Master Bath Reno - update: essentially the end! (Finally)

[k3am]

Jan 7, 2020 19:11:34 GMT -5 winecat said:

Jan 7, 2020 19:07:30 GMT -5 k3am said:

Hahaha... no. He “sent a professional painter.”

Fantastic, right?

So... The other painters weren't professionals?  

That was my text to DH.

Whatever the case, it looks good now. There are a few places that need touch up, but beyond that it is miles better than what was there before.

[Deleted]

It baffles me that it takes you complaining about things to get them done correctly. Whatever happened to taking pride in your work and the product that you are putting out there? And the fact that this guy hasn't been to your house to check on the workers is downright infuriating.

[k3am]

Pretty sure they’re going to hate me. Just shot off this email:

—-

Okay, so here’s the list of outstanding items:

1. The walls still don’t look good and are taped off for the most egregious items. I don’t feel like I’m being picky here (I only marked off areas with bubbles, ceiling paint on the walls, areas where I can see drywall still - I did not mark areas where just the texture is off), but this is getting a bit comical. And every time that someone comes to fix the walls, things that used to look crisp and new start looking sloppy. Plus things are being damaged (the hutch is dinged up and has needed touch up paint, the closet door frames are scraped)
2. The corner of the vanity is caulked in the shower side, but not on the other side by the closet.
3. The outlet in the hutch needs to be flipped upside down - as is, we can only use one outlet.
4. Two can lights don’t work.
5. The pin so that both shower heads work at once needs to be adjusted.
6. The floor grout is still not the right color. A few grout lines are back to the original color, but most aren’t. (The floors looked great - then drywall dust went everywhere and our dark brown grout is now very light)
7. The felt lining in DD’s room on the closet (top) needs to be fixed.

Our shop vac is also missing from the garage - is this something that someone may have thought was yours?

We would really like to be done with this project, and I’m sure you’re ready to be done with us, but I also want to be satisfied with a project we’re paying over $50k for.

—-

DH is definitely “you catch more flies with honey” type, and I obviously am not. I used restraint. A lot of it.

I’m honestly ready to give up on the walls just to be done.

[sandandsea]

I think your email is good. And you aren’t being too picky. They’ve messed up big time.

[winecat]

k3am- Has the owner shown up recently? I thought you didn't think that the hutch damage could be fixed? I think you're being restrained given what's happened.

[pumpkin]

I think your email is polite and to the point. You're paying for a well finished bathroom and so far this isn't it. The owner or someone need to hear these things and rectify them. I hope this helps to get things done.

[Deleted]

I'm impressed by your restraint because my email would not have been nearly as polite. The owner of that company needs to get to your house asap and quite frankly, he needs to be there every single day, not all day, but he needs to stop in every single day until your project is done to ensure that everything is done correctly. The fact that he hasn't even shown up at this point completely baffles me. I sincerely hope that there is some where online, whether Angies List, Yelp, their personal web page, something that you can post about your experience, because this is not normal and it is not okay.

[k3am]

Ahahaha. I die. Email from the contractor:


I agree, and I am aware of drywall, paint and grout problems. Ron and the tile guy both informed me that things needed more help.
I am at a loss to explain how we manage to do such crappy work. The only way to get it all completed is having Ron do the work himself.
Only problem is that he is in charge of a couple projects so it will take us most of the week to get it all corrected.

Will that work?

The vacuum cleaner. I am sure we took that also. We have a lot those and leave them on each project so I am sure that the cleanup up guy assumed its ours and brought it back to the shop.
Do you happen to know the model number and we look for it? If not we just get you another one

[winecat]

Jan 13, 2020 8:55:56 GMT -5 k3am said:

Ahahaha. I die. Email from the contractor:


I agree, and I am aware of drywall, paint and grout problems. Ron and the tile guy both informed me that things needed more help.
I am at a loss to explain how we manage to do such crappy work. The only way to get it all completed is having Ron do the work himself.
Only problem is that he is in charge of a couple projects so it will take us most of the week to get it all corrected.

Will that work?

The vacuum cleaner. I am sure we took that also. We have a lot those and leave them on each project so I am sure that the cleanup up guy assumed its ours and brought it back to the shop.
Do you happen to know the model number and we look for it? If not we just get you another one

I wish I knew how to post gifs here.  

"Let me see.  You are way over the estimated time.  We're way over our budget.  No, that won't work.  FFS."  And what about the damage to the hutch and other issues?  

[k3am]

At this point, the hutch is... good enough. They were able to paint over the area that was nicked, and unless I'm looking closely, it's fine.

The response:

At this point, we are close to 12 weeks into the project. Unless you are 100% sure someone can get it done right, don't send them. If that means waiting for Ron to do all the work for himself, wait for Ron to do all the work, but I would hope that at this point, getting our project done takes priority. If that is not an option, I think other options need to be explored - if you have to hire another firm to get it done right, I think that's the point we've reached.

