Before he started the bathroom job, he kept telling me he didn't like epoxy grout. I finally asked him if he wanted to do it or not, because I could get tile men from the tile store who have worked for me before and done good jobs. He said he could do it; he just didn't like it. When the shower was done, I had to take a scraper and scrape the face of each tile because, though you could only see a couple places where grout residue was left, if you ran your hand over the tiles, they were rough to the touch. He was very accommodating at the beginning and during the early jobs. However, I found that his mood deteroirated on the big job and his sarcasm increased. I think his surliness was caused by the fact that the job took longer than he anticipated. He rarely put in a full day here, going to other jobs "because he couldn't start anything else here". On some days that was true but on other days, I thought he could have done something else to keep the job moving. In summary, he did a good job on the small jobs that only took a few hours. The tiles were placed and cut well but the finishing work was not good. I think corners were cut to make up the time. Through the years I've had jobs done in two different houses and never have I had messy workers till this job. I had to touch up walls after floors were laid and again after other work was done. He didn't like the way I painted the bathroom so he touched it up and put paint on the ceiling edge, which I went over. My work may have been a tad short of the wall edge but it looked better than having paint on the ceiling. There are marks on the stairs where I cleaned grout off the carpet and it didn't all come off. It's the same carpet that has the hole I made by not having the lid on tightly. The amount spent, above, is the approximate labor quote for all the jobs he did here. ----------- It's 11/10 and I'm still scraping the slate from my August job, trying to get the grout off. I am not exaggerating when I say that some of the tiles I've gone over as many as 8 times, getting a little off each time. I've used a metal scraper, diluted muriatic acid and just now tried a wire brush. NEVER let this man work in your house. Before the big job, I recommended him to a friend and he installed a counter badly and she will never use him again. It's now 3/2014 and I just got an estimate to tear up the shower and floor so that I can get rid of the shoddy work done by this contractor. I'll be set back $6900 but I won't keep finding other mistakes and will have a quality job when it's done. It sickens me to have to spend it but I cannot stand to use the bathroom since all I see are the mistakes and careless work. The comment I made above about the tiles being placed well is not true; it's one of the discoveries I made in the intervening time. He didn't even install the threshold correctly, making the tile job more difficult. It should have been centered within the door jamb, not sticking into the bathroom. On the ceiling of the shampoo nook, there's a big glob of grout that wasn't wiped off. There was grout left on the inside of the shower curb so that it always looks dirty. The drain plate is sticking up and there's a depression around it where the water won't drain out because he didn't know how to install river stone tile. The bench tiles were cut and placed wrong, leaving at least a 3/8" gap between the seat and wall that is badly grouted. About half the epoxy grout was wiped off, leaving just mortar. So the grout lines are two different colors. Transparent caulk was not used on the shower door installation and there was a gap left, allowing water to leak out. At the end of a grout run on the outside, he didn't bother to wipe off a "rooster tail" glob of grout and that's now frozen in time. The new tile man said that, "He wasn't much for finish work, was he?". He wasn't much for any kind of detail work at all, start, finish or in between. So, I will have this mess torn out and after I spend over $6200 will have a truly beautiful bathroom. Do NOT let him near your home for anything! With luck, this will be done before summer arrives. I can't wait to get the nightmare over, even if it means spending more money. It will be worth the peace of mind.
Description of Work: I first hired Bob to modify an existing shelf to accommodate a larger over the stove microwave. He did a good job. I then had him put up shelving and a counter in my pottery studio, overhead storage in the cellar and a storm door. All work was done well. During his time spent here, I learned that he did remodeling jobs so I hired him to remove parquet flooring in my hall and install slate and remodel my bathroom. That is where the trouble started. He showed me photos of other jobs he did. Here's the problems I had: 1) He left grout on the face of the slate that is still there, though he returned to try to make it better - after it hardened. I've been scraping, tile by tile to try to get it off and doubt I ever will. His second trip improved it a little but the area near my back door and half bath is horrible. 2) In the bathroom job, he removed a tub surround and installed a tile shower, a tile floor, a new toilet, frameless shower door and shower faucet. The black floor tile has white spots splattered on it that I am not able to get off, grout was on the walls, my hall carpet and also downstairs on the walls where the slate was done. Something was spilled on the hardware for the shower, etching the finish off. I think he forgot that he had bullnose left over and lined the shampoo nook with tile from the home improvement store, rather than using the high end bullnose tiles that were buried in his mess of tools and supplies. When I questioned him about it, he said that the bullnose was being saved because he didn't know how much the bench would take. My memory later was that the nook edge was the last thing done as far as the tile went, meaning that the bench was finished. The hardware for the doors was apparently installed backwards, according to the manufacturer, so the doors don't line up at the top. 3) In attempting to get rid of the white spots, I brought a solvent upstairs, put it on the hall floor where it tipped over and ate a hole in the carpet down to the backing. Technically, that isn't his fault, but if he cleaned off the spots when he should have, the bottle wouldn't have been on the second floor. New hall carpet wasn't in the budget and there's not enough left to cover it. 4) To his credit, he offered to tear up the floor tiles and buy new at his expense and install them. By then my new bedroom carpet was installed and, since neatness wasn't his strong suit, I thought about it and decided that I'd live with the white spots rather than have him mess up the new carpet or do a worse job. 5) After he returned to try to get the grout off the hall slate and my efforts to remove more failed, along with the above bathroom issues, I sent him an email complaining about everything and saying I wish I had the money, I'd hire somebody to tear up the hall and re-install it. He told me to take the $600 that was left for his remaining work and hire somebody to finish for me and remove the old counters, install the new sinks after the counter people installed the counters and the new guy could do the backsplash because I'm never going to be satisfied. 6) There is no place that I can look in the downstairs hall job or the master bath where I can say it's done well and nicely. 7) I installed cardboard shims under the new toilet because it wobbled. He said he wasn't going to fuss with that till he put the replacement floor in. Since he fired me before the job got done, the shims remain. 8) I will now have to find somebody willing to come in and try to clean up another contractor's messes or learn to live with it.
Rating Category
Rating out of 5
quality
2.0
value
3.0
professionalism
1.0
responsiveness
4.0
punctuality
5.0
$5,000
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RWL Painting & Handyman is currently rated 1 overall out of 5.