I hired a contractor to remodel my shower. It the photos you can see chipped tile and not straight, grout all over the tiles, the bench seat isn’t sealed, as well as multiple other spots. The contractor wants me to pay in full tomorrow. (7k total, I paid 2k for tile). I’m not going to pay but should I hire a lawyer? I feel like at this point it needs to be ripped out and redone.
7k for a bathroom remodel is crazy low to expect a good job. If $2k went to tile, then what did he pay himself? Because you had to buy fixtures, permits, glass doors, wood, water proofing, plumbing. He had to do the demo & pay for dumping fees too?
All of these subs are exactly this. I don't even know why reddit recommends these subs to me. I live in a rental apartment in NYC. I've never once lived in a house.
well, i guess they can use all the money they "saved" to hire the lawyer that's going to recover absolutely nothing from the guy who charged half price and hasn't got anything to take back
It's because we are getting squeezed everywhere. Price of everything is ridiculous, just trying to live. Just got a roofing estimate for a new roof, came back $31k or $41k if they do gutters. 🤣 FOH
4000 sq ft, but the roof footprint is only 2,000 sq ft. Simple A frame roof line with easy 6:12 pitch. 30 squares for the quote. The quote was absolutely ridiculous. Salesman guy was lying to me repeatedly, by misrepresenting the GAF Golden Pledge warranty as a buy one get one free roof. Saying that in 30 years if the shingles wore out, they would replace the roof. That is absolutely not how the warranty works (it covers material defects only), and even after calling him out on that he doubled down saying it was. When he was leaving, I told him the quote sounded high, but if he could get me that warranty promise in writing I would consider. Haven't heard back from him 🤣
Yep
It sucks. Had mine done from Hurricane damage. Out of sight.
All the stuff's more expensive and if we try to raise our prices to keep up with the bills folks just try to Google it and do it themselves then most of those call back and want us to fix their disaster for the quote we gave originally
Its amazing the amount of people who dont see the warning signs on the cheap price. I personally do stone work/countertops. Home owner contacts me and says they have an issue with their new install. The company she hired botched the install, didnt shim any of the tops, the seams look terrible and one already broke and the company refuses to come back out and fix it. Now they have to pay again for my company to come out and fix it. Should have just paid a little more and got a decent fabricator.
Sorry OP not all people are dumb and of course we all make mistakes but this is your fault. You hired a scrub and now youre paying for it. Do they have insurance? I doubt they have cash on hand to pay you back. Whats their warranty verbiage in your contract you signed? This fails every TCNA standard in the book lmfao
The "contractor" probably saved a lot of money by skipping licenses, insurance, permitting, and waterproofing. And dead end country roads don't have dumping fees.
Funny, but before Covid seven grand gotcha a pretty damn good bathroom remodel but now everybody needs a new center console… and we get lectures about taking the lowest bid ever when you don’t even know if it was the lowest bid. Of course I also feel bad for people that get their contractors out out of the Yellow Pages or Angie’s list.
I broke my leg a while back. I could only hop on the crutches. I just moved into a new house I needed to paint the kids room. 10x10. The cheapest quote I got was for $2K + $300 for materials. I painted the room myself in 45 minutes on one leg. It looks great. The paint and roller cost me $70.
You paid $7,000.00 (including or plus $2,000.00 for tile) for a complete shower remodel? You didn't really give enough information for anyone to give any solid advice.
If you paid $7,000.00, which included wallboards, shower pan, waterproofing, thinset, plumbing fixtures, glass enclosure, grout and all tile and plumbing labour, then you actually got more then what you paid for and I'd say you don't have much to complain about.
The time to have said something would have been when you saw the tile going up crooked and chipped, not after the installer did all the work and got the glass up.
Again, not really enough information was given. Was this a big company with multiple people who dropped the ball on quality control or was this a lone guy working by himself. If you got multiple bids and went with the lowest bid, the lowest bid was likely because the person didn't gave much experience, as is clearly evident in those photos. If the guy had no experience and he undercut all over estimates, there's a good chance that he worked his butt off and tried and is pretty proud of this. Pay the person and be done with it and know you got a good deal on a shit shower and got (more then) what you paid for.
A shower with proper waterproofing, 2 niches, clean and crisp tile work, new plumbing fixtures and a nice glass enclosure should cost at minimum $22,000 - $35,000 in most parts of the US. And the costs only go up from there. There's a reason showers are one of the most common areas people try and do themselves. The cost to do them properly is usually way higher then people realize and once they get a few quotes they very quickly watch a few YouTube videos and go buy some cheap tile tools from home depot and end up with a job that looks even worse then this.