We would also appreciate it if you would personally walk through and make sure everything is done to your expectation prior to telling us it's complete or substantially complete.

[dr.girlfriend]

Jan 13, 2020 10:36:21 GMT -5 k3am said:

At this point, the hutch is... good enough. They were able to paint over the area that was nicked, and unless I'm looking closely, it's fine.

The response:

At this point, we are close to 12 weeks into the project. Unless you are 100% sure someone can get it done right, don't send them. If that means waiting for Ron to do all the work for himself, wait for Ron to do all the work, but I would hope that at this point, getting our project done takes priority. If that is not an option, I think other options need to be explored - if you have to hire another firm to get it done right, I think that's the point we've reached.

We would also appreciate it if you would personally walk through and make sure everything is done to your expectation prior to telling us it's complete or substantially complete.

I think your response is perfect.

[k3am]

We are almost entirely done! They sent the one guy they were confident could do it and he brought one younger guy that he’s training. It took until about 8pm on Friday, but we finally are confident the end is in sight.

We have a couple places for touch up, they need to fix/recolor the grout on the floor tile (that somehow the drywall dust discolored and no one can figure out how to clean), and they need to pull the pin in the shower so we can use both shower heads at once.

Then I just need to figure out some art work and we’ll call it a day. The pictures don’t do it justice - on camera it seems pretty stark, but it’s not in person.




For some reason the grout lines in the deco tile seem really obvious in this picture, but they’re not in real life.



The closet:





And in case anyone was wondering how much junk you can fit in a 39” medicine cabinet.. the answer is a lot. I signed up for FabFitFun and have an abundance of products now and it barely makes a dent. DH says I need to buy an electric toothbrush to justify the cost of the cabinet with outlets.

[mrsukyankee]

YAY! And it's about frickin' time!

[aprilsails]

That storage is amazing! Everything looks ready beautiful. I’m glad the contractor came back and has dealt with most of the deficiencies. Congrats on making it to the end!

[jamaicam]

Finally!! It looks great. I am sure you are so relieved!

[Deleted]

It looks beautiful!

[woowoo]

Looks awesome. Congrats.

[bhnumbers]

I looks really great! Definitely worth the headache

[k3am]

They came and did the "final" touchups on Monday.. and they will be back eventually to do additional touchups of their touchups because the paint doesn't match. I really can't make this stuff up.

[winecat]

k3am- What in the actual fuck? Do they not give a shit?

[k3am]

winecat, my *guess* is he either paint matched and the match was off or he used the touch up paint for the rest of the house which is (unintentionally) almost the same color but not quite.

Regardless, the owner has not responded to my email about the bad touchup. Nor has he come out and walked the job.

[winecat]

k3am- So they don't give a shit and are lazy? I'm bored and cranky so I'm going with the fact that he looked at the house paint and thought it was close enough.

[k3am]

winecat, I'm not bored or cranky and I'm at that point. The guy didn't realize he was going to even have to do touch up paint that day, and I'm sure he was just like "eh, eff this, eff them, eff eveyone" and now we are where we are.

[dr.girlfriend]

Jan 29, 2020 11:48:10 GMT -5 k3am said:

They came and did the "final" touchups on Monday.. and they will be back eventually to do additional touchups of their touchups because the paint doesn't match. I really can't make this stuff up.

Oh. My. Lord.  This reminds me of my contractor's dad, who had a "white is white" philosophy and touched up my off-white living room paint with the stark white for the trim.  Fortunately the actual contractor was like, "Yeah, no..." and repainted the whole room for me.

[thatgirl2478]

wtf? WTF? the amount of garbage you've put up with through this project and now this?!

the rest of it looks great

And you can get medicine cabinets with outlets?! time to google...

[dr.girlfriend]

Feb 1, 2020 13:53:21 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

wtf? WTF? the amount of garbage you've put up with through this project and now this?!

the rest of it looks great

And you can get medicine cabinets with outlets?! time to google...

You can also just get an outlet put in the medicine cabinet...MUCH cheaper than getting the built-in ones.

[k3am]

dr.girlfriend, I had no idea that was an option. But with the way things turned out, it would have added an extra 3 weeks onto the project. I'd have joked that we'd need to replace the medicine cabinets at least once each, but... we did that anyway.

[pickel]

I am late to the game but your bathroom looks fantastic!! I’m sorry you’re having so much trouble w the final touches though, how frustrating!

[circa1978]

k3am, Have you ever posted a link to that medicine cabinet? I'm interested...

[k3am]

Feb 17, 2020 15:30:24 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

k3am, Have you ever posted a link to that medicine cabinet? I'm interested...

PL Series Recessed or Surface Mount Frameless Medicine Cabinet with 4 Adjustable Shelves
www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/pdp/robern-pl-series-recessed-or-surface-mount-frameless-medicine-cabinet-with-4-adjustable-shelves-rbn2103.html

We have been very happy with them.