Opinions on this appalling "professional" tiling job?

[Chopper1]

Hi all,

We've just had our bathroom refit, and seem to have some of the worst tiling I've seen. We know it's terrible but he is in complete denial about it and thinks he's done a brilliant job, refusing to acknowledge any of the glaring errors as anything other than "snagging".

Not only has it taken him over 2 weeks, when he said it would be done and dusted in a week, but my missus is 9 months pregnant so it's put us in a difficult position.

I've taken a lot of photos, so sorry if I bore you when looking through, but it just shows how many errors there are:
Dropbox - Bad Tiling - Simplify your life - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xwzddtwmxiodsd4/AABxGMQCpzTjnGB_zOEmw564a?dl=0

Opinions greatly received!
Thanks

 

[Qwerty]

Hi, Sorry that you are here with this situation. I have looked through all 73 photos on your dropbox link (if you can add a handful into this thread it would be appreciated). I have to say there is not one single part in any of the photos which in my opinion is acceptable workmanship.
Is he a tiler or have a portfolio you have seen of his previous work?

 

[Chopper1]

Hi, Sorry that you are here with this situation. I have looked through all 73 photos on your dropbox link (if you can add a handful into this thread it would be appreciated). I have to say there is not one single part in any of the photos which in my opinion is acceptable workmanship.
Is he a tiler or have a portfolio you have seen of his previous work?

Sure, good idea, thanks.

Sadly, we didn't! We decided a little last minute to get the bathroom done before the baby arrives. He is an acquaintance, so that's the initial awkwardness, but his plumbing was recommended. Sadly, he was available for the week we needed it done, so we knew it was a bit of risk. Just not that it was going to be a catastrophe!

 

[Chopper1]

Hi, Sorry that you are here with this situation. I have looked through all 73 photos on your dropbox link (if you can add a handful into this thread it would be appreciated). I have to say there is not one single part in any of the photos which in my opinion is acceptable workmanship.
Is he a tiler or have a portfolio you have seen of his previous work?

Sorry, should add that he sold to us he was a full bathroom refitter, so while we know he is a plumber, if he says has all the gear and have tiled many bathrooms then there's a certain amount of taking his word for it.

 

[John Benton]

Appalling is being generous.

If it took 2 weeks to get to that stage, didn't you take him to task after a few days as that standard of work should have been pulled far earlier than letting him 'complete' the job.

 

[Boggs]

Wow, that is a whole new level of nasty!!

 

[Chopper1]

Appalling is being generous.

If it took 2 weeks to get to that stage, didn't you take him to task after a few days as that standard of work should have been pulled far earlier than letting him 'complete' the job.

Problem is his process of working was all over the place. So things like all the last cuts for the small tiles around the edges of the walls, and the around the small shower recess, smaller cuts, the beading we all done this week. How he’s fitted things has been completely haphazard, so some of the time it was difficult to see how it was going to end up. At times it looked like it might all end up ok, or that there was certain bits we could just live with to avoid the awkward conversation. It really only became evident in the last couple of days.

 

[Andy Allen]

 

[GoneGuy]

That is an appalling job, as mentioned did you not have doubts after first few days or did he manage to blag his way until completion?

 

[One Day]

Well it certainly has a somewhat "rustic" quality to it. 🙄

 

[WetSaw]

It's beyond appalling. Is it your only bathroom? Is it working? Unfortunately it looks like no amount of "snagging" is going to get that to anything like an acceptable level and I would say it needs stripping out and starting again. With that in mind I'd get Christmas and the baby out of the way ( so to speak..) then sort this mess out.

 

[judge]

Awful work.how can he present you with that work !!

 

[Chopper1]

It's beyond appalling. Is it your only bathroom? Is it working? Unfortunately it looks like no amount of "snagging" is going to get that to anything like an acceptable level and I would say it needs stripping out and starting again. With that in mind I'd get Christmas and the baby out of the way ( so to speak..) then sort this mess out.

I was really hoping that wasn’t going to be the case. We’ve not paid him anything yet though.

It’s the master bathroom and the only one upstairs. The toilet, sink and bath are all working and we do have a downstairs shower room and toilet so that side of things are not a problem.

 

[Spare Tool]

One of the worst ever posted on here..and thats saying something cuz we've seen some sh#te!!

 

[Waluigi]

Full rip out and start again. Horrific tiling.

 

[One Day]

I've been on this forum for over 10 years and it is the worst I've seen.
So it's a "winner" in that regard at least!

 

[Spare Tool]

@Chopper1 so you've got your opinions, what you going to do from here? ..have you paid yet?

