Rate this work. Quality advice needed. Help.

[craig t]

Also how plumb where the walls to begin with? any imperfections in the wall will be shown up very clearly with mosaic tiles. An excellent plasterer is usually required before mosaic tiling of this sort!

 

[john32145]

u may say that, but his price wasnt cheap, people nowadays dont want to pay a lot of money to get work done in there house now any1 who has seen this who can blame them.:ban:

 

[BDS]

Every thing you`ve pointed out craig t,he should of known if hes a tiler and charging people good hard earned money then he should of known the problems arrising with the job from start to finish and adapted,no ifs buts or maybe`s.but thats my oppinion.

 

[brian c]

I think that you are all over reacting...what exactly is wrong with the blokes tiling?.................................................................................................................................




L. O. L :yikes:

 

[BDS]

ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha.bri

 

[The D]

Unfortunately I have to agree with highlander the work is indeed sub standard but you should not have paid the tiler for the work. The work is complete and you handed over the money that is not the action of a dissatisfied customer. The tiler should have been informed that you were unhappy with the work and given the opportunity to rectify the problems. Sad as it may be as it stands you are in the wrong.

 

[burncross]

I think that you are all over reacting...what exactly is wrong with the blokes tiling?.................................................................................................................................




L. O. L :yikes:

It was you brian, come on admit it! :11:

 

[mrquamon]

Now youve got me worried.
My girlfriend was home and paid him, I got home an hour later after he had left. It wasnt until the next day I had a proper look. Called him, left a message that I wanted to discuss it, but suspecting that I wouldnt be in a position to do anything once he was paid, I decided to stop the cheque.

Only when his cheque bounced did he call me back. I got him over for a chat, in that chat he offered to knock £30 off for not completing the grouting behind the pipes. Initially I said that I thought it worth less than £200. I moved to £250 but he wouldnt accept that. he left and I said I would consider his offer. after a few days I called him back and repeated £250 (for cash btw) he wanted it that night. I put him off until after the weekend, I expected him to chase me for it yesterday/monday.

So I started to think about handing over £250 and couldnt help thinking that I just wasnt satisfied and I would still feel annoyed - especially given I would have to look at them for the next 5 years at least!

At this point I took some photos and made this thread. Im glad I did. I was feeling pretty bad about it but you guys have confirmed that I can reasonably expect better.

Would I have paid more for a perfect job. yes. had it been exactly as specced I would happily have paid the rate, say a third day of work. I do respect skills and workmanship, and what is involved. He could have charged another day and I wouldnt have batted an eyelid. Id have been quite happy to see him still painstakingly fixing tiles late into the second day. "wow its a lot of extra fiddling to get this perfect, im going to run over a day, either you can do the grouting or I can finish with an extra days money?" would have been fine.

thanks again to all contributors.

 

[MICK the Tiler]

Firstly I'd like to say I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with your tiling project.

Secondly If you are thinking of paying him (and I hope I'm not too late) I'd just like to run a senario past you.

So you go out and but a new big screen TV It looks the goods when you unpack it and visually it fits perfect with your decor and you wondered how you ever got by without one. Then you switch it on and it does not work. so you ring up the place where you purchased it and they said we'll knock 50% off the price would that make you happy? Is that a fair deal? Of course not you want a replacement Right?

Thirdly this is what concerns me about the UK tiling system there does not seem to be any formal guidelines as to what is acceptable in terms of quality assurance. Down here In Oz if I were to do a job like that all the client would do is ring the Building services authority and mention my name then they would suspend my license until such time as I rectified the situation giving me 28 days to do so. If I don't then my license will be cancelled and I can no longer work for the public and my faulty workmanship would be placed in a public forum for all to see ruining my buisness.

So to me the job is worthless and should not be paid for. Let him sue you he will not win.

 

[Polished]

Hi I don't know what others might think of regarding this suggestion but has the Tiler offered to correct what you are unhappy with ?

I think (and others will shoot me for this suggestion 🙂 ) that the Tiler should be afforded the opportunity to correct any mistakes he/she may have made etc at his/her own cost.

The sale of goods & services act is very clear on what constitutes a suppliers obligations regarding skill and care regarding the provision of a service.

I don't know where it stands regarding the stopping of payment - you need to speak to your solicitor regarding that.

I would not be inclined to give my personal opinion on the quality of the workmanship but if this were to proceed legally you will need to provide an expert report regarding the installation. If the tiler is not in agreement with rectifying the problems you have identified I suggest you speak with your solicitor and to Consumer Direct who will be happy to give you advice.

 

[Grace'sDad]

Terrible job and you would win out in court. No doubt about it.
Agree with Mick, we are all pretty unprotected here in the UK.

 

[doug boardley]

personally I wouldn't give him the opportunity to put it right, if he can do something like that when he's getting paid, what's his standard gonna be like when he's not.!:ban:

 

[andy-p]

personally I wouldn't give him the opportunity to put it right, if he can do something like that when he's getting paid, what's his standard gonna be like when he's not.!:ban:

yeh i agree with doug here this guy wouldnt be setting foot back in my door, no way is he a real tiler...

