Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
simon_han81

contractors installed an alcove shower pan in corner

Simon Han
2 years ago

Hey Folks,

We’re just finishing up with our bathroom reno when we realized that the contractors bought an alcove shower pan for a corner install, making that only 1/4 sides are finished. They covered up the extra exposed side with a piece of trim which looks fine from that angle, but if we look from the other side, the thing looks really unrefined and sticks out. Getting a new shower pan at this point is not an option since they will have to rip everything out. Anyone have any suggestions?

Comments (26)

  • Lisette Mauch
    2 years ago

    Your contractor bought that? Then yes, its absolutely on them to replace…even though it means starting over.

  • acm
    2 years ago

    One trembles to consider what lies unseen beneath such carelessness!

  • G
    2 years ago

    It is one thing to order or buy the wrong piece….. but to not see it is wrong and install it🤷🏻‍♀️

  • flopsycat1
    2 years ago

    That‘s crazy.....and unacceptible. Doubt that there’s any fix other than re-do.

  • Rehabit
    2 years ago

    So they added front piece of quartz to hide the total Mess up and still couldn’t do clean caulk. Its crap and im guessing the crap contractor is not gonna gut and do right. This would be my solution cap strip of quartz to sit on top and front of current quartz. It should hide the caulk and flange.

  • Zulu Kono
    2 years ago

    Sorry this has happened, and I hope it works out in your favor.

    Obviously you hired an idiot, but you should've figured that out sooner.

  • taliaferro
    2 years ago

    Oh my goodness. Ripping it out and starting all over is the ONLY option.

  • PRO
    GN Builders L.L.C
    2 years ago

    Just as you think you have seen it all you come across this. What the hell was he thinking about when he did this?

  • jlhug
    2 years ago

    The first thing that comes to mind when I see that is "I'm going to break a toe on that". Contractor error when ordered, received and installed. Contractor needs to fix it.

  • bry911
    2 years ago

    I don't think there is an acceptable solution as it was never acceptable to begin with. This looks like an old plumbing anecdote... The helper asks, "what size do you need?" To which the Master Plumber responds, "whatever size we have in the back of the truck."


    I don't know if you can get it fixed but I would not pay this person another penny and get an estimate for a proper repair from someone else.

    -----

    If your only option is to live with this... The glass needs to come back off, the underside needs to be reinforced with treated lumber that is installed and glued carefully to use as a guide. Cut off the flange with a trim router using a flush trim bit and complete the removal with a flush cut saw using the treated lumber as a guide for both. Then finish it up again and start saving for the next redo, which is likely to be sooner rather than later.


    This is not an acceptable solution and should only be used if there is no viable path to any other solution.


    good luck

  • PRO
    GN Builders L.L.C
    2 years ago

    @bry911 Let's not give this homeowner an idea of how to correct one hacked-up job with another.

    This pan needs to be removed and replaced with the right pan. Period.


  • PRO
    Patricia Colwell Consulting
    2 years ago

    I agree there is no "fix" it needs to be replaced and that will involve a redo and in the meantime not one penny goes to that contractor until it is redone.

  • HU-867564120
    2 years ago

    Big mistake. Ugly, wrong, half-axxed. Eventually you'll have things growing behind that trapped section of side glass. Yeah, just lather on the caulk, that will make things better. Yuck! Why is ripping things out and doing things properly not an option? That is the only proper solution.

  • bry911
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    @GN Builders L.L.C - the guy who does this type of work in the first place, is unlikely to be the same type of guy who fixes his mistakes.

    You can't make him fix it. Nor will the person you hire to fix it work for free just because the last contractor was a hack. In reality, the OP is likely out the money already paid and is unlikely to get any repair at all without paying someone else. If anything this contractor is more likely to file a mechanic's lien and cause additional trouble, so while a stop gap may not be the right path, it may well be the only path.

  • PRO
    GN Builders L.L.C
    2 years ago

    The contractor who did this not gonna file anything, if anything he be lucky not to end up in court and pay for everything the next guy will charge to demo and redo everything right.

