No Bathrooms Left in the Home
Well, it almost ended as such.
It all started with a phone call from a friend. He informed me that a friend of his just had this horrible experience doing a bathroom renovation for 3 of her bathrooms. A master bathroom, a main bathroom, a powder room, and a front entrance.
Apparently, she hired someone who did not know what he was doing and things went really badly. She ended up firing that contractor and now had her house turned apart and had no bathrooms in her home to use.
Usually, I’m very cautious about stories like these because there is always more than one side to a story. My friend asked me if he could pass our number to her and I reluctantly agreed.
Stepping in to Turn the Bathroom Reno Around
I am usually very hesitant to go and fix problems after somebody else as it’s very difficult to do a good job starting halfway. Most people will want to reuse some existing materials and oftentimes it’s a request for a patch-work, which we never do. But I agreed to talk to her on the phone and asked my friend to pass our number.
Uncovering the Real Damage
Shortly after as I was about to enter another client’s house for an on-site bathroom quote, I received a phone call from a cheerful lady. She informed me that she is the customer whose house had been torn apart and is now without a single bathroom in her home. We chatted for a bit and it was clear to me that she was just an unfortunate customer who had met an incompetent, unethical fly-by-night contractor who took her money, and did a horrible, poor job that needed to be gutted and started from scratch. This is what I had to regrettably suggest to her expecting that she would want to save some part of this project. To my surprise, she agreed to that and even offered to demolish the horribly installed tiles, tub that for some unknown reason was cut down by the previous contractor and anything else that was installed by him.
Fast forward a few days later, we provided quotes for this project and upon their acceptance, visited her home. The work done was remarkably shady. There was no waterproofing, the contractor did his own plumbing (which I’m sure would have leaked at the first use), no uncoupling membrane, and even cosmetic tile was poorly done, grout was missing. All in all, it was a bad job.
Second Time’s the Charm with Proper Bathroom Contractors
We measured both bathrooms and went over the list of materials our client would need to purchase again. The positive note is that most of it was in stock at a local Bath Depot store, Tiles were in store at Centura Tile and with all of that, we could technically start right away. We started the same week, and because most items were arriving at different times, we pretty much worked on all 3 areas of the home at the same time. This bathroom was finished first. It’s a typical 3-piece bathroom with a tub and tile combination and a beautiful tiled floor. The vanity was a 36” Prestige Collection solid wood vanity from Bath Depot with a solid quartz top
Our client took an active role in not only choosing the tiles, but in the design and layout to create an elegant pattern on the walls. Though we usually don’t do that, knowing her previous experience, we wanted to go above and beyond to help her feel the difference in this renovation and allow her the enjoyment of the worry-free and cool process of participating in a bathroom renovation.
From Nightmare to Success
We are very grateful to Amy for entrusting her home to us and giving us the chance to help her in her time of need to turn this project into something positive.
We know this bathroom will be enjoyed by our client and her family for many years to come.
Thank you for the opportunity and allowing us to make a positive impact in your home.
Lessons Learned
To our audiences, we share these stories not to boast about our success – it’s to share experiences that you can potentially learn from. Unfortunately we hear far too often of nightmare bathroom renovations gone wrong and although this may seem like stories from home reno shows, it really does happen.
We want to share Amy’s experience as a learning lesson for those who are planning a bathroom remodel. There are certain red flags to look for with contractors, but it’s important to choose the right team behind you.
Sincerely,
Ben W.
The iBathrooms Team
