I think the best thing I learned is to be incredibly explicit on the front end about your expectations--put it in writing and say it several times--and then to monitor the work carefully day-to-day. I was too trusting that they were doing what I'd asked in the early days. The lion's share of our issues were around the shower construction, and that one is tricky. I'd done a lot of research to understand how it was supposed to be built and waterproofed and had a very clear sense of what we wanted, but what the GC's worker ended up doing was problematic in a lot of ways. The GC was very insistent that it was "how they always do things" (and for all I know, it was--when I circled back to the friends who had recommended the GC, they shared that they had no idea how their bathrooms had been waterproofed). In our area, the shower pan, walls, and waterproofing are all inspected so when I explained how they had been built, the City issued a corrections notice and we worked with the GC and City until we settled on a fix that the City considered "good enough" (but that I am still not especially happy with). Hopefully most of the issues will just shorten the life of the shower rather than cause catastrophic failure, but even that is frustrating for a brand new bathroom. And I should have checked that the new walls were square! This didn't even cross my mind since it seems like a very basic expectation, so we didn't discover this until it was too late to do much about it. It's not too noticeable aesthetically--none of the existing walls are square in our old house so my husband jokes that at least the new ones match--but it caused unnecessary drama when the tiler showed up. All of that initial work was done by the same worker, and the GC was not on site for most of it, so I think just wasn't supervising well enough. Luckily we have been happy with the work of the other subs, but I am mentally prepared for the possibility that we will have to go back and redo the shower in the not-too-distant future. At least if that happens, I'll know what to do differently...we'll see!

My guess would be a tile installer, but I think that type of shower pan construction is a long gone skill. There are so many better products available now that I can't imagine someone using hot asphalt and roofing paper to build a shower pan. Bruce

"with all your legal knowledge, you trying to tell me if this contractor tells me to go pound sand not to mention he already breached the contract because he promised A and delivered B... and now I need to hire a new contractor to rip everything out and install the right pan and I take the previous contractor (if he licensed and legit) to court with all the documentation and everything I had to spend additionally to make it right I will not recoup my money? I will get everything back in a heart beat." Yes, that is exactly what I am telling you. Let's deal with some unknowns first. You have an affirmative duty to limit your contractor's damages. I can't imagine a contractor doing this without checking with the OP, in some way. If there is evidence that the OP was aware of this pan prior to it being finished then the contractor's damages will be limited to the damages to that point. This actually protects both parties, so this is why this could be actionable even if the OP ordered the wrong shower pan. Essentially you can't do work or allow work to be done that you know is unacceptable and may cost the other party additional expenses. There are a million different ways to disclaim the work and we are all assuming that the contractor didn't issue some kind of disclaimer. However, it seems reasonably possible that a contractor who is going to do this might lead the OP to believe they can make it look acceptable but not perfect. So then you get into some gray area about what would need to be done to make it acceptable rather than perfect. The courts are not going to demand a fix beyond what you previously found acceptable. Finally, let's suppose the contractor has no defense. The wait here for small claims is about seven months after which he has 1 year to pay before you can take further action, which extends by 120 days any time you accept any payment from him. Since he is not a W-2 employee you can't garnish wages so your best bet is a sheriff's auction, which is going to require an attorney. So maybe after 2.5 years you are made whole...I am pretty sure 2.5 years is more than a heartbeat. The OP's best course of action is to refuse further payment and if that can pay for the fix, then fix it. If not, then work out some compromise you can live with until you can recover.

notching the studs creates another issue w the integral tile flange that must be tiled into waterproofing or the integral wall panels. Reframe the wall . DIY bathrooms will continue to bring you joys no doubt!