 

[marc1106]

take photos, guys business card and a call to trading standards for false advertising, misleading selling tactics, id Personally push for getting it done right at his expense, by someone else!

 

[Fekin]

I'd say it looks quite on par for a DIY job done by someone with little DIY skills.

 

[Polished]

Hi mrquamon - to close the loop from this on my side and why i made the suggestion. By offerring him the oppertunity to make good the work at his own expense you stand a stronger case if he does decide to take a legal route in order to get his money, and the same applies from your point of view if you decide to pursue for compensation after getting someone else to re-do the work - you can then demonstrate that you acted in a reasonable manner , that you pointed out that you were not happy with the finished article and afforded the person the oppertunity to correct the defects to your satisfaction.

 

[brian c]

It was you brian, come on admit it! :11:

my tiling isnt that good...lol:dizzy2:

 

[oldgit]

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.

ive only read the first page of this thread so someone may have already told you if you stop a chq there is not a court in the land that will go in your favour.
you now need to pay the man pronto and then negotiate from there.
the work is **** by the way.

 

[Ultimate Tiling]

I would be inclined to visit all the tile shops around your area and leave them all a set of photos of this Diy'ers work with his business cards attached. :ban:
Make sure he doesnt get anymore work, no way should you have to pay him, he should be paying compo for that terrible work.
He's charges full pro tiler prices and should have delivered the quality to match.

 

[oldgit]

the tiler should have been honest with you and himself firstly he should have told you the tiles were rubbish and that he would not be able to get them up even,its not really the tilers fault if the tiles are not spread even on the sheets,that said if he has made no comment regarding this,and he would have known how bad they were after 4 sheets max he is accepting that he can create a decent job.
you wouldnt believe the amount of jobs i look at or turn up to do and the tiles are bent or odd sizes,what do you do the punter thinks you are talking crap and bbq wouldnt sell bent sizey tiles so you either do the job ie:like yours,you tell the punter about the tiles and he states just lay them there be alright,you tell the punter you aint working with them tiles,you then lose 2 days work and some other bod comes along and fixes them they then look crap anyway and all youve done is lose money.
im not condoning his work but he may have an argument in court that you supplied the tiles if there not even on the sheets that is not his problem if he has put them up flat and cut neatly he has worked with the tiles supplied,its not really a tilers job to stanley the sheet to try to get the tiles even,ok maybe the odd tile. this could well be his argument in court.
dark grout is the worse thing about the job if he used white the job would have looked 100% better for starters.
did he price you for laying mosaic or was this sprung on him when he got there?

i dont want to bang on about course tilers and time served but this is what experience is about,a good tiler would have charged a lot more and stanley cut and made sure it was puker or he would have walked away,personaly looking at the tiles i would have left it to someone else to do,you couldnt possibly have done the job that bad if the tiles were good.

 

[andy-p]

well i wouldnt pay him oldgit !! you are kinda making excuses for him , bottom line you are the professional and you carry the can , take another look at the picture and sight down the tiles , its like the roller coaster at blackpool , you cant blame the tiles..

 

[oldgit]

well i wouldnt pay him oldgit !! you are kinda making excuses for him , bottom line you are the professional and you carry the can , take another look at the picture and sight down the tiles , its like the roller coaster at blackpool , you cant blame the tiles..

i wouldnt pay him either,but the law or any court would make you pay him.
with regard to your opinion on the tiling looking down the tiles it shows how bad the tiler is,it also shows how bad the tiles are from left to right look how quick it starts to gain,in the picture with the sockets look on the right the upright line is virtually right within 4 tiles the joints are gone,the top of the top sheet in this picture (im guessing its 2 sheets high) and the bottom of the bottom sheet show imo that the sheets are wider at one end either that or the tiles are smaller.
this dont make it right what the tiler done, but if he is and he must be inexperienced it shows why he could not control the tiles.
the best place to have stuck these tiles was back in the car and back to the shop.

 

[craig1010]

Oh dear......

Not only did he over-charge, he left a very amature finish. Whether you can legally cancel the cheque or not, if I were in this position, I'd let him persue me for the money, and get plenty of images to re-enforce my case.
If this were on a building site on a new build home, I don't doubt he'd be told to re-do the job.

It would cost him far more than £300 to get you into a court. I'd be surprised if he took it that far.

