A couple of things... "Grout" is probably deck mud. Could be regional, could be poor word choice on the part of your new contractor. "Deck mud" is a lean portland cement mixture, generally 5 parts sand to 1 part portland cement. Mixed with just enough water so it sticks together like beach sand used to build a sand castle. It's not concrete, it's not mortar, it's not grout, it's deck mud, or dry pack. Saving the "pan" for re-use? Nope. Have them provide you with a new membrane. Take a good look at the cross section of the shower that terricks posted. If the membrane is flat on the floor but still water-tight, all you're going to get is a slow drying shower floor. The mud bed under the tile may saturate. The grout may stay wet for extended periods and mildew. You might see wet grout at the bottom courses of wall tile due to water wicking up the walls a bit. But the curb? The curb structure should still be as dry as a bone. There's either a leak in the membrane; in the membrane itself, at the clamping drain, in a corner, or the membrane is not properly detailed despite being flat on the floor. Despite the membrane being flat on the floor, the curb should not be wet and blowing apart due to swelling. So there is no way on earth they can reuse the "pan" or membrane. Also look at Terrick's graphic, where the membrane turns up the shower walls. The membrane should run 8" to 10" up the shower walls. You can see that the membrane goes against the wall studs. The poly or felt runs down the wall and laps over the membrane, The cement board or tile backer board then goes on the wall, but does not get screwed or nailed where the membrane is. Remember, no fasteners through the membrane. The only places where the membrane gets fastened is at the top edge where it runs up the walls to secure it to the wall studs. On the outside face of the curb. And it also gets clamped at the drain. So how in the world are they going to remove the membrane without removing the bottom rows of wall tile and cutting away the bottom section of tile backer board? "He will construct a new curb is damaged"? The curb is most definitely damaged. The wood most likely expanded due to moisture absorption, right? So that wood will not be used either. What Bill needs to do is: 1) demo the curb to the membrane. 2) Demo the shower floor, remove tile and deck mud to expose the membrane. 3) remove the bottom few rows of wall tile up about 10" to 12" above the height of the shower drain. 4) Cut the tile backer board horizontally a couple of inches below the bottom of the remaining course of wall tile. Careful when cutting, as you don't want to cut into the felt or poly (6-mil thick polyethylene plastic sheeting or #15 tar paper). 5) Fold up the poly or felt and tape it to the tile higher up on the wall. 6) Undo the clamping drain and remove the membrane. Toss it, it's no good. 7) Make any repairs to the exposed subfloor. Then rebuild it properly. The guy doesn't want you there? doesn't even want to see you? Right. He's really earned the right to work unsupervised, hasn't he. To let him work unsupervised is not a wise move. I think letting him do the work is not wise. He's not trustworthy. But that's my opinion. But my other opinion is that either you are there or your new contractor is there. He's already proven to be untrustworthy and to not do proper work. Remember, the core issue is not just a flat membrane. Water somehow got under the membrane to saturate the curb. I'd want to see the membrane detailing around the curb. The folds at the inside corners, see if there are any nails or screws in the top or inside face of the curb. The thing is that if he didn't detail the folds or if he put fasteners through the membrane the first time, he's going to do it again. He'll just do it with a sloped membrane instead of a flat membrane. I will raise a warning flag about your new contractor. So okay, we know the membrane wasn't sloped. But why did the curb swell and expand? How did water get under the membrane and into the structure of the curb? I'm not sure if your new guy knows how the curb failed, or if he knows how to repair a shower, or how to build one. I'd want eyes on the project when the demo is carried out. I'd want to see the membrane with the tile and mud off of it. I'd want to see if he just nailed cement board to the faces of the curb, nailing right through the membrane. I'd want to see if he nailed through the bottom edge of the backer board on the walls, nailing through the membrane, creating little holes. Hey, maybe your #1 guy did a great job (with the exception of not sloping the membrane) and it was an errant something or other that accidentally poked a hole in the membrane. Or maybe he's ignorant and apathetic when it comes to building a proper shower. My vote is that your #1 contractor is #2.