    Only an idiot or some unlicensed parking lot hack could do what this guy did. He wouldn't know what mechanic's lien is if it hits him in the face.


  • bry911
    2 years ago

    GN Builders L.L.C - We have different experiences. First, filing a mechanic's lien is rather easy and doesn't require you go to court in most states, so they are often filed as a way to bully people. I absolutely agree that this lien would not be perfected, but in most states it could easily be filed.

    Moreover, in my experience the people most likely to try to bully are those who have the least likely chance of succeeding. In my home state, there are not contractor's licenses and so I got to see these types of issues on the regular and I can tell you the number of liens that get filed which have no reasonable chance of getting perfected outnumber the liens that could be perfected 3 to 1. Maybe in your state, contractors who do bad work just sail off into the sunset with their head hung low never to be heard from again, however, in my state they too often try to get their money any way they can.

    ----

    I clearly say in the response that you took issue with that this is not acceptable and it can't be made acceptable. However, that doesn't mean that it is wrong to tell someone how to make something terrible a bit more livable until they can get it resolved.


    If you found 100 contractors who would do this work and demanded they fix it, maybe one person would. The idea that the best solution is one that is unattainable 99% of the time is no more legitimate than saying the solution to your money problem is winning the lottery.

  • PRO
    GN Builders L.L.C
    2 years ago

    @bry911 This is not about the experience... They installed the wrong pan not intended for this type of installation.

    They should have used the right product and pans come in many configurations, to be installed on the back wall or against 2 walls, etc something like this for a nice clean appearance when completed.





    As the OP said, they used an alcove pan which doesn't belong in her case.


    If this contractor is licensed he better run and redo everything because he shouldn't install that from the get-go...unless he wants to pay for someone else to come in, rip everything out, and do-over.

    If he is not licensed, the lien here is out of the question, he already got his money and probably changed his number...

  • ksc36
    2 years ago

    Build a half wall on that side and have new glass installed on top.

  • bry911
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    GN Builders L.L.C said, This is not about the experience... They installed the wrong pan not intended for this type of installation.

    I provided a way to make it better. Did you really think that I gave instructions on reinforcing the base, because the flange adds strength, and removing the flange because I didn't know what I was looking at?

    ----

    I buy rental properties in an area where contractor's are not licensed and there are all kinds of remodels just like this. I constantly buy properties that have these types of issues that I need to make rentable while protecting the cap rate. So I have a lot of experience making dumb-crap look OK...

    All I did was advise a way to make it better if there is NO OTHER OPTION. We don't know the OP's financial situation, how much the contractor has been paid, the relationship, etc. So I did advise not to pay any more money and try to get it fixed, but if and only if that is not possible, here is a way to make it better. You took issue with that because you feel the OP can somehow force the contractor to do something that the contractor is way more likely to refuse than not.

    -----

    Next, I didn't say the contractor was likely to file a mechanic's lien. I said he was more likely to file a mechanic's lien than replace the pan. If I said the OP was more likely to win the lottery than get a redo would you believe I was advising the OP to play the lottery?

    -----

    You seem to believe that the contractor isn't going to file the lien because he can't win... In reality most contractors who file mechanic's liens can't win. In fact, most of the winnable cases never get filed because the parties are too close to agreement anyway. The only cases that really get filed are from hacks who are trying to strong-arm a payment for work in contention. So this person could easily pay the small fee to file the paperwork and have a default lien for some short period of time. This happens all the time in my area... In fact, almost all the liens that get filed are filed over disputed payments which are not even allowed.


  • PRO
    Joseph Corlett, LLC
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    It may be possible to fabricate and install an acceptable color matched custom made solid surface end cap. I'd have to take it apart to know.

  • PRO
    GN Builders L.L.C
    2 years ago

    Joe, anything can be done and made look pretty but putting lipstick on the pig, you can still tell it's a pig.

