So why do you think you can GC and coordinate all of this when you don’t understand the order of operations and individuals involved? What about your insurance situation? Have you talked to your carrier about your plans to do this?

I think GreenDesigns is offering you advice in terms of your personal liability. Typically when you hire a GC - or other tradespeople, one of the things you request is a copy of their workman's comp policies as well as a copy of their general liability policy. In my case, I had myself named as an individual insured.

It is unfortunate that you had bad experiences with your previous GC. Having just finished a gut remodel which included a kitchen and two bathrooms, my GC was invaluable in providing extremely skilled labor; coordinating including interacting with necessary inspectors as well as ensuring that all aspects of the job were done properly. I am especially glad that in terms of building the tile showers since that aspect of a bathroom remodel seems to be the most problematic since there is so much inadequate waterproofing and terrible tile jobs and you can't really tell whether the job is being properly done unless you have expertise in construction.

I am also in Southern California and hot mop is still widely used here. My shower was actually done with cold mop as I live in a high rise and hot mop is not permitted in multi-family homes.

I carry liability insurance on my home. I plan to hire licensed professionals and check their worker's comp, if they have employees.

The GC that I used previously was cavalier in his approach to worker's comp. Initially, he claimed he had no employees and was exempt from worker's comp insurance. Later, he admitted that the "subcontractors" were unlicensed and were "working under" his license.

I'm thinking that I need a professional waterproof company to install the shower pan and hot mop the shower before tiling. The tile setter whom I asked for a quote included hot mopping in his bid ($750 for labor only). He is training his teenage son in the business and would likely leave it to the kid to do the work. He claims he is exempt from worker's comp because he has no employees -- this makes me anxious.

I am asking if it is typical for the tile setter to be the same individual who waterproofs the shower, even though the tile guy is licensed only for tile / masonry.

The problem is if the shower is built and waterproofed by one guy and then tiled by someone else you leave your self open 100% to the blame game and whose fault the issue is. And I can guarantee you that it will happen if you have the slightest issue.

Skip any of this. You will regret it. It will cost more and take longer. Plus, with your inexperience, you won’t have any depth of knowledge for quality control to stop that finger pointing. To GC, you really need to have a lot more knowledge on board than you have. This has a far worse job than you e experienced yet written large on it. Find the right Pro. He won’t be the cheap guy you want. But he will be the expensive guy you NEED.

https://www.ceramictilefoundation.org/find-certified-tile-installers

The CTEF website came up with two tile setters within a 25-mile radius of my home; one has a CA contractor's license and carries worker's comp for their employees. I called; they sub to a licensed waterproofing company, rather than having the tile setter do both jobs. I'm comfortable with that.

The GC that I hired to remodel the other two bathrooms charged $450K for the job -- this was mostly for labor only (his initial estimate was $50K). He used undocumented workers who were not covered under worker's comp and failed to report their wages. After he was done, the toilet clogged; the bathtub leaked into the floor below; the towel bar fell off the wall. He was an expensive guy that I did not need.

Charged $450,000? Bid $50,000?

Yes. He denied that the initial amount was a bid -- he said it was an estimate.

OP,

Are you serious? -- $450,000?

You need to read my posts on how to get money back from a hack contractor and take this guy to court. I hope you have lots of documentation, emails, texts and pictures to prove what you are saying.

Are you in California? Which city? My tile pro (who is a real pro) knows people out there because he's constantly going to trainings and seminars, industry meetings and such. He knows people all over the country and may be able to refer to a pro in your area, even if they aren't on that list.

There has to be a typo. No one builds a 450K bathroom with 400K worth of change orders. Unles there a lot more solid gold in there than in T’s Tower, and the worlds most incompetent lawyer drafted the contract, and the world’s most suspicious customer insisted on time and materials with a thousand do overs.

AJCN: Yes, I have been in litigation for 2 years. Court date is scheduled for November. I'm meeting with CSLB next week regarding my complaint against the GC. I hope this explains why I prefer to serve as the GC for the remodel of one small bathroom, which won't start until next year.

AJCN: Yes, I am in California -- in LA area.

Green Designs: No, it's not a typo. The GC's initial estimate was $50K for two bathrooms, the upstairs master bathroom and the powder room below it.