guvnah- Great link! It shows how "broke" the system really is in Texas. Some buyers and sellers want to hide the sales prices due to property tax issues which have become a huge burden in Texas. They should stand up to the local and state governments for more reasonable spending and taxation. The problem is I don't see that happening anytime soon with local school districts building 80 million dollar sports complexes with jumbotrons, etc. They are sellng massive bonds to build mega high schools, and aquiring a huge debt load. Realtors have long controlled prices, almost to the point of price fixing, with resticted and massaged sales numbers in MLS. If a house sold for $200,000, the public area of MLS will give a range of sold range of the house as 200,000 to 275,000. What good is that? Another pet peave is Days on Market(DOM)reporting on MLS. If a property was on the market for 180 days and the current listing contract expires, the current agent or a new agent can re-list it with a new contract and possibly a lower sales price, there by aquiring a new MLS number and start the DOM clock back to 1. I have seen properties that have been on the market for over a year have a DOM as recently listed and under 30 days! Sure you can go to a realtor to get that info, but why should you? Appraisals and market pricing, in Texas, have always been controlled by realtors. They control what is reported in and out of MLS. They will tell you that it is the market, ie, buyers and sellers that set the price, but in its the realtors that that actually "set" market price by telling buyers and sellers what price they should offer and sell at. I believe that if Texas had full disclosure that all values, after a settling period, would reflect the "true market". Home owners and sellers would have to stop voting for massive bond and debt loads and hold the local and state officials accoutable for responsible spending. Realtors/MLS sould be required to run an "open" book for listings and sales. This is the only way to provide the information required for accurate appraisals. Then its up to the appraisers to use their training and experience to provide their opinion.

We have had the same problem sheesharee does for years, and it's only gotten worse recently. On average, if I call (or rather leave messages for, since no one actually answers a phone anymore) a dozen people, maybe five might call me back and schedule a meeting, three show up for that meeting and one or two actually produce an estimate which might or might not be detailed enough to make sense. It sort of traps me into a VERY small selection of contractors and makes it very difficult to compare apples to apples. I would really appreciate it if people would take the two minutes to call and tell me "I'm not interested", "I'm too busy" or "I charge $20 for a detailed estimate" (which I'd usually be willing to pay) instead of just leaving me hanging, but it's VERY rare for anyone to bother. People who don't return phone calls, show up, or follow up when promised are put on what I call the "when h*ll freezes over" list and I do tell other people about them. I tend to group together small projects to make at least a half-day's work and preferably a full day to justify things like travel time. Since my schedule is quite flexible, I do have the luxury of being able to be fitted in when the contractor has the time between jobs, inclement weather delaying another project, etc. Angie's List is pretty much nonexistent in my area, the couple of friends we have who own homes either have sorta-handyish relatives who wouldn't know building code from Morse code or are using the prayer method of maintenance (aka "pray real hard nothing goes wrong"), and it's pretty obvious that my neighbors aren't prioritizing home repair!

We GC'd the renovation ourselves. I worked with each sub to determine who would purchase materials. For the larger jobs like drywall and roofing, I let the sub supply everything. Most everything else I purchased myself using contractor supply sources, the internet, and my sub's own supply houses. Many of the subs, such as the electrician and plumber, let me purchase thru their supplier without marking up. I would go choose and pick up the materials, and then pay the supply houses directly, meaning I'd take care of all transportation and taxes. This saved the subs a lot of time schlepping around town. We have a contractor furnishing mart in Seattle where I could purchase tile, carpeting, flooring, and quartz countertops at wholesale prices. I worked with my tile guy to deterimine exactly how much of each tile I'd need, even the amount of grout. He supplied the backer boards and other construction materials. For doors, interior trim, wood (finishing and studs), door hardware and hinges I had another supplier that gave me a contractor/industry discount. I worked with my carpenter to determine how much of each I'd need. For finishing the doors, I went to a commercial finish/paint house. Because I was able to bring in more than 10 doors at one time, they gave me the commercial rate, which was $75 a door for 2 coats of lacquer, vs $150 a door. Cabinets I got at contractor prices directly from the manufacturer. Sinks and faucets I got online at Homeclick, taking advantage of holiday weekend sales to get upwards of 50% off on high end stuff, such as Grohe and Franke. I compared priced to my plumber's supply house at his contractor prices, and I was still saving money by buying online. Appliances...I had 3 companies bidding against each other for entire packages. The high end stuff such as the Wolf rangetopo came in at one price set by the regional distributor, no bargaining on that. But we got other things like the LG frige and Asko dishwasher where they could give me a discount. Just to show you how much markup can be...my entryway chandelier was $750 retail, $500 was the cheapest I could find online, and $250 thru my electrician. Pricing is difficult and time-consuming. If you have the time and inclination, discuss with your GC where you might be able to save some money and purchase yourself. Ask him if he'll forgo his markup if you do the legwork and transportation, so all he has to do is come to work and everything is there ready to go. Some guys will, others won't. But it never hurts to ask.