 

[mikethetile]

the tiler should have been honest with you and himself firstly he should have told you the tiles were rubbish and that he would not be able to get them up even,its not really the tilers fault if the tiles are not spread even on the sheets,that said if he has made no comment regarding this,and he would have known how bad they were after 4 sheets max he is accepting that he can create a decent job.
you wouldnt believe the amount of jobs i look at or turn up to do and the tiles are bent or odd sizes,what do you do the punter thinks you are talking crap and bbq wouldnt sell bent sizey tiles so you either do the job ie:like yours,you tell the punter about the tiles and he states just lay them there be alright,you tell the punter you aint working with them tiles,you then lose 2 days work and some other bod comes along and fixes them they then look crap anyway and all youve done is lose money.
im not condoning his work but he may have an argument in court that you supplied the tiles if there not even on the sheets that is not his problem if he has put them up flat and cut neatly he has worked with the tiles supplied,its not really a tilers job to stanley the sheet to try to get the tiles even,ok maybe the odd tile. this could well be his argument in court.
dark grout is the worse thing about the job if he used white the job would have looked 100% better for starters.
did he price you for laying mosaic or was this sprung on him when he got there?

i dont want to bang on about course tilers and time served but this is what experience is about,a good tiler would have charged a lot more and stanley cut and made sure it was puker or he would have walked away,personaly looking at the tiles i would have left it to someone else to do,you couldnt possibly have done the job that bad if the tiles were good.

og is talking sense here, the courts know nothing about tiling and will take the view that if the tiles were at fault and couldnt have been set better the tiler is due his money as he completed the best job he could under the circumstances

now we all know that we should stop as soon as the problem arises and ask the client wether they want that finish ,pay extra to fix each tile seperataly or to return the remainder in exchange for a different tile

this tiler didnt raise the problem and give the client the oppurtunity to resolve te issue

the tiler has been given the oppurtunity to correct the faulty work but has claimed there is no fault other than some missed grout

so in short the tiler as the professional is at fault for not highlighting the inferior nature of the tiles

dont worry about not paying him, if he wants to come back and hack them off..............let him

he wont sue you as he knows he wont win as you will counterclaim for putting his work right

chalk this one up to experiance and go to a reccomended tiler in future

 

[LM Ceramics]

poor tiling by someone inexperienced or just a lazy tiler very shocking the fact you give him a cheque for it is unbelieveable never used them tiles before and i know some cheap tiles dont give great finishes but a little more attention to detail was required the

those tiles look awful and the black grout makes it worse we as tilers can only make the best of what we have got but that is shocking:yikes::yikes::yikes::yikes:

 

[lucius]

The bit i dont get is where did you get him from, was he reccomended, have you seen his work before ?It was a 2 day job why didnt you stop him on the first day honestly mate the bloke is obviously a tosser but you have to lay some blame on yourself for letting it get that far. As for people talking about small claims courts etc forget it this bloke wont care the best thing you done was to stop the cheque but now you must bite the bullet and start again and if it was me i would be round his house and puncture him a bit.
Lucius

 

[Colour Republic]

the tiler should have been honest with you and himself firstly he should have told you the tiles were rubbish and that he would not be able to get them up even,its not really the tilers fault if the tiles are not spread even on the sheets,that said if he has made no comment regarding this,and he would have known how bad they were after 4 sheets max he is accepting that he can create a decent job.
you wouldnt believe the amount of jobs i look at or turn up to do and the tiles are bent or odd sizes,what do you do the punter thinks you are talking crap and bbq wouldnt sell bent sizey tiles so you either do the job ie:like yours,you tell the punter about the tiles and he states just lay them there be alright,you tell the punter you aint working with them tiles,you then lose 2 days work and some other bod comes along and fixes them they then look crap anyway and all youve done is lose money.
im not condoning his work but he may have an argument in court that you supplied the tiles if there not even on the sheets that is not his problem if he has put them up flat and cut neatly he has worked with the tiles supplied,its not really a tilers job to stanley the sheet to try to get the tiles even,ok maybe the odd tile. this could well be his argument in court.
dark grout is the worse thing about the job if he used white the job would have looked 100% better for starters.
did he price you for laying mosaic or was this sprung on him when he got there?

i dont want to bang on about course tilers and time served but this is what experience is about,a good tiler would have charged a lot more and stanley cut and made sure it was puker or he would have walked away,personaly looking at the tiles i would have left it to someone else to do,you couldnt possibly have done the job that bad if the tiles were good.

This is a an old thread and after looking at the pictures my first thoughts were the mosic was poorly applied to the backing sheet but it seems that oldgit has already writen my post for me

Where I think the tiler is at fault is that he should have stopped after the first couple of sheets (as oldgit says, he would have known there and then that they weren't up to scratch) and told you the problem not just carried on regardless. He was charging a rate that wasn't expensive but is enough for him to take extra care that the job is done to a good standard regardless of any delay in completing the job.

 

[Andrew M]

Very poor workmanship,compounded by poor quality mosaics, my advise is start again but spend a little more on better quality tiles, If you are determined to use mosaics spread a few sheets out an a flat surface and make sure you are happy regarding spacing etc, don't even think about paying the guy by the way😳

 

[bonemachine]

surely this is a windup. Id contact the tv show, cowboy bodgers......... take the lot down and start again, better to cut your losses than to have to face that every day