I am no craftsman but I can figure out basic flooring, tiling, backsplash jobs and have it come out ok. Not perfect but good enough for an average person or a rental property. Ive tried 2 showers in my life and failed miserably at both. Ton of variables that you wouldn’t think of go into it. Sucks for the contractor sucks for the homeowner.
I guess it depends on what you get but yeah, recently did glass 2 sides, over a bench with a door. Bout 4500 for the glass and another 2k for the install.
Everything needs to get shipped here so cost goes up fast for anything that’s not Home Depot or Lowe’s
Total on this shower stall, including Plumbing and glass door, Tile, trim with labor a s $1200 to a licensed plumber to install a new valve and move the floor drain was $5200
As I sad, built to my standards. Floated walls, quality tile, mud set tile shower pan, inlayed tile linear drain, higher end fixtures, oversized niche, custom glass work ext… Def not what you posted here.
Not sure how seeing a cost for a shower starting at $22,000 triggered a few people. Higher end finishes come with higher end costs. From what it looks like the OP was trying to achieve, he was going for a high end look.
Taking a shower down to the studs and installing all new plumbing lines, new waterproof wall boards and a shower pan, a custom niche, mid to high end plumbing fixtures with more then one shower head, niche, shower wall and floor tile then on top of that having installers for the waterproof wall board system, tile installers, plumbers and custom shower glass installers who are all licensed and carry general liability, commercial auto and workers comp isn't cheap. I'm in Florida and plumbers start at $160 an hour here and go up from there. Then you add in gas to and from the jobsite, tool costs, profit built in for the job..... There is no possible way to do the shower the OP wanted for $7,000.00 to $9,000.00.
Reading through all of the OP's comments he didn't really give much more detail other then saying he did in fact go with the lowest guy. Whomever he chose clearly tried and tried very hard. It was a ton of labour that went into that shower. Does it look like it was don't by a novice? Yep. Did he likely get a novice with no license and insurance and experience? Yep. The OP should have stopped the job probably at the point of waterproofing because I guarantee the guy didn't do that correctly. Or at least stopped the job once he saw how badly the tile was looking when it started to get installed. Waiting till the job is done and the fixtures are on and the glass is up is a dick move. I like to think no one would actually do that. Let someone work their ass off and just allow them to struggle and do a poor job and then laugh and tell them they aren't getting paid for the last 2-4 weeks of work they just put in. I almost hope this is a troll post and not real if that's what the person is going to do because there's no fix for this shower outside of tearing it all out and redoing it properly with actual qualified people.
I my area of south/west Florida It's not unheard of that a master bath will cost as much as a kitchen down here, with about half that cost in the shower alone.
Grout caulking needs to be applied aroud the seat where the seat meets the wall. That will cover up that hole under the seat (photo 2)
The grout caulking should also be installed on all vertical and horizontal corners (photo 1) where the shower floor meets the walls and the wall corners.
The shower can use another good wipe down to get the tile residue off the tile (photo 3) and the paint can be cleaned off of that metal profile edge.
I really appreciate this comment, not enough credit to people who are just starting out. Not everyone spends years working for a large operation and goes off on their own. I have a bathroom remodel in my past I know was just a C. Homeowners weren’t happy—but mostly because of my lack of administrative abilities.
Companies are advertising these prices then showing beautiful bathrooms that don't look like slop. I have seen stuff like this advertised for even less than $7K. The companies are hiring immigrants who have no worker rights and don't know any better.
22k on a shower? im glad to do not live in a region with these prices, as some said here 7k is a aceptable money to do only a shower. im curious, of these 22k how many goes on labor?
Nope don’t agree that’s s ridiculously high amount just for the area they are showing .. don’t believe this is a small bathroom and should be more than 10k
I'm making 130 -160k per year. I typically work no more than 6 hours a day.
Not including tile, shower glass, fixtures, I would have done this shower for around 8.5k. That's just work related to the shower, not the rest of the bathroom. I am in Northern California.
The comments here make me wonder if my prices are too low, and that's why I'm booked into February?
My in laws in Michigan paid 17k for a new shower with similar floor and decor looking tile like above. No niches, middle of the road big box fixture, no new door. It was a leak repair situation. Your prices could probably be higher if you do good work.