I like the beautiful marble in the lobby of the NYC T tower, but I did not choose it. I paid for most of the bathroom materials directly (tile, plumbing fixtures, bathtub). I requested exactly one do-over -- the paint color on a wall after the first coat; the GC billed me an extra $1800 for labor (eight hours; one unlicensed painter and his assistant).

Briefly, here's the timeline of how the charges escalated: At my first meeting with the GC, I insisted on having permits pulled. The GC brought in his architect pal who falsely claimed that my staircase was too narrow to have ever met code, and needed to be widened before remodeling the bathrooms. The GC increased his estimate to $150K to widen the staircase (which required moving central beam and interior wall). By the time the plans were approved (6 months later), the GC had increased his estimate to $200K to include replacing all the flooring in my house and replacing the roof. He set the contract at $250K, cost plus, and told me that the extra $50K was to cover contingencies for repair of hidden defects.

During construction, the GC submitted $200K in change orders -- after each "extra" was completed, without my approval (in breach of contract). He provided no evidence to show that I had exceeded the contract amount. At the end, he "explained" that the difference between the final estimate ($200K) and the contract amount ($250K) was to cover extra supervision by his car-salesman brother, although CA state law prohibits charging for supervision by anyone other than a licensed GC.

Wow. Sad on multiple fronts. That experience. still doesn’t say that you have what it takes to GC a complex job like this. In fact, I‘d argue that it makes you even more unqualified than the average homeowner to take it on. Your experiences show that you don’t have good quality control judgement, and that you can’t judge the quality or skill of a contractor. And, you don’t know how to write a contract that protects you. Those are critical failings when attempting to be a GC.

OMG, I am so sorry this has happened to you. Good luck in the litigation.

Your stress level must be really high right now. Maybe it would be a good idea to postpone this bathroom project until after the trial when your stress will hopefully go down a lot.

That said, my CA friends tell me that usually the tile pro hires the hot-mopping person. The tile pro would be the one to choose that person, pay them and would be responsible for the quality of that work, so it sounds like the approach the tile pro told you is right.

Make sure you get a preslope under your hot mop and inspections which means permits. No preslope and verified flood test? you find another crew.

"Who waterproofs the shower (typically it is hot mop in my area) -- would this be the tile setter? or a waterproofing company? "

The answer is BOTH

YES the tiler will waterproof walls into the hotmop with either 15-30# tarpaper or poly under the mud walls or they will use a topical waterproofing. This is the norm in Cali.

Infact you may get mud walls or cement board or even foam waterproof walls all acceptable if done correctly.

live_wire_oak: I agree that remodeling a bathroom is a complex job and I am approaching it with caution. I have learned a lot from my unfortunate experience. Some of my lessons learned:

• Insist that the architect include an electrical and lighting plan in the specs, even if he/she claims it's unnecessary
• Ask each contractor to provide, in writing, names and license numbers of all subs they plan to use on the job. (My crooked GC "discovered" part-way through the project that his favorite plumber had allowed his license to expire several years earlier, and added him as an "employee" retroactively.)
• Ask each contractor to provide names of all workers / employees, including relatives, whom they plan to use on the job and to provide evidence of worker's comp insurance
• Establish work tasks and exclusions in writing before signing contract; e.g., will plumber or demolition company remove existing toilet; will solar tube include a light / fan; will electrical include hanging light fixture over vanity. (My crooked GC insisted that wiring was included but installing sconces or pendant lights was excluded.)
• Pay my lawyer to review contracts before I sign them
• No excessive downpayments
• Allow at most two specialty contractors to work on the project simultaneously
• Require receipts of materials from contractors (or purchase directly, if possible) from suppliers, e.g., shower pan, plywood for sub-flooring (likely damaged by water leaks).
• Provide rules ahead of time: no kitchen privileges to workers; no blaring mariachi music on a boombox in my house
• Know the local code and don't rely on the City inspectors to catch every transgression

Tile Corrector: Even with permits, inspectors miss things, e.g.,

• Local code requires a humidistat on bathroom fans; CIty did not catch this omission by the crooked GC in my house
• Local code specifies: "Control valves and showerheads shall be located on the sidewall of shower compartments, arranged so that the showerhead does not discharge directly at the entrance to the compartment ..." See attached photo of a new build ($4.6M home) a few miles from me (same city, but closer to beach) -- jet showerhead aimed at shower door.

You need help. Please get it. Good luck.