Don't even know what we are looking at from the pictures. Please step back and take photos with description of area. Is that last pic the shower floor transition to wall? Clearly you did not hire professionals. What was the scope of work for 70k? Anything in writing at all?

Not a professional, but I've done several bathroom remodels DIY including tile showers and tile floors. Those cuts look pretty ragged to me and I would be really upset as well. It would have been better for the contractor to cut a few tiles and tell you there was a problem with the tile (if there was) so you could buy new tile vs buying new tile and a new install. I'm sorry I don't have any specific advice. But I am sorry you're going through this and I don't think you're being unreasonable for frustration over the workmanship.

Two more pictures, I backed up a bit. It’s the cuts around the niche and along the door frames that are the worst. All at eye level. They seemed to be professionals, they have five star reviews on houzz and friends have used them as well with good results. It’s like this job was abnormally awful for them and they won’t fix it. We do have a contract, I should look to see what it says about disputes.

By all means dispute the credit card charges. The bank stacks the deck in consumers' favor. I just had Chase give a customer a free sink.

I have been through a very similar experience! You aren't crazy, that work is unacceptable! (At least you haven't paid them ALL your money.) When this happened to me, the only resolution I was able to achieve was not paying for their work. I still had to pay another contractor to rip it out and redo it and I had to pay for new tile. It wasn't at all fair to me but a lawyer pointed out that I would spend more in legal fees if I sued them so it is the choice I made. Good luck.

Oh, and the next REAL tile guy worked with the exact same tile with NO chipping!

Unacceptable.

If this is what they did with the areas you can see, what waterproofing did they do? I hope you took pictures of their waterproofing too.

The tile cutting is unacceptable. The crooked seams are unacceptable. These guys have had issues with surfaces and tiles (remember the WRONG 50:50 offset....that was the red flag). They do NOT employ a tile setter. They use 'guys' who swing hammers.

Did they use caulking at the 'change of plain'? Did they grout the bathroom floor/wall connection? Why is the caulking already having issues in the corner??

Go ahead and look at your contract. If you need to you can have the work inspected by a Certified Tiling Expert.

Contact the Credit card company and tell them the issue. See if you can put a hold on the latest payment.

And yes, do you have photos of the 'in progress' water proofing? If they cheaped out on a tile setter, they will most likely have cheaped out on the water proofing.

This was the shower as they began tiling. Does it look ok? Ugh. I hope it looks right, I don’t want to have to worry about water later on.

I have no idea why you paid for more than 1/2 of the job to start with. Where is the designer in this mess Dispute the credit card payment hopefully good luck there . Honestly I have done 100s of bathrooms renos for less that 70K and a lot nicer work done too. I guess you can only hope the waterproofing is done right. I have used cheap HD tile and not had an issue with cutting so that is BS.

It does look like they used proper waterproofing.

But there is no excuse for the tile cutting job they did. Nor the other mistakes and if they have to do the tiling over, it means rewaterproofing the shower because you can't remove tile without compromising the waterproofing.

Sadly reviews don't hold much truth. Bad reviews are often hidden or removed and good reviews are paid for. Some contracts today include a non-disparagement clauses that say you cannot post a negative review. (Courts have generally ruled the clause unenforceable, but it still stops people from writing bad reviews).

I would check with an attorney to find out what actions are appropriate. You can probably have some of the charges on your credit card reversed, but the build/design firm may place a lien on your home and you will still end up paying or disputing the charges in court. Sometimes the legal fees can be greater than the original charges. Again, your contract should spell out what steps can be taken to resolve disputes. The contract is most likely going to favor the build/design firm as it was written for them to protect them.

I have had better luck asking for cooperation to make things right and if/when that fails, becoming a royal pita, vowing to spend every waking moment ruining their reputation via the internet, social networking, public meetings, through my church, through every supplier and distributor that does business with them. Good business owners know the power of a single bad review and don't want to battle a tirade.

Those are big tiles in the shower, are they 24x48 ... I would bet they didn't have the right equipment to support that size and make clean cuts.

Oh, next time don't hire a design build firm. I bought my own tiles and fixtures and hired a well recommended contractor to execute the project. I like to separate materials from labor. I did use a designer to draw out my ideas with scale/detailed plans and drawings that were used for biding the job.

I can’t thank you all enough for your responses. The owner talked to my husband yesterday and said that he will fix the bad tile cuts around the niche by cutting out the current tiles in the inside niche border and framing it with quartz instead that will wrap around the front and hide the bad cuts. I don’t love the idea but he refuses to retile the shower, and I see no recourse or leverage for us.
I’m wondering, if he cuts tile out of the niche, will the shower still be waterproof? Can he just cut some shower tiles out and replace them instead of gutting the whole shower? Thanks again.

Tile remove may compromise the waterproofing and possibly it will not. Properly installed tile quite possibly, hackery with the improper amount of mud stand a better chance.

#1 70K for a bath/closet is INSANE.

#2 Were your workers bonded/insured/licensed?

Arcy_GW you can not possibly comment on the budget being insane when you don’t know the scope and size and amount of custom work.