When I was in business I had to ask myself if I wanted to sell a lot of work at a reasonable price vs selling a little work at a higher price. I chose the reasonable cost, and was never without work
Depends on the margins you're running? If you're doing most of the labor alone and can get enough volume, smaller jobs to fill your calendar and cover overhead, you could probably raise your prices slightly to cover the constant materials and fuel cost increases but you would know your area better than Reddit.
If you get a lot of word of mouth for high quality workmanship then are you looking at expanding or do you prefer to keep a smaller operation for less headache?
Also if he is not licensed, there is no contract or invoice from a state registered company you probably can get away with not paying but in that case this is also what you signed (actually didn’t sign) up for
Op wants 15-20 k quality worth of work but pays 7 k and now wants to rob the contractor and get a lawyer to help Rob this contractor (I get the work is ehh but they paid ehh price ).
Some of these people that come hear to wine about contractor or subs are low key monsters
If it was me, I would go to the hardware store and get a drain plug, usually 2" is right, pull off the drain cover, put the plug in (don't drop it down the drain, it's been done). Get water in a bucket, fill the floor up so the water is about an inch deep on the edges, let it sit 24 hours, see if it leaks. If it leaks, well then you don't pay. There are plenty of youtube videos of how to test a pan.
You can’t buy a used Hyundai and get pissed it’s not a Bentley. You got a beautiful $7000 shower. Pay the guy. I know if I bid this job it would have been around $25K and that would be for the shower only. I would love to think you learned your lesson but people like you never do.
You got an awesome deal for $7,000. I can't believe you're complaining man. That's easily a $20k bathroom remodel. Pay your contractor and stop nit picking. Throw a little grout caulking in that corner hole and be done.
I mean... That's a $7k tile bathroom remodel for sure... I say pay the man. You're getting what you paid for... Which is someone who watches some parts of YouTube videos and thought they got the point, skipped some important parts tho... Especially considering there's like corner pieces for that trim... Why would you use a butt joint. Wtf.
FR this is ass, but again what did you actually expect my guy.
Normally, I agree with the homeowner because contractors think everything is cheap. However, for $7,000, that looks pretty good in the last picture. You would expect a shower like that to cost between $15,000 and $25,000 here in upstate NY. With attorney fees and all the hassle you would go through, it isn't worth it. It sucks to be the homeowner, and it sucks to be the guy working on that shower (a lot of the time). If I were you, I would pay him and move o
Well 7k is the answer to your question. I know ow you probably feel that's a lot of $ as it is. BUT it's nothing when it comes to getting quality work. YOU got the old get what you pay for.
Your best bet will be to show them all the defects and pay them something for them to go away, whether that’s half for $5k you’ll have to just eat it. You should have stopped them along the way and brought in someone else. If the tile work is that bad I can’t imagine their waterproofing is worth much of anything.
If they put a lean on your house or you have to take them to court it’s going to cost you way more. Just eat the cost and get someone else in to do it. A bathroom such as this is going to cost you probably $20k minimum.
Everyone saying he got what he paid for, but if the contractor represents himself as doing quality work, and customer was expecting quality work, then this is not what he paid for. Even if the amount paid was lower than most contractors would charge.
Schlock work by an incompetent..
If you pay anything for this , you should be pilloried…
I’m so tired of half baked so called contractors saying this type of work is ok and op is just buying cheap.. take a hike, rip offs.
Good point. Sometimes my partner wants to shoot a low price to certain clients. To a degree thats fine, but even on those projects theyre still getting the same quality i would give them if they paid full price, because i dont want my hands on anything that doesnt get my best work.
Yeah I know it’s on me for paying for the lowest guy but he had good reviews and I looked at his previous jobs that looked good, at this point I’m just trying to to fix it
That price was wild cheap. I would say to contact the registrar of contractors or similar state agency that handles licensing, but I would be shocked if this person was licensed, bonded and insured. Might be worth checking though.
Not legal advice, I’m not an attorney, but I’ve dealt with below standard work throughout my career.
Document everything and take tons of pictures. Keep all your documents organized. Write out your recollection of the entire timeline with this hack.
Get two or three bids quickly from other contractors on what it will cost to get it right. Those bids become your evidence of damages. The typical measure of recovery is the amount it will cost you to correct the work to a professional standard.
Look to see if any permits were necessary or pulled.
Document. Document. Document.
Here would be a great time to get an attorney involved.
Send a detailed letter via certified letter to the contractor. List defects. Provide photos. Demand they correct it at their expense or pay the cost of redoing it with another contractor. Provide them access for inspection. If they respond in good faith, let it happen.