    Now let me ask you this for argument sake... you doing a bath remodeling in your house and you want a free-standing tub and a guy installs a tub with tile flange intended for an alcove, are you gonna start adding solid surface material to it to make it look pretty, or you gonna ask for a new tub that should be there originally and for the one you paying your hard-earned money to get the job done right? :-)


  • bry911
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    "or you gonna ask for a new tub that should be there originally and for the one you paying your hard-earned money to get the job done right? :-)"

    I think everyone here agrees that you ask for it to be done right.

    So a follow up question to you... What are you going to do when the contractor who you've already paid 90% to, tells you to go pound sand?

    ETA: Since I have been on this forum (which preceeded Houzz's acquisition) I doubt a single week has gone by without seeing a post about a contractor refusing to fix substandard work.

    It has to be one of the three most common themes here.

  • PRO
    GN Builders L.L.C
    2 years ago

    @bry911 "So a follow up question to you... What are you going to do when the contractor who you've already paid 90% to, tells you to go pound sand?"

    Bree, with all your legal knowledge, you trying to tell me if this contractor tells me to go pound sand not to mention he already breached the contract because he promised A and delivered B... and now I need to hire a new contractor to rip everything out and install the right pan and I take the previous contractor (if he licensed and legit) to court with all the documentation and everything I had to spend additionally to make it right I will not recoup my money? I will get everything back in a heart beat.

    I know a few people who took their contractors to court and easily won and got compensated.

    The problem is, most don't bother, they rather take a loss and let the contractor off the hook no matter how bad they got screwed I see that all the time and it just happened to my neighbor who is another winner he just got screwed big time, to a point he had to call the cops to get the contractor off his property.

    That said, the same question for you... what would you do if you pay for A and you got B and now you have to try and hack it up to make it look good and still end up with something that looks like s*^t, while the guy got all your money and laughing all away to the bank, while you got your tail between your legs looking at some eyesore for as long as you own your house? Not to mention when you go to sell it, the new homeowners will say WTH is that while they have a flash that it will cost them 25k to remodel a bathroom so they don't have to look at that.




  • bry911
    2 years ago

    "with all your legal knowledge, you trying to tell me if this contractor tells me to go pound sand not to mention he already breached the contract because he promised A and delivered B... and now I need to hire a new contractor to rip everything out and install the right pan and I take the previous contractor (if he licensed and legit) to court with all the documentation and everything I had to spend additionally to make it right I will not recoup my money? I will get everything back in a heart beat."


    Yes, that is exactly what I am telling you.


    Let's deal with some unknowns first. You have an affirmative duty to limit your contractor's damages. I can't imagine a contractor doing this without checking with the OP, in some way. If there is evidence that the OP was aware of this pan prior to it being finished then the contractor's damages will be limited to the damages to that point.

    This actually protects both parties, so this is why this could be actionable even if the OP ordered the wrong shower pan. Essentially you can't do work or allow work to be done that you know is unacceptable and may cost the other party additional expenses.

    There are a million different ways to disclaim the work and we are all assuming that the contractor didn't issue some kind of disclaimer. However, it seems reasonably possible that a contractor who is going to do this might lead the OP to believe they can make it look acceptable but not perfect. So then you get into some gray area about what would need to be done to make it acceptable rather than perfect. The courts are not going to demand a fix beyond what you previously found acceptable.

    Finally, let's suppose the contractor has no defense. The wait here for small claims is about seven months after which he has 1 year to pay before you can take further action, which extends by 120 days any time you accept any payment from him. Since he is not a W-2 employee you can't garnish wages so your best bet is a sheriff's auction, which is going to require an attorney.

    So maybe after 2.5 years you are made whole...I am pretty sure 2.5 years is more than a heartbeat.

    The OP's best course of action is to refuse further payment and if that can pay for the fix, then fix it. If not, then work out some compromise you can live with until you can recover.

  • 3onthetree
    2 years ago

    Who . . . paid for the long solid surface backsplash (about $50 at big box store) to jerry rig there? And did you ever walk in the bathroom under construction prior to drywall and tile, and notice the shower pan's open end cavity on the side?

  • PRO
    GN Builders L.L.C
    2 years ago

    @bry911 not around here, not in a small claims court or special civil court up to 15k.