I find myself in a similar position. We hired a local company to remove a 45’ x 8’ patio slab and do stamped concrete wood plank. We even paid an additional $500 for a pumper truck to bring the concrete over the house to the back to free the two guys up to work the 9 yards of concrete. Long story short, the final product is concrete that is over stamped (rough) on one side and a light stamp on the other. There are 4 low spots against the house where water pools and sits when wet. Its a covered patio on the lowest level so I think its only a visual thing. the one stair to acess the patio tips forward and is crooked. they also over covered the release on the step so its black compared to the brown on the rest. The over all stamp job has alot of flaws smudges and drags in it but Ii can get around it. My question is this. The entire job cost $6300 and I invested 18 hours of my own time helping load old concrete, help backfill dirt and remove forms. I’m not trying to rip anyone off but what should be the penalty? I don’t feel its bad enough to rip out but God willing I’ll have 30 years that I’ll look at it and know it isn’t right. All suggestions are welcome.

The San Diego location isn't specific enough. If you live in La Jolla you can grow fescue all day long. If you live east of Grossmont Center, you can't. Tell me more specifically where you live and I can suggest something more specific for the lawn. With your shade it's either going to be the Marathon (with proper care) or St Augustine. Other grasses won't survive the shade. The sod was probably good sod to begin with. The problem is selecting Marathon (dwarf fescue) sod instead of either bermuda or St Augustine. Fescue grasses are considered good in cool climates. Putting them in warm climates is a bad idea and a really bad idea in a location faced with water shortages. In San Diego area either bermuda (full sun) or St Augustine (partial to heavy shade but also full sun) should be the predominant lawn types. Unless you are in the morning fog zone next to the beach, trying to grow fescue or Kentucky bluegrass would require torrential amounts of irrigation. Many years ago there was a visitor here from National City. He had basic soil issues, but growing fescue was relatively easy for him because of the morning fog and afternoon coastal breeze. The previous owners should have been watering new sod 3x per day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) for about 5 minutes each time until the sod roots knit into the ground. By the time you moved in watering should have backed off on the frequency until you were watering 1/2 inch twice a week. The only way you can know how much 1/2 inch is is to measure it with the cat food or tuna cans. Here is the whole scoop on lawn watering for mature turf. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. Having said that, you don't have mature turf, so watering half the rate but twice the frequency would be better until you have developed some deep roots. Taking the above into consideration, if you lived in downtown SD or to the west, summertime watering would be once every week and a half at 1/2-inch. If you lived in El Cajon you'd be watering twice a week at 1/2-inch. My assumption is that i will need to remove the sod, till the ground and lay new seed. New seed is simple, but not like that. Above all, NEVER rototill in preparation for sod. I would suggest that 'never rototill' was universal advice for all gardening, but defending that position is a huge digression. But for lawns it's a bad idea because the fluffy soil will never settle evenly. It will become bumpy almost immediately and get bumpier and bumpier over the next 3 years. You'll hate yourself for tilling. If you are seeding fescue, summertime is the worst time of year. Spring is only slightly better, but the results will be equally poor. Fall is the best time after the summer heat breaks and the evening temps are cooling off. Really need to know where you are in the SD area and what you plan to do on the grass.

Sarah- I was going to suggest discussing the issue with your tile installer, and explaining that you will not accept the product. Some people use payment as recourse. Normally, the grouting is done with a rubber or plastic float, then sponged down. It would be unusual for any metal tools to be used. It really looks like it was cut, perhaps to try and correct something for straightness? It's plausible a metal tool was used to try to scrape down uneven grout after it was dry. In any case, if you leave it as is, you may want to place a bead of clear silicone at the countertop so it is a bit more watertight.

Thank you all so much for the input, advice and recommendations, it really helps to know at least that this is not ok, this can fixed, and what needs to be done, and also how this happens. Contractor is to come by Wednesday at 1pm to see. I agree Cat_ky as to possibly finding someone new to take this on. I am so terrified at this point. I am dreading conversation with contractor, he initially wanted to send his employee to just paint over again and I insisted no he needs to actually see this. I am scared if there is no where for moisture to escape, and it's been three days and still sorta soft (seems like it is drying some) is there danger of mold building up in there? Partim, they were in a rush, the contractor personally told me he wanted his 2 employees to finish by Friday. I think they possibly sanded part of it as they brought a vacuum cleaner machine that doubles as a sander absorbing the dust. Or they maybe they just used the machine on the wall. Part of a wall had to be replaced after removal of tile. The wall at least seems ok, but they used grout between the countertop and backsplash, which I've read it's supposed be caulk where two planes meet. But when I asked the employee about it, he said "no we always use grout so it matches, and this is not a bathroom, where there is water contact". I do hope that is ok, and I need not worry about that issue too. So sorry for the long post, this has been an ordeal.