to develop a mastery. Tile, drywall, paint are some of those trades off the top my head. Safety issues aside, the 20k estimate you are getting is the price for knowing tradesmen with sufficient skill. This also sounds like a relatively small job, so the 20k also includes a “sucker” fee for lack of a better term a contractor will add because the job is too small but for the right price they’ll do it.

My simple advice, with your situation, walk away and do more homework on skilled tradesmen who can finish the job. With a typical contract you are obligated to give the contractor a chance to “fix“ their mistake. It’s a BS clause but since you don’t have a written agreement you can ignore that. If you can’t find the skilled workers out there to do tile, 20k is your other option. Hope this helps.

Are you confident that the handyman used the correct materials for waterproofing and installed them correctly?

Mark-

The most critical tile job in the whole house is the bathroom, and there are many threads here about shower tile disasters from people who used professional tile setters who weren't up to the job and didn't use the proper waterproofing techniques, even though they may have done a really great-looking tile job. In your case, you have someone who can't even tile properly, so I'm going to bet that the methods and materials he used to build and waterproof the shower are inadequate.

It's terrible to have spent money on a crappy job, but I'm advising you to stop now and turn this over to someone who is capable. Otherwise you're headed for leaks, possible structural damage, and a tearout in the future. And it will cost more to fix it in the future than you have already sunk into it. Sorry to pile on, but that's the unfortunate truth.

Thanks for your reply. Yeah we just don’t have the confidence and feel we should cut our losses before he gets in too deep. I feel bad because they’ve been really great up until now, and I know they were probably looking forward to the money and to also see the job completed.

Kudzu I’ve been watching the progress and materials used. From my research on the internet it seems they are doing things correctly, but you are right I can’t be sure 100% about waterproofing. They’ve used hardiebacker with mold block in the shower and in the floors throughout the bathroom. He used red guard as well in the shower. I wasn’t able to see the shower pan, and when I went in there there was this dark grey powdery almost asphalt looking substance on the floor of the shower before he put the tile over it. So I don’t know. Bottom line I have to cut him loose today. My wife has a family friend that is a master tiler and has been doing tile for 40 years. We spoke with him at length last night and he agreed to finish the job for us the proper way. Not looking forward to the awkward conversation this morning and firing our current handyman 😩

Mark B:

No need to feel badly; you're doing this guy a huge favor by providing marketplace feedback. What he does with this information is up to him.

I don't know about your state, but in Virginia, contracting without a license is illegal.