Matching Border Tiles

[StephenR]

Hello Everyone,

I have had my first non payer in ten years and so have decided to go the small claims route. The detail of all this I will leave for now. The issue is whether I have made a mistake or not with the peacock border tiles. Please see the photos. He was disappointed the peacocks didn't match up in the corners. I can't see how I would have done that given the room is not whole tiles on any given wall. The walls are not perfectly vertical so needed cuts to the corners. The tiles were fixed using 1mm spacers. At any rate, overlap of tiles in the corners would remove the chance of match up anyway. Have I made a mistake or are the client's expectations out of line with reality?

This was my first go with traditional tiles and I know I could have done better on the external corner but again, the client didn't want other solutions I offered him at the time.

Thanks for any help.

Stephen

 

[Billy Hunt]

Looks a nice job mate,can't see any other way of doing this you where always going to get cuts in the corners,I would of pointed this out to him prior to fixing too.Sounds like the customer is trying to do one.

 

[StephenR]

Thanks Billy. I've since learnt a lot about managing client expectations and now have a Job Record that gets each variation to the estimate signed off before I proceed. The client wasn't around for most of the job. I wasn't aware that he wanted the peacocks to "match up" at the corners.

cheers,

Stephen

 

[Rizzle from the Portizzle]

its a nice bit of tiling but the boarders should always line up picture perfect .on all four courners and the rest of the tiling follows them not the other way round

 

[StephenR]

Thanks Ray. I think I now see another way of doing it.

 

[Rizzle from the Portizzle]

Thanks Ray. I think I now see another way of doing it.

if i was you i would chop the borders out and refit brick bond you may just be albe to move it back and forward a little to suit

 

[StephenR]

Thanks again Ray. That pic of yours explained everything.

As I said in the opener, the detail of this is complex and not only to do with the tiling. The job is from 2009 and the vast majority of the non-payment is for plumbing work agreed with the client and then not paid. The non-matching peacocks has only just now surfaced as an issue. It goes on and on and on ....

I centered the field and then dealt with the corners but I can now see, due to my inexperience with patterned tiles/borders, that I could have followed the peacocks round the corner and then carried on down the next wall. The field may not have been centered with uneven cuts at either end but at least the peacocks would have lined up. The client was dead against having off joint tiling.

In 10 years of doing bathrooms, it has been the only trad tiled one, the only one with patterns in the tiles, the only non payer and the only upset client.

I knew I'd find the answer round here. Might not have been what I wanted to hear. I'll put it down to a learning experience 🙂

cheers,

Stephen

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

as Ray says above Stephen really, i have to think sometimes with the tops of swimming pools to follow the pattern around, great work there mate

 

[White Room]

The job is from 3 years ago or have I read this wrong....

 

[StephenR]

Yes 2 1/2 years ago but I decided to pursue the non-payment only recently for other aspects (not tiling) that were agreed extras hence I did the work but reneged on when the invoice was presented. I didn't previously have time to devote to it. Anyways, lesson learnt, move on.

cheers,

Stephen