Need Help: Is This Tiling Works Acceptable To You?

[Renosotong 0]

Hello Fellow reno mates,

Just wanted to seek your opinion and advice on the following tiling job done by our contractor.

We are unhappy with the quality of the works. Please see for yourself.

Are we too demanding or is it really acceptable?

If not acceptable, what can we do?

a) I would think the flooring would have to be hacked again? Not sure whether patching up will be ok?

b) Ask the contractor to redo FOC? Is that possible?

c) Accept and swallow the bitter pill?

Or is there anything else we can do?...We feel a bit cornered with not much option on this since the tiling and reno contract have been "carved in stone"....

Thank you very much for your help,

Reno sotong

[Tiler Seng 57]

Hello Fellow reno mates,

Just wanted to seek your opinion and advice on the following tiling job done by our contractor.

We are unhappy with the quality of the works. Please see for yourself.

Are we too demanding or is it really acceptable?

If not acceptable, what can we do?

a) I would think the flooring would have to be hacked again? Not sure whether patching up will be ok?

b) Ask the contractor to redo FOC? Is that possible?

c) Accept and swallow the bitter pill?

Or is there anything else we can do?...We feel a bit cornered with not much option on this since the tiling and reno contract have been "carved in stone"....

Thank you very much for your help,

Reno sotong

Hi Sir,

Are these the only affected area? if yes then Reno contractor should redo with their own cost.

If Not, they are still responsible to redo which is normal practise in the market.

Try meet up with their Boss to get further advise.

[JanK 1]

Yours definetely don't look right!! The tiles are crooked and the gaps not staight. Get ur contractor to redo..

[KittyJems 0]

Oh dear. The tiling works looks poorly done. Please get your contractor to redo. After all you paid him to do a good job. And I believe the rectification costs should be borne by your contractor cos it's his men who messed up.

[Niie 0]

Hi Renosotong

I understand your concerns as I am facing the same issue too. There are stain marks on the tiles in my living room and my contractor blamed me for 'creating' those stains. I told my contractor about the uneven tiles and grouting problems (some tiles have no grouting at all and some groutings are coming out due to the shaky tiles) and he said there is nothing he can do. The grouting in my toilets is yellow in colour. When I asked, the reply I received was that they were experimenting with the colour of the grouting. Why must they experiment in my toilet?

Anyway, I agree with the rest of the renomates. I believed that your contractor should bear full responsibility. He should rectify them at no cost. Hope everything goes well for you.

Is it possible for you to update us on the status?

[Renosotong 0]

Many thanks for your replies. Things are much better now and thanks all for your support in agreeing that this tiling job was really poor!

Hi Niie,

I just saw your other post on this forum about your contractor. Really sorry to hear about that.

We also had our fair share of headaches and sleepless nights with our contractor and that is why we decided to drop the guy off and did the remaining works on our own by getting the direct, real and honest people doing the actual jobs ourselves.

In your case (from your other post), i think it is a bit too late to get somebody else to do the works because you have already moved in and probably have paid up for 95% of the whole reno costs.

Do you have a retention fee left from the contract?

I don't think that CASE will be able to offer much help and assistance really.

What I can help you here is to give you some personal advice (which could or could not help in your situation but however did help in our case):

1) Document each and every issue that you had with the contractor (photos, conversations, emails, phone calls he did not pick up, etc.).

2) Work out a proper timeline of events.

3) Seek legal advice (you can call a lawyer and some of them might be able to give you some suggestions and pointers whether you have a strong case or not). FYI, there are some CCs that provide a free legal advice but you probably have to call and make an appointment...we didn't try that btw since we were lucky to have a friend to help us in that).

4) What we did for the poor workmanship of the tile works, is that we engaged an outside person (tiler in our case) to come and assess the works. Be warned that their opinion is to be taken with a pinch of salt - since obviously they also would like to get your business. For us, it was useful because we got a better understanding of why the works were done so poorly (due to overlay of tiles and why our contractor did not want to rectify - because it would damage the waterproofing seals and void our warranty).

With the above, you will be better prepared and equipped when you will eventually talk to your contractor (especially after he gets a lawyer's letter on his desk).

The other alternative, is to just forget about your contractor (that will cost you a lot of time wasted in pursuing this matter and you just have to ask yourself whether it would be worth your time and effort really).

You can get a tiler/plumber/carpenter to rectify these poor jobs wherever possible but of course this would entail more costs....

so therefore, it is really whether you have the time to fight your case (which can drag for months) or to move on from that bad experience.

We did both but for us we were at the half way through our contract.

Hope this helps,

if you have any questions, pm me and i'll try to help as much as i can.

Our home reno has also been delayed but we are very much happier the way things are going now really.

Be strong!

Reno Sotong

[joshdes 1]

Many thanks for your replies. Things are much better now and thanks all for your support in agreeing that this tiling job was really poor!

Hi Niie,

I just saw your other post on this forum about your contractor. Really sorry to hear about that.

We also had our fair share of headaches and sleepless nights with our contractor and that is why we decided to drop the guy off and did the remaining works on our own by getting the direct, real and honest people doing the actual jobs ourselves.

In your case (from your other post), i think it is a bit too late to get somebody else to do the works because you have already moved in and probably have paid up for 95% of the whole reno costs.

Do you have a retention fee left from the contract?

I don't think that CASE will be able to offer much help and assistance really.

What I can help you here is to give you some personal advice (which could or could not help in your situation but however did help in our case):

1) Document each and every issue that you had with the contractor (photos, conversations, emails, phone calls he did not pick up, etc.).

2) Work out a proper timeline of events.

3) Seek legal advice (you can call a lawyer and some of them might be able to give you some suggestions and pointers whether you have a strong case or not). FYI, there are some CCs that provide a free legal advice but you probably have to call and make an appointment...we didn't try that btw since we were lucky to have a friend to help us in that).

4) What we did for the poor workmanship of the tile works, is that we engaged an outside person (tiler in our case) to come and assess the works. Be warned that their opinion is to be taken with a pinch of salt - since obviously they also would like to get your business. For us, it was useful because we got a better understanding of why the works were done so poorly (due to overlay of tiles and why our contractor did not want to rectify - because it would damage the waterproofing seals and void our warranty).

With the above, you will be better prepared and equipped when you will eventually talk to your contractor (especially after he gets a lawyer's letter on his desk).

The other alternative, is to just forget about your contractor (that will cost you a lot of time wasted in pursuing this matter and you just have to ask yourself whether it would be worth your time and effort really).

You can get a tiler/plumber/carpenter to rectify these poor jobs wherever possible but of course this would entail more costs....

so therefore, it is really whether you have the time to fight your case (which can drag for months) or to move on from that bad experience.

We did both but for us we were at the half way through our contract.

Hope this helps,

if you have any questions, pm me and i'll try to help as much as i can.

Our home reno has also been delayed but we are very much happier the way things are going now really.

Be strong!

Reno Sotong

I made the tiler redo the areas which I'm not satisfied, especially in areas which I specify e.g. skirting height. They provide the 'standard' height etc. If everything is standard, design is dead. At least my ID is willing to accept that it's their oversight, and they are in the process of rectification.