Boxwell Design Build

Chris was referred to us after doing some work for a neighbor. After seeing the job he did for them, we hired him to replace a fiberglass shower stall with custom porcelain tile shower and swinging glass door. During the design process, we never had a formal plan; instead all we received was a rough sketch with approximate dimensions. This was explained in part that until the shower was demolished, we wouldn?t know exactly were things would be. The completed shower is beautiful; it?s tiled 8 feet from floor to ceiling with a simple tile pattern and glass mosaic accent. It?s 46 inches wide and 42 inches deep. While the job was initially completed to our satisfaction, we did have few a issues during construction. During the design process however we repeatedly said that we wanted certain aspects of the shower, including the niche to be just like the job he did at the neighbors. The neighbor?s niche was approximately 3 feet tall with two shelves. The niche box that Chris initially installed in our shower was approximately 12 ? 16 inches high. It was not large enough to realistically accommodate all of items used in a shower. Chris explained the difference indicating that he had changed suppliers since completing the neighbor?s job. After a bit of back and forth, he did replace the box with a 28-inch niche with one shelf. We also had some issues with some of the tiles having chips as well as what I considered to be a aesthetic issue with the way the tiles were cut and arranged around the drain. These were all promptly resolved to our satisfaction and we signed off on the finished job on November 6, 2012. Almost immediately after using the shower we noticed that the grout had discolored, developing a haze. We completely understand that you can have hard water issues with grout, however some of the discoloration happened in places that don?t get wet such as higher in the shower and outside of the glass door. We also didn?t think hard water stains should happen so quickly. Despite trying several different methods we were unable remove the haze. With all the efforts to remove the haze we also noticed that we failed to see a chipped tile during final inspection of the shower. (See the attached picture). We were just going to ignore this but eventually we decided to mention this to Chris. We contacted Chris on November 26, 2012, asking for suggestions on the shower and he recommended a cleaner. Because of the holidays, we didn?t touch base with him again January 21, 2013, when we explained that nothing we have tried removed the haze. On January 14, 2013, he thought that it was hard water and offered to come clean the grout. On January 24, 2013, he mentioned that it might be efflorescence, which could be removed with muric acid. He then offered to come out the following week. At the same time we indicated that we had found a chipped tile in the floor and asked him to take a look at it. I would like to point out that a majority of basic communication during the entire project had taken place via text messages. This type of communication tends to lead to miscommunication and misunderstanding due to a lack of inflection and tone. After a quick exchange of text messages he said that he would be out Friday February 1, 2013, to take a look at it. At 4:30 pm on Thursday, he sent a text asking if it would ok if came out Monday instead. Because we had rearranged our schedules around the original appointment, we indicated that we needed a chance to figure out what would work. At this point the communication turned caustic. Chris sent a very unprofessional text indicating that he was confused as to what there was to think about and that he had been trying to accommodate us in any way he could. In conclusion he said he would just send us some cleaner instead. We called him the next day and indicated that we would still like him to come out at take a look at our concerns. He said that he would call us back the following week once he had a chance to take a look at his schedule. On February 20, 2013, we sent him a follow up email reiterating our concerns and the fact that we hadn?t heard back from him. In our email we explained that we understood that haze could be hard water but pointed out that the discoloration had also happened in places that didn?t get wet. As a result, we thought it might be efflorescence and not hard water. We also mentioned the chipped tile again. He again responded in a very unprofessional accusatory email in which he accused us of chipping the tile. He also opined that the white haze was not efflorescence and had to do with hard water. He recommended that we take this up with the city water department. In conclusion he indicated that we were demanding, difficult to please and that he was no longer willing to assist us. We have not heard from Chris since. Of course we were demanding. We had had hired a professional contractor and expected professional results. If you take a look at the picture of the tile, you will see that the grout clearly abuts the chip. As a result, I find it highly unlikely that we caused this. Regardless, blaming the customer probably wasn?t the most professional route. In regard to the discoloration, at this point we don?t know what caused it. We did find some technical bulletins on the manufactures web site discussing efflorescence in their product. This describes efflorescence as a splotch or white crust of film that occurs shortly after grouting. This description is very similar to what happened in our shower. If you look at the picture, you will see definite striations in the grout where the colors change abruptly. As previously mentioned, the change in this picture is above spray of the shower. While these pictures are the best example of the discoloration it happened throughout the shower. I would like to reemphasize the shower itself is gorgeous, but when we had postproduction problems, Chris wasn?t willing provide us with the expected support.

It was the worst experience of my life. I let him in my home and it ruined with a smile. Very slick guy.