 

[Blunt Tool]

Full rip out and start again. Horrific tiling.

Think your vegetable scrubber thing will sort all this out!

 

[Chopper1]

@Chopper1 so you've got your opinions, what you going to do from here? ..have you paid yet?

No not paid anything yet.

Was thinking I’d get a couple of independent tilers in to assess, give a bit of write up and quote to at least repair the worst offending bits. Then hand it to him, and see what he says? Try and offer his total minus the average correction cost?

 

[Waluigi]

Yes, provided it’s being used to carry 5kg of Semtex

 

[Marvo]

Do you still have the consumer advice offices on the highstreet in the UK?
I feel for you, that work is just awful

 

[widler]

Can you not put any units up against the worse bits, cover them up, a tall unit, nice grey to go with the tiles ?
On a serious note, utter crap,

 

[Qwerty]

No not paid anything yet.

Was thinking I’d get a couple of independent tilers in to assess, give a bit of write up and quote to at least repair the worst offending bits. Then hand it to him, and see what he says? Try and offer his total minus the average correction cost?

Do not pay a penny. As @Marvo says, go to Citizens advice. I would be contacting your local trading standards officers too as to me this is also a rogue trader issue.

 

[Chopper1]

Can you not put any units up against the worse bits, cover them up, a tall unit, nice grey to go with the tiles ?
On a serious note, utter crap,

Unfortunately not. It’s not a massive bathroom so each corner has either the shower, bath, basin or toilet in.

 

[Chopper1]

Ok so general consensus is I don’t pay anything.

I’ve had contact with him and he still believes he’s done a good job, although lays most blame on the tiles being “extremely difficult to work with”. That’s the tiles made from porcelain, not some magical pixy dust! Unbelievable!

I’ve also spoken to one of his friends who also said he genuinely believes he is good at what he does. Would’ve been nice to know that before but I cannot ask everyone I suppose. Sad. I’m actually feeling sorry for him for being that delusional.

Looks like I’ll be making a trip to the Citizens Advice bureau today then.

 

[Boggs]

Ok so general consensus is I don’t pay anything.

I’ve had contact with him and he still believes he’s done a good job, although lays most blame on the tiles being “extremely difficult to work with”. That’s the tiles made from porcelain, not some magical pixy dust! Unbelievable!

I’ve also spoken to one of his friends who also said he genuinely believes he is good at what he does. Would’ve been nice to know that before but I cannot ask everyone I suppose. Sad. I’m actually feeling sorry for him for being that delusional.

Looks like I’ll be making a trip to the Citizens Advice bureau today then.

Did he supply any materials?

If he has you will need to pay for anything he has supplied, and hold back any payment for the labour.

 

[One Day]

Unfortunately I can guarantee that correcting that will involve a complete rip out and will ultimately cost much more than the original would have done.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Did he supply any materials?

If he has you will need to pay for anything he has supplied, and hold back any payment for the labour.

Why would he have to pay for ruined tiles?

 

[Boggs]

Why would he have to pay for ruined tiles?

Obviously not the tiles.
I’m mean any sanitary ware, taps etc.

 

[Waluigi]

How did he manage to get so much work done?

Shame you didn’t flag it sooner and put a halt to his work.

 

[Chopper1]

How did he manage to get so much work done?

Shame you didn’t flag it sooner and put a halt to his work.

Lost of reasons, sadly.

Personal ones:

He is an acquaintance, so that's the initial awkwardness. A very heavily pregnant wife who has now had 2 blokes in the house for her first 2+ weeks of maternity. I’m very busy at work, coming home late most nights in preparation for paternity. This has left my embarrassed wife at home to deal with him through the day. But both of us have felt embarrassed about the whole thing, feeling like we were giving him the benefit of the doubt when we HAD queried why some bits looked bad, his reassurance that it would be ok. Which leads me on to...


His reassurances and working process:

Problem is his process of working was all over the place. So things like all the last cuts for the small tiles around the edges of the walls, and the around the small shower recess, smaller cuts, the beading were all only done this week. How he’s fitted things has been completely haphazard, so some of the time it was difficult to see how it was going to end up. At times it looked like it might all end up ok, or that there was certain bits we could just live with to avoid the awkward conversation. It certainly looked that way when all the small mosiac tiles were in but without any of the edge cuts done. It really only became evident in the last couple of days. Prior to that he assured us that all the excess grout would be cleaned and it would be ok.


So yes, we DID call him up during the process, but if he then only did 80% of the absolute worst parts only this week then I couldn’t pull the plug before.