Help!: Rate this work. Quality advice needed. Help.

[mrquamon]

Hi everyone,

wonder if you could help me a little, advise me please.

I have just had some work completed in my kitchen, small 1inch by 2inch ceramic wall tiles (provided free issue) on open woven sheets in a stretcher pattern, white, on 5.6 square metres of wall. The kitchen is 95% refurbed, lighting in place etc.

Because I am not sure of my skill levels in tiling and wanting a very high quality finish I hired a professional.

The quote and subsequent bill was for 2 days, fee: 330 + 45 for adhesive/grout, two days to complete. It took him 7 + 5 hours.

See the photos for the results.
No1 shows the top line looking back towards cupboards, apparently no level was established.

No2 shows the variation in grout width, from 1.5mm to over 5mm. The tiles adjacent to the wall and behind the pipes are not grouted at all. note the variation in width and the face-normal rotation of some tiles. note the lack of horizontal (or parallel) lines. also, vertical lines are not in line for every other course.

No3 shows the vertical misalignment on a section 1200mm high from skirting level. this is the same patch of wall as photo 1. The grout on the floor was advised (with a half empty bag presented also) as the grout colour required. We asked for pale grey grout and got a fairly dark grey. of course the paler grout may have mitigated some of the bad alignments.


I have other photos if needed.
The problems are:
grout is very much the wrong colour
uneven line widths, not plumb, not level across courses.
grout has variable colour and cavities, adhesive shows through in places.
is it normal to sweep grout upto accessories so they are set in it (and wonkily at that (they can be set ok as before))

What is a reasonable conclusion to draw? any comments?

many thanks.

[robbbin]

Sorry to say but crap hope you haven't paid him

[john32145]

Looks poor m8 did u pay him?

[foxman]

This is bad workmanship, call him back and tell him its no where near good enough. Its a lot of money to pay for this poor job.

[mrquamon]

I stopped his cheque after the grout dried (I wondered if it might lighten, since I was expecting, and asked for, pale grey) and had a close look at it. I tried to phone him then, but didnt hear from him until his cheque bounced. Now he wants paying.
He came round and made various excuses, claiming it a good job.

I havent paid yet... what is reasonable? (I would pretty much like to take them off and start again with someone else!)

Thanks for you replies.

[top tiler]

shocking these tiles can very on the sheets but your first photo he didnt even use a leval where on earth did you find him? was you not worried when he turned up on a horse and arsked to be called zorro should not have been paid

[david campbell]

looks pretty poor,but instead of ripping it all of could you not strip some of the mosaic from the top and level it up,cant see if that would make it look better from the photos but it might be worth a try and save you some money!

[top tiler]

if you take them off he should be paying for them , then sue hi under the trade discrimation act for calling himself a tiler

[john32145]

it depends where u r not supposed to discuss prices on here but if i done a job like that i would sell my tools, there is no excuse for work like that, dont no what ur diy skills r but i bet u wish u had done it yourself. The way i see it i would say he's due u money, dont let him back in your house.

[robbbin]

As I said pretty poor if you asked him for a light grout he should have provided a sample Mapei is one FOR EXAMPLE He is not I repeat not aTiler You have pics of his work I WOULD PAY HIM NOTHING tell him to take you to small claims he does not have chance of winning his case

[Sir Ramic]

Assuming that you brought to his attention the items you have pointed out to us, i am eager to know what his excuses were.

[knightonthetile]

comming accross this standard of work more and more these days, let him take you to court has,nt a leg to stand on !!!!!!!!!!!!!! good luck

[Highlander]

Hi there the work is sub standard however if the tiler is switched on you maybe in trouble for stopping his cheque. As far as I am aware and this was told to me by a lawyer it is illegal to stop a cheque if you have handed it over for work completed. In other words if you have not complained to the tiler for the poor work completed and handed over the cheque as payment it is against the law to stop it. Once paid into the bank and the cheque bounces you would then be laible to any charges incured by the so called tradesman. If you have a problem and you do you should pursue him by letter and then if he did not respond you then can follow the legal route. Mind you your guy might be not switched on lets hope.

Check it out with citizen advice or someone like that.

All the best the job does need started again though.


Gary

[LM Ceramics]

one word CRAP that is really bad work there are tilers out there with no work on and idiots like this produce work like that but as highlander says you gave him the cheque so he could have you there

[marc1106]

im a kitchen fitter that tiles! not a pro tiler, but that is SHOCKING, If i tiled that badly id quit! i know its not what you want to hear but id say get it off and start again!

[swindon]

I am a new tiler and I appreciate you posting these photos.
It gives me some personal satisfaction in knowing I would never carry out a job like this.

[BDS]

I`ve one word for ya,,,SHOCKING,,,thats terrible get him to redo it until its done properly at,,HIS,,cost not yours.

[Rad2474]

Shame you never asked on here first for a tiler there's fixers on here from all over the country,post where you are from if you want it redone,someone on here will do it for you.

[mrquamon]

Guys thanks for your replies. I dont feel so bad about not wanting to pay now... Next time I want something doing I will look here first in future...

Ive got a bathroom & wc needs doing in the near future and I will be wanting plumb and level work.......

Really, thank you all very much.

[garretridge]

gives us all a bad name i could have done better even before my course sue the w****r my 6 year old could do better!

[DERBER]

Alls been said...........

[mz30]

To be fair,i have used them tiles in the past and they were probably the worst tiles i have ever used.

I.e the sheets were all over the place,the joints were diffrent thickness.

But to be perfectly frank,nothing that a stanley knife and a spirit level woul'dnt sort out.

Oh and by the looks he's used black grout which will show off every single defect in his work.

You were right in not paying him,but you have to give him the opportunity to put it right as what was mentioned earlier in the thread you paid him for work completed and then stopped the check,if he takes you to court,you may lose and end up paying out a lot more.

Good luck with what you decide.

[Fred]

Shocking. I can't believe he reckons its a good job.

[CJ]

All you can say is

[Prem Tiler]

now i'm not a tiler yet i've only got 4 jobs under my belt and my wife was the boss on all them but from what i know of my own skills 'I'm better than him!'

I've got to say looking at those tiles there is soooo much scope to screw up so I kinda think the price is justified but only if he had taken the time required to do the job well.

[geordie_pride]

Absolutey shocking! If I had "tiled" that I would be ashamed to ask for payment, never mind try to pass it off as a good job!

[MissTiler]

Unbelieveable. How can he say its good, obviously has no pride in his work, or is completely blind!

missyT

[faithhealer]

I think we have all learnt something here if we come across those tiles

[john32145]

wat wear ur glasses while working

[craig t]

I have also used those tiles and the tolerances and misalignment meant that i ran over on the job. My finished result was a lot better than that rubbish but it took a lot of extra time effort and patience. Can I ask how you would have reacted if on day one the tiler stated these problems and said it would be an extra day or day and a half to complete the work to the required high standard and charged accordingly?

It is impossible to examine every tile when quoting and i believe i needed to remove about 40% of the tiles form the mesh and fit individually. Which again takes time and money. I will not defend that workmanship but if you look at the pictures a lot of those tiles are not connected to the mesh anywhere near plumb, and he prob never had the time patience or professional pride to sort this!