Kirkhall-- you say you won't believe pics, and I agree-- no one's going to show pics of their failures. The thing is, the same can be said of referrals. You want a good indictor? Ask him if he'll give you a referral of someone where he had difficulties, not expecting him to do it, but to see what his reaction is. If he tells you he's never had a problem. be afraid. Be VERY afraid. I was even just talking about this with a bunch of other contractors on Facebook-- any contractor in ANY trade who says he's never had a problem or failure on a jobsite, has either not been in the trade very long, or is a blatant liar. Either way, not someone you want to hire. the difference between a quality contractor and a fly by night is how they handle it. If they try and put it off on everyone else, and refuse to fix the problem, that's a fly by night. If, however, they do their best to find the root cause, and fix the problem, that's you're quality contractor. As for me-- mine was actually very public several years ago, and even in both this forum and John Bridge's site. We even had TCNA board members in on it trying to figure out what happened. One way or the other, I ended up redoing the problem on my own dime, and changing up on a couple of things-- one thing that I'd done, and one that the homeowner had done, and the problem didn't present itself again. Help Solve Mystery? Marble Tile Floor Always Wet in Some Areas (26 pages of it!)

meaning, it's not his fault the tiles were glued on the mesh incorrectly. everyone that commented up top said what a horrible job he did installing them because they were crooked. that's why I said, "Hang on". I was letting everyone know that these sheets of mosaics often come crooked. that's what I meant by not his fault. and for the fourth damn time, yes, the installer should have done a few of them by hand. However, should he have taken each and every tile off the sheet and done them one by one??? uh, no. That's the meaning of, "not his fault". Do you actually expect him to do that? Who is in charge of this project? Why didn't they pay attention to how screwed up the tiles were on the sheet? why didn't that person know enough to catch it, advise the homeowner or give instructions to the installer to do what needed to be done?? You're faulting the wrong person. OP hired a company to do the entire kitchen. they are using one of their 'tile guys' on staff. Sometimes you luck out and get someone who's good. Most times you get someone who doesn't speak English and only installs what they're given, without thinking outside the box. they just figure, "this is what boss gave me to put up, i put it up. not my fault if they were crooked". OP said this was a 25K job. how much of that went to the tile install, I do not know. I also think, overall, it's a decent job. there are a few tiles that are off and should be fixed, but if that's all there is, then I wouldn't do a tear out. The way everyone was acting about his install was a bit much. We've all seen horrible tile jobs on here and this is not one of them.

I live in a new construction tract home and upon walk through we noticed that the pendant lights were not centered over island. I was worried that the patching would show when they moved it and debated keeping them slightly off center. I decided that would irritate me more in the long run as having the lights in the incorrect position would be more obvious than a patch. I worried needlessly, they moved them and the patch work is inconspicuous. Even if I stare at the ceiling, I can't really see the patch work. And I'm really picky but had told myself I'd let it go. Plus, this is a tract home and I don't think the builder's subs are nearly as good as the subs that were used for our previous home remodel. I agree with the other comments, if it is determined to be the electrician's fault, then I'd ask him to re-do the work, but if you add a ceiling fan on, that's on your dime. Where was your GC during this discussion? Does the electrician work for him? Assuming the electrician works for the GC, then you probably should be having this discussion with the GC and not the electrician, at least that's how I've handled these types of situations in the past. Regardless, if both you and your electrician were looking at the plans and decided to change the position of the lights from the designer's plan, it seems to me that you both are equally responsible. Both of you should have noticed the depth of the cabinets before changing the lighting plan. The electrician's failure to notice is no different than your failure to notice, at least in my opinion. When you agreed to change the light position, then that responsibility becomes yours. That said, the cost of changing the recessed lighting, regardless of who pays for the change, is the tiniest fraction of the entire remodel cost. I've always assumed at least 10% overage because of changes and this certainly falls into that area. Actually, I assume more than 10% because I tend to upgrade selections and make more changes than the average person, but I know that about myself and can live with the consequences. I've been using the same contractor for years and we get along well, so I guess he can live with that as well. We also communicate frequently and neither of us is quick to "blame" the other person, we try to figure out an appropriate path forward when we need to change something already done. Good luck, remodeling is frustrating and this is the hardest time in the process. There is always a punch list after construction, that is expected and totally normal. This board is a great sounding board for those questions. The window sounds challenging. Once the countertop is in, would you be able to replace the window if necessary without removing the countertop?

Sorry this is happening to you. Here's what I recommend. Hire a certified tile professional to come and do an inspection and give you a written report detailing everything that was done wrong and what it will cost to fix it. (Ask them to do a flood test and anything they need to do to evaluate the waterproofing). Here are 2 organizations with search tools on their websites. www.tile-assn.com Click on “find a contractor” and enter your zip code. Let the miles radius be fairly large, like 50 miles or so. The excellent tile pro that built all my bathrooms was on that site in my area, but about 40 miles away bc he was near downtown and I’m in a suburb. www.ceramictilefoundation.org This site has lots of good information on it. I didn’t find my contractor on this site, but a lot of people have told me that they had luck with it. Here’s where you click to find a contractor: www.ceramictilefoundation.org/find-certified-tile-installers Also, if you are a nerd like me and you like to read, you could download a digital version of the TCNA handbook. It’s less than $40. It’s over 600 pages, but you don’t have to read the whole thing. Read the introduction (about 50 pages) and then read the shower chapters. You can skip all the other chapters such as swimming pools, etc. Reading this helped me to learn about the process and industry standards for water proofing and tile installation; it helped me to ask more informed questions, and helped a lot in my meeting with the contractor who messed up my shower. www.tcnatile.com/products-and-services/publications.html After the pro you hire for the inspection gives you his written report of all the things done wrong, have a business meeting with the contractor at the worksite and discuss all the problems. If it needs to be completely redone, ask them to do that, at their expense. They will either agree, in which case you give them a chance to redo it, or they will refuse, in which case they are effectively quitting. Confirm with them that if they don’t attempt to redo it, they are basically quitting; get them to acknowledge that fact. After the meeting follow up with an email documenting that conversation, and asking for acknowledgement, so that in the future they can’t claim that you illegally fired them. In that email, say something like “We were so disappointed that you decided to quit the project rather than fix the [ list of problems ]. Because we have to have the shower rebuilt, we are requesting a refund in the amount of [$$$] in order for us to hire a new contractor and for the purchase of replacement materials.” They will probably respond to that email to refuse you the refund, but at least then you have an electronic paper trail that shows that you did not fire them illegally, that they quit instead. You can then go to small claims or district court to sue them if you want, but that’s a real PITA. In the scenario where they agree to redo it, give them a chance. When/if they mess it up again (and maybe have the inspector come out a second time), then you can legally fire them in most states. That’s how it is in TX where I am. If you want to know for sure you can look up your states statues online and read the construction laws. If you aren't sure and you don't want to read the laws, assume that you have to give them a chance to fix first before firing them. Sorry this is happening to you. It happened to me. It's far too common.