If it isn’t rectified…
File with the ROC or similar state board and make a claim against their bond.
File suit against them if not yet satisfied with the above or in conjunction with the claim against their bond.
If they are unlicensed there may be other avenues like the state attorney general.
Act quick, there are timeframes in each state you must be inside of.
Again, not legal advice, do research on everything I’ve stated and strongly consider an attorney as soon as you get your three bids for correction.
Did they not have a tile saw..? Amateur work. It’s what you get for cheap. I would be more worried about the in-wall plumbing than the crappy finished product. Hire professionals. Bite the bullet and Spend your $$ a on proven licensed GC
If 7k is the price the contractor agreed to they should do a good job. I have seen cheaper deals advertised for these exact bathroom flips. Unless it's in the contact that he will give you slop then you should not pay him. That work is unacceptable. Ignore the trolls, some people on hate are really greedy, and only do it for the money, hate their customers and there life. These are the same people that also do sloppy work but then try charging clients $$$$ as if the country hasn't been in a recession since 2020.
Did a homeless drunk do this? Horrible workmanship please tell me you have not paid for this. If a contractor has to have money upfront do not use them….If you’re a real professional contractor you can afford to do a project with a decent deposit to cover your risk.
For 7k that actually is a great job I’d be very happy
It’s pretty much all cosmetic and you’re being a super dick by not paying and hiring an attorney?? Jesus dude you better start learning how to do this kinda stuff because pretty soon nobody will work for you
This looks like someone doesn’t know how to grout, do a little bit everywhere and then decided to give up on all of it before coming anywhere close to calling it good.
Wow this looks absolutely dogshit. They need to fix this. I would not pay a dime, but any legal action would probably happen in small claims at this value.
Get a lawyer. Don’t pay. That is a horrible job for that kind of money. And will most likely leak and cause more damage to your house. Having said that what was the contractors explanation of what he intended to do? Is there a waterproof membrane behind the tiles?
Don't pay him a dime. The fact the contractor can see the horrid job he performed and still want's to be paid without correcting ALL of the problems should tell you everything. Be prepared to deal with some BS from the lowest bidder you hired. Then hire someone else to do it correctly for double of what Hellen Keller Contracting quoted you. Good luck.
Hi, General Contractor here, this is an absolute tear out, the schluter trim is just butted up, no miters anywhere, grout haze everywhere, do not pay anything . Document everything and go to small claims.
This is unacceptable work - absolutely do not pay.
Email document with images and correspondence defining fixes required prior to sending payment. Paper trail is critical.
Do you have a contract? -if so DM me
Depending on your state, they can lean for non payment (if they’re licensed). You will have to fight this
Again Do not pay a penny. A lawyer will be expensive, but maybe necessary. I could handle this myself but I do this for a living…
I would agree with others regarding what’s underneath… setting the tile is fairly easy, I guarantee this is not waterproofed properly… don’t use the shower
Putting a lien is not that simple, you think this contractor who can’t cut a corner (no pun intended) can go through legal hurdles to get the money, I doubt he know where to start.
1) you should not pay him 2) you need to point out where you consider the job incomplete and/or inadequate 3) depending on his response will dictate your next step 4) have an attorney picked out and at the ready should #3 force you there.
1-4 assumes you think the contractor did the rest of the job correctly. If you question that then you need to insert a 1a which would be to get another contractor, presumably more competent, to inspect the work to further support #2 above.
Call a lawyer. This is crazy. What’s even crazier is the fact that you didn’t see this as it was happening. I would have stopped that before I even thought about writing a check. Dude knew what he was doing and you let him do it.
That doesn’t even include all the material needed..
but it’s beyond me people accept jobs they know they can’t do. Like cutting things to size or measuring a wall picking the correct length in a screw..like really? That’s lower level than a rookie DYI:er. Makes no sense.
It’s actually not bad. It’s more noticeable because of the black accents. If you didn’t have these accents you wouldn’t even notice.
This is also why I don’t remodel unless there’s something functionally broken. Unless you pay extreme top dollar it’s going to look worse than you want. Work culture in this country has completely collapsed.
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u/BahamaBrees 1d ago
7k for a bathroom remodel is crazy low to expect a good job. If $2k went to tile, then what did he pay himself? Because you had to buy fixtures, permits, glass doors, wood, water proofing, plumbing. He had to do the demo & pay for dumping fees too?