He should make it right.

I would live with it

Any in process photos?

I would let it go. Tearing the entire thing out and rebuilding just doesn’t seem worthwhile for an off inch.

"Does anyone know how much extra work this would cause?"

Pretty much gutting the whole magilla.

On 2nd thought I agree with the others to let it go. It doesn't shout out at you. Your eye goes to your decorative tile first. It would be a total do over. I would ask for a break on the cost though. It is a bit of a disappointment when it's not just so.

Hard to tell by the angle but it looks like you probably took the photo from standing in the tub? If so, what are the chances of anyone really noticing that it is a bit off-center. Nothing ever goes completely smoothly in remodeling and every step completed tends to shout out its problem until everything is completed. I doubt that the contractor is going to eat a re-do and any fix you may end up with more issues than what you have now. And do you want to go through all this again? My guess is that you are tired of it all and just want to move forward?

Just live with it. You have bigger problems with the big window in the shower. When you hang a shower curtain to cover the window, then the niche will be centered.

I would not make them redo it, given the amount of time and effort that it would take. It isn’t noticeable on first glance and I think you’ll notice it less and less as time goes on.

When we redid our bathroom years ago, I wanted the niche centered, but because of a stud and a pipe of some kind (don't remember now), it had to be placed further to the left. However, it was not a matter of an inch or two, it was more like 8-10 inches, so it looks deliberate, like it was meant to be on the left side of the wall. I don't think yours will look off when seen from the main part of the bathroom, and the damage to the underlying waterproofing would make me very hesitant to do anything but enjoy your new bathroom.

Did the contractor have drawings to work from, or was he just winging it? If the latter, this is what happens when the directions are not clear. And it's also a cautionary tale as to why paying for a designer in addition to a contractor is worth it. A designer would have indeed centered that niche on the drawings, with clear dimensions shown for him to follow.

I don’t think it will be noticeable once everything else is in place. You can center your amber colored shampoo bottles (or whatever pretty container/items you plan to place in there) to the wall and the eye will go there.

Wouldn’t bother me a bit. Unless you have stunning shampoo bottles, I don’t feel that shower niches are great focal points anyway. Also wondering how the window and frame are protected from water. Good luck with your project.

The error stated with the framing. How long ago was that? That would be your time setback. Let it go. The tiles are beautiful and he's done a good job laying them. I'd focus on that.

I would not tear it out. No one will ever notice, or care, that it isn't perfectly centered.

I recently finished a gut remodel and along the way there were some glitches - goes with the course.

For me, this falls into the let it go category. As others have pointed out it is a HUGE undertaking to fix it because essentially the whole shower has to be redone - consider the cost of labor plus materials.

It is the kind of glitch that you will not notice when the job is done and you have moved in and the niche is filled with bottles. This is true of a lot of minor glitches like this which are inevitable. As others have posted, even in the pristine state, it looks fine.

You need to be reasonable in terms of picking battles. For example, my thermostat needed to be moved and I requested that it be in a certain place. They put it on a living room wall. I had them move it to where I wanted. If they didn't move it, I would have a real issue in terms of decorating around the thermostat - and the fix was not that major. The moved it and had to repair dry wall.

However, I had wanted my shower drains to be the kind that are tiled - this was in the plans but somehow who ever built the shower didn't built it that way so I needed to use a more standard drain cover. This was analogous to your situation - to fix the problem would have required them to rebuild the shower completely to fix what is a relatively minor aesthetic issue. So I accepted reality and ordered a beautiful designer drain from Designer Drains and went on with my life. Sometimes when I am sitting on the bench in my beautiful well constructed waterproof shower, I look at the drain and remember but it would have made no sense for me to be that unreasonable - if the GC even would do it because there is a rule of reason in contract law so a GC might not be required to spend $6000 or more to fix this minor issue.

I don't know what stage of construction/remodel you are at but my experience is that good will with your GC, designer and other tradespeople is more helpful than being difficult over every little issue. It's give and take during the process and if you are reasonable on some things you will get it back in the end - especially when you have reached the very last and you need them to get their crew back for your punch up list.

What are you planning to do for the frame around the window? If it projects a bit, I think the niche will look more centered when you stand in the shower and when you are standing outside, the angle you will see the niche should not really be that bothering.

"You have bigger problems with the big window in the shower"

Exactly.

Ask the contractor how he plans to waterproof that window.

As others have pointed out:

A remodel is somewhat of a problem child, there are windows where we don't want them, structural members in the way, etc. These issues must be taken into account when the design work is being done. You can't always "cut and paste" a design idea on an existing room.

In addition, you need drawings - not general descriptions, not Pinterest photos. The drawings have to be accurate. Tile requires a layout drawing - to avoid all kinds of alignment issues.

You would have to rip out the entire tub enclosure to fix that - and I'm going to guess there were no drawings.

Tile pro's have often done this kind of thing before and can spot the problem ahead of time even without a drawing.

I would be happy with the placement!! There are full tiles on either side and 1/2 tiles above and below. That makes it look very clean and on purpose! Even if it was easy to move, which it is not, the tiles will not look as nice. I hope you can let it go but I understand about expectations.

I understand how items like this can seem a major issue, however chances that others will notice are small. Love the combination of the tiles. That's what others will notice. Best to let it go and keep the integrity of the tile and underlayment.

I agree with it looks good where it is. The tiles around it look well placed.

It's fine. Move on, please.

once you put all the other stuff in the shower it'll become less noticeable. ask for a small discount and move on.

that window detail tho. Oh My !

why isn't window waterproofing done prior to tiling?? and how exactly is that to be finished and edged w/the tile already in place?

show more pics.

ask about the window (cuz I don't see how that's waterproofed)

who tiled this? not the contractor. so what was the tiler thinking?

no one noticed it was off-center PRIOR to the tile going up? how could you not? it's a big hole in the cement board. the contractor had to see it.

the tile guy prob placed the niche between the studs and didn't want cut or move them to center it

.As for tiling the niche, it needs to be planned out ahead of time so that you don't have all those tiny cut tiles. if placed correctly, you should have no cuts on the top or bottom, and only half cuts on the sides.

This is done with calculating the tile measurements, the size of the niche, and a dry layout.

it's simple math. tell them to utilize it.

this one is mine. I wanted it off-center. many are. there just wasn't a better spot for it w/o rerouting all of the plumbing lines. Yours isn't an issue w/it being on the back wall.

I'd let it go (the niche anyway) and just ask for a bit of a discount. It's acceptable. That window is VERY worrisome, though. I see no evidence of any attempt to waterproof.

When I do niches I'm picky about them being dead-centered on the wall, and sized - when possible - to match the surrounding tile, to minimize tile cuts (as Beth H. points out above) , as shown here:

Bathroom with Patterned Tile · More Info

Bathroom with Patterned Tile · More Info

The shower niche may be a bit off-center, but it’s purpose is simply to hold shampoo, soap or other bath needs. As long as the water spray doesn’t go directly at it, it doesn’t really matter where it is if the tile job was properly done.

Oh sweet Jesus, forget the niche. Focus on the window.