Advice Please

[LLA]

Morning,

Completed laying all the tiles.

Returned when customer informed they are not happy and dont want me to complete the work. His reasons I think are unreasonable:

Those that are in more prominent positions can be removed and recut then fitted. We are talking about a few mm difference. Again I used 2.5 mm spacers so once grouted even a 1mm wider gap in the odd place will be filled by grout and not look out of place with the overall look.

He told me industry standard is to leave a 3mm gap between worksurface and tiles, which in all the years of tiling I have never heard of... I and my colleugues have allways tiled tight to the worksurface then grout and finally silicone.

Inperfections in some cuts can either be redone or rectified with grouting. Having offered both options the customer still is not happy and wants it ALL redone. This I feel is unreasonable. I have not been paid and cant be held responsible if he chooses to remove all tiles and retile, or am I wrong?

Any thoughts from other tilers and general comments please?

 

[lancenotalot]

OK,without seeing the tiles its difficult to make a judgement,
your mitres should be a s tight as poss on the trims.

Between tiles and surface I would leave 2mm for silicone and movement.

They should give you the oppurtunity to rectify probs,

Even when I haven't grouted I would expect my tiling to look pretty much spot on and not expect to hide imperfections with grout.

For the sake of 2sqm is it worth the hassel??

How long have you been tiling for?

 

[LLA]

OK thanks you leave a gap, but that is not a British standard, or is it?

 

[Richard C]

OK thanks you leave a gap, but that is not a British standard, or is it?

I always leave a 2mm gap for silicone as well; not sure if it’s a BS requirement but it’s certainly standard good practice from both an aesthetic & hygiene viewpoint.

For the sake of 2sqm... What do you mean? Too small a job??

The customer has to give you a chance to rectify & if he doesn't you would have a good case in the event of a claim but he may well argue no confidence that you could rectify it; 2 sq/m is pretty small & is it really going to be worth the hassle.

I agree that even without grouting it should look good but an imperfection is not a stumbling block. I would decide on the spot if a cut needs redoing or it is good enough and will be perfect with grouting.

I’m the same as Lance; I expect my levels, tiling lines, gaps & trim mitres to look pretty much perfect before grouting & I don’t see how you could hide an extra 1mm on a 2.5mm spacer with grout & expect it to look good. Difficult to judge without pics but, by your own admission, it’s not perfect & the customer was obviously expecting it to be so & not unreasonably so IMO.

What sort of work do you normally do; private customers will demand much higher standards than builders will normally allow you to get away with!

 

[big-all]

in my humble opinion

he is preventing you finnishing the contract
he hasnt given you reasonable chance to amend finnish the job

i think its fair to demand payment for the work so far

you need to get photographs to aid your case

if he decides to get the work finnished/redone by someone else without giving you a chance to finnish thats his problem he still needs to pay you for work so far and other reasonable out of pocket expences like materials you have for the job you cant use anywhere else

 

[jefoss]

by the sound of it, youve admitted that its not great he thinks its sh*te

i thikn for such a small job you should walk away, let him get it sorted himself if he cant be reasonable and let you come finish the job properly.


however if he is going to take you to court over payments (if it goes that far) he will NEED to write to you giving you the option to rectify at your expense, this has to be done within 30 days of job being finished (or half finished in this case) if he doesnt then court will throw case out.

you should still invoice him and keep copy, then if it does go to small claims youll have a copy of an unpaid invoice and no record of him giving you the option to come sort it out.

 

[LLA]

OK thanks guys. For the sake of it I may just walk away, BUT I need to make sure I am covered incase he tries to claim cost off me.

Any other advice?

 

[gcol]

I don't leave a gap between tile and worktop either - there's just no need IMO. The radius of the tile edge provide ample space for silicone to get under the tile.

Regarding where you should go from here.... If the guy isn't happy with what you've done so far and you yourself think that there's room for improvement, you are simply not going to get paid for the work already done, so forget that. The trouble comes with who pays for the replacement tiles. The customer will be expecting you to foot the bill and you obviously don't want to pay for new tiles and adhesive. Has the customer got any evidence to say that you actually did the work?

 

[LLA]

Hi GCol

Thanks.

 

[gcol]

I'd be inclined to write it off then. As he's not prepared to let you finish, just forget you ever heard of him.