What do you think of this and can it be fixed?

[CoJ]

Yes I have tons of pictures and things are well documented. The guys have been back out 3x already to fix other problems and I think the owner is just trying to cut his losses at this point because they've had to come back so many times and I'm sure that is causing him delays on other jobs. The really appalling thing to me is that if I hadn't called about some of these problems they would have just left it like that and called it good. They really seem like they're just in a rush to get to the next job.

I've got even more stories and problems I could tell you about. It's all part of a theme, lack of care and attention to detail.

Like when one guy takes the bathroom door off to cut off a little from the bottom because the tile is higher, and he doesn't wash his hands first so I end up with grout handprints on the bathroom door.

The boards they used come precut from the factory as a mix of long and short boards to give some variety. Well, you can tell they didn't plan it out ahead of time because there's a spot in the kitchen with almost all short boards in one small area. That's the area they did last, so you can tell they ran out of long boards sooner than they ran out of short ones. Like this one 6x8 area has more short boards in it than any given 10x10 area in the rest of the house.

A couple boards were cut wrong, huge gaps between the wall and the boards (over 1/2"). We are using half inch baseboards so I told them they needed to recut that one. Well, they didn't order extra wood and had no boards left so they had to order another box and had to wait 2 weeks for them to come back and replace it.

The fireplace wall, you can see in the previous picture I posted how on the upper right there is a tile that came up short so there is an obvious dark spot/shadow. They did come back and fix that but, again, they wouldn't have done so if I hadn't made them. They were good to leave it like that and call it finished.

I could go on....

Once this is all said and done and the final payment is agreed on and cleared (whatever that turns out to be) these guys are going to be absolutely roasted on Yelp, Google, Facebook, Reddit, pretty much anything I can think of. There were so many issues I can't even remember them all (but don't worry, I have them all documented.)

I'm normally a really laid back guy. I generally go with the flow and try not to stir up any trouble. Live and let live. But this situation has got me MAD.

 

[CoJ]

just for fun I will post some more stuff.

1. This has since been fixed and looks much better but you can see how poor this transition from the bathroom (hex tile) to the hallway looked at first. Very shoddy. I made them pull and recut those tiles and that piece of wood, and caulk the edge and it looks better now, but the fact that I had to make them do that is irritating. This was their idea of "finished".

2. Missing piece of stone, the rest of them are mitered to the wall but this one came up short and they just left it like that. This has also been fixed, but wouldn't have been if I didn't make them.

3. glue spot, one of dozens if not hundreds. It's been a few weeks now and I still occasionally find one. They scrape right off, but still, come on!! We also found spots on the wall, as I mentioned, and also one of the baseboard radiators (which had to be repainted as a result.)

4. one of several massive gaps that I made them re-do

 

[Mark Brown]

Oh yeah baby hack me one more time!

Thats just some lackluster performance for ya... I mean it is exemplary lackluster, so at least they did that well

 

[zannej]

They will probably claim that you are just picky, but that is incredibly sloppy work. While they did fix some stuff, it sounds like they did a lot of damage with being lazy, sloppy, and unprofessional. The fact that they gave you grief about fixing stuff shows how unprofessional they are. Hopefully you will get a good discount for all this mess.

 

[CoJ]

Thanks. Honestly it helps just to hear you guys say that you agree with me that it is sloppy work.... at least I know I'm not being unreasonable to be annoyed at this.

 

[highup]

Thanks. Honestly it helps just to hear you guys say that you agree with me that it is sloppy work.... at least I know I'm not being unreasonable to be annoyed at this.

There are situations that can be fairly difficult to make transitions, or make transitions fit. Typically, that would be heights differences between the two floor types.
Sometimes a transition might have to be modified or even made custom for your job. That said, if a transition will work with some modification, the corners should at least touch each other and you shouldn't have gaps at the angles.
I'm doubting that any shops will think about the difficulty of installation pertaining to transitions and sometimes you can spend one hell of a lot of time doing that part of the job. Nobody wants to spend a couple of hours on a job for free just to fit in the transitions.

 

[CoJ]

It's the most important part!

 

[C.J.]

