We have a lot of posts on here similar to this. Asking about one problem then gradually expanding.
It might be better if you can tell the complete story, what concerns you have and what outcome you want to achieve.
Were you happy with the job as it progressed? Did you point out these problems? Has payment been made?
Sure no problem.
I got the name of the fitter from the local bathroom goods store that I purchased everything (£3000) with. The day I got the goods quote I ask them for any fitters they would recommend do a good job as I was spending £3000 on bits and wanted someone reliable.
I got him round to quote (along with 4 other fitters) and his price came in @£2290, which was comparable to the other 4 fitters and seemed reasonable for covering all plumbing, electrical and tiling work for a 2.8m x 2.7m bathroom.
I booked him to started on 12 Apr and agreed it would take 7 days so finishing on 20 Apr. He indicated if anything unforeseen happened it may take 1 more day, which was fine and understandable.
He provided both quote and timelines in text messages.
The total price agreed was £2290 for labour + approx £150 for tilers adhesive etc. I paid him £800 cash on 12 Apr before any work began.
We are now sitting on 30 Apr and the job is still not done and serious snag issues that need to be resolved. In summary of the detail below, I have paid him £2100 cash out of a final total of £2680 and refuse to pay him any more or let him perform any further work. I have contact the bathroom shop that recommend him for their input as an independent 3rd party.
That is the summary, here are the details:
He arrive at 9am on 12 Apr and I paid him £800 cash before any work started. He began gutting the old bathroom and everything progressed normally for the first 2 days. However then things started to slip as I would call home at lunch and he would be gone to another job, or my wife would come home at 4pm and he was not there. We had also agreed that he would start between 8:30 and 9am everyday, but he did arrive 30-40mins late on several occasions, meaning I was 30-40mins late getting to work. I had to phone him at 9:40am one day to find out where he was.
Work proceeded dropping behind schedule until around the 20 Apr, the tiler was only finishing up tiling and had to come back on 23rd to grout.
Eventually, 3 days later than promised, the fitter indicated he was finished on Wed 25 Apr. He was seeking payment at that point, however my wife was only one at home and told him that we would need to check it over before he got paid and also all the old bathroom suite and rubbish was still not removed from our house.
Once I arrived home that evening, my wife and I checked the bathroom and immediately reported the following list of snags to him via WhatsApp with associated pictures:
- Damage to bathroom door frame
- Damage to bathroom door
- Poorly fitted bath panel with gap at top, screwed in the middle resulting in surface damage and a dent/bow in the middle of the panel
- Poorly finished sealing around the bath
- Tiling at door threshold uneven and not level, resulting in a poorly fitting threshold which was loose and uneven. Bathroom door also catching on the threshold.
- Toilet not fitted squarely to the wall
- Toilet seat loose
He came on the morning of 26 Apr to work at the snag list. He responded as follows:
- Door and frame damage just to be expected as part of the fitting process.
- Bath panel not designed to be cut and difficult to fit. Screw was inserted to stop it wobbling.
He recognised issues and agreed to replace at own cost.
- Sealant issues due to access and also clear and white sealant mixing.
Agreed to fix and did so same day.
- Tiling issue due to unevenness of subfloor and little could be done. Agreed to try and resolve threshold issues by adjust and placing packing under the carpet.
Resolution was attempted on same day, but still completely unsatisfactory and does not address root cause being uneven tiling.
- Advise that it was not possible to get the toilet to fit squarely to the wall, due to unevenness of the wall (despite just having been freshly tiled??).
- Advised that a small spanner was needed to tighten up the seat, but to expect long term problems with that toilet seat as they are poorly designed.
Tightened up seat on same day, but was loose again by the evening.
During the evening of 26 Apr, my wife was cleaning down the inside of the shower using baby wipes to remove all dirt, grout etc and noticed a chip out of the shower panel about 4 inches above the top of the shower. Again immediately reported to fitter with WhatsApp Message and photograph. Received reply that he would look in the morning. Came to inspect at lunchtime on 28 Apr, but could offer no explanation off why it was chipped, only saying that after he had sealed the top of the shower panels on 26 Apr, he wiped everything down and didn’t notice a chip. He agreed to contact supplier to enquire about repair kit. During visit also looked at further action for door threshold problem and advised bath panel was ordered. I paid him an additional £1300 cash in good faith bring a total of £2100 cash paid out of final balance for all works of £2680, with the explanation that the remaining £580 would follow once all work was completed and all the old bathroom waste and rubbish was remove from outside the house as agreed.
This evening 28 Apr, while wiping down the ceiling panels, I notice that one of the panels had been damaged with a gouge/dent the size of a 1 penny piece and filled with white silicon to disguise the damage. I phone him immediately 9:30pm, but no pickup so left a voicemail and followed up with WhatsApp and picture of damage, along with a message that there were now too many ongoing issues and I was going to contact the bathroom shop to seek resolution on this job as this was no longer acceptable. He phoned shortly after and we had a lively discussion on the issues. I told him that I would not pay the remainder £580, instead preferring to use it to pay someone to complete the job properly. He protested and offered to fix everything, but I told him that I had lost all trust that it could be finished to a reasonable standard without risking further damage. We discussed the shower panel again and he indicated that he had the ladder inside the shower when sealing to top panel, but stated that the panel was not damaged when he finished and he could still not explain it. I told him that I had worked in good faith with him to address the snags and already paid >75% over the work to him in cash, but finding damage that had purposely attempted to be concealed, I had lost trust in him or his workers being able to complete the job, especially given the fact that damage had been purposely concealed. In addition there has been numerous small items of damage to our walls, carpets and stairs.
So here we are now, left in the position that I have paid £2100, we have several significant issues with the bathroom, are late by over a week now with significant work to do, a pile of rubbish outside the house that 2 weeks after gutting still hasn’t been removed. For instance to repair the ceiling alone is now going to mean that the panels are pulled down, the tiles at either end be removed. Nevermind the issue with the shower panel which will need the entire shower and enclosure refitted, which will no doubt result in more damage given the pattern to date.
Between goods and labour I have already spent £5100+, along with £600 on tiles, bringing the total to £5700+.
In additional to all the material issues, my wife and I have been equally annoyed by the fact that he has not apologised once for any of this. Choosing to point blame at his men or at us for being too picky.
So we are at an impass now waiting the feedback from the bathroom shop.
That’s about it