Time spent during the beginning of the project is time saved during the finishing stages. If the tile guys had a piece of the hardwood for reference and knew it was going to be butted flush, they could have made sure the tile was a consistent height by using the hardwood to check it with. Then they just woulda had to make sure the tile edges were straight. Now you have an acceptable tile surface to bump the hardwood to and making clean cuts is not hard at all. People are just lazy. Best case scenario is lackadaisical but I’m going with lazy. Sippin on your coffee for 10 minutes while going over the details of the job woulda eliminated this whole situation. The other problems, well that’s another cup of coffee and another 10 minutes. Look at that, I just solved the worlds problems in 20 minutes.

 

[zannej]

The fact that they got grout on the door, glue on the ceiling, on the walls, etc and generally left a mess shows they didn't respect the home or the customer. Sounds like they did a rush job and didn't care about any collateral damage. It's a good thing they didn't ruin anything really expensive. What if they'd gotten glue or grout on some expensive antique? It's just carelessness and I would never hire a company with workers like that if I knew they were that reckless.
So you are absolutely in the right on this and that company sucks.

 

[C.J.]

My buddy growing up said his entire childhood was all about trying to not get yelled at by his mom. I asked him if that’s why he was so good at his job. He pays attention to details… because he doesn’t want to get yelled at. So using that logic, if you don’t want your kids to grow up to be turds, you need to yell at them. Maybe an occasional beating thrown in the mix for good measure.

 

[CoJ]

Unfortunately the wood was backordered when the tile guy came, there was a good month in between the tile and the wood being put in. And you could tell the wood guys didn't know anything about it because the first thing that asked me when they arrived was whether they were demoing the tile... I said no guys, your company just put that tile in. :O

 

[Mark Brown]

You should have said yes and seen how that turned out

 

[CoJ]

Lol. Getting ready to do the baseboards in the kitchen and look what I found... Several nails sticking up....

Sigh.

 

[Mark Brown]

oh man, this just keeps on giving, but what it's giving no one wants.

 

[zannej]

Man, I would be pissed about the nails.

Also, I'd ask for the wood guys to write down their opinion on the tile so you can show the contractor that it's not just you that says the tile is bad.

 

[MAjwoody]

If the shop gives you shit about those concerns reach out to the flooring manufacturers. Bet they dont want their products represented that way.

 

[CoJ]

Man, I would be pissed about the nails.

Also, I'd ask for the wood guys to write down their opinion on the tile so you can show the contractor that it's not just you that says the tile is bad.

You would be surprised at how hard this is. I've contacted half a dozen flooring guys and carpenters and showed them the pics. Every single one of them has said it looks sloppy and every single one if them has refused to put that in writing. My guess is nobody wants to end up having to testify in court if it went that far...

 

[MAjwoody]

You would be surprised at how hard this is. I've contacted half a dozen flooring guys and carpenters and showed them the pics. Every single one of them has said it looks sloppy and every single one if them has refused to put that in writing. My guess is nobody wants to end up having to testify in court if it went that far...

Many installers know each other in the areas they cover. I would be reluctant to put something in writing as well because I would appear to have conflict of interest issues. I was hired to babysit a crew that was replacing a marmo job that failed but the manufacturer made the recommendation to the shop. I was careful to not appear to be working on behalf of the shop I worked for because they were competing shops.

 

[zannej]

CoJ, oh, I get it. It's like when a doctor commits malpractice and other doctors aren't willing to put it in writing or testify. We had that happen with my father. Major malpractice but not a single doctor would come forward about it. Sometimes you can get away with a sworn affidavit if they don't want to testify, but as you said, they are reluctant to do anything in writing. Probably afraid they will lose work or get some heat from shops or something.

Contacting the manufacturer might be a good idea. Send the photos, description of the sloppy work/glue everywhere, nails, in floor, etc to them and see what they say. I vaguely recall there was a lady who had such a horrible tile job done by a contractor that the manufacturer send their best flooring people out and replaced the tiles at no cost to the lady because they were so appalled at how their product had been misused. But that was in Canada. Not sure if that would ever happen in the US.

 

[CoJ]

So they ended up coming back out and replaced one tile and one board. It looks better... Not perfect but a lot better. And they knocked 500$ off. So in the end I guess I'm satisfied...