What level of perfection can you ask for from your contractor?

[Anonymous]

New to the world of renovations and trying to balance getting the highest quality results without making our contractor (who we will be working with for several months) hate me. Would you point out (and ask them to correct/redo) thinks like a chipped tile or a molding corner that is not lined up completely even?

[Anonymous]

Yes to both of those. I have never come home to a chipped tile, assuming you've given him substantial extras.

[Anonymous]

Chipped tile should be fixed.
Moulding... There are a couple spots in my house I asked them to fix and the 2nd try was worse. So it depends.

[Anonymous]

Can you see the issue from 6’ away? If not, let it go.

[Anonymous]

Houzz is good for reality-checking your expectations. There are many threads about "is this acceptable?". Quality can only be as good as the materials + the capability of the person doing the work. If you hire someone who is not that great or skilled, it doesn't matter what you ask for, you won't get it.

[Anonymous]

My husband was really upset that all the shower tiles were not an consistent depth. You could tell if you stared hard enough at it but when I was venting to family about how ridiculous he was being, nobody could tell by the photos I sent. He took out a ruler to measure each and every one and put a sticky note on all the ones he wanted fixed. The poor contractor ended up totally redoing the shower on their own dime and that one actually did look bad.

[Anonymous]

https://www.builderbooks.com/residential-construction-performance-guidelines--contractor-reference--sixth-edition-products-9780867187915.php

[Anonymous]

The above link is to a reference that calls out tolerances that are used within the industry.

So for the example of redoing the shower above, there are standards for lippage which is the amount out of plane that tiles can be. In that example it is also a function of the tile, the size of the grout, and the substrate.

Again so depending upon the tile, the tile installer may tell you that the grout joint needs to be at least x in order for him to float out the tile.

First it comes down to who you hired. The hiring decision is often a function of price, proposed project duration, level of communication, and quality.

Some tradesman don’t really know good work. And it is because of the space in the market where they traditionally work.

One of my clients hired his cousin to do some work on a job I was working on. Well he worked in commercial construction so he didn’t understand things that folks who work in high end homes just intuitively know. Needless to say, we had to rip out a lot of his work.

There is saying that perfection is the enemy of good. And it is true.

I am a remodeler. I do meticulous work. I tell clients I am not perfect.

If you want good work from me then you need resources - mainly time and money. If you are resource constrained then you are inherently limiting my ability to strive for perfection.

And when I give you a bill and it has extras for me moving things out of the way, fixing the substrate, etc. and then you express your frustration and do not want to pay then you are teaching me that you really do not want quality. I realize most home owners will say I should have told you, priced it, etc. The reality is the good jobs take good clients. They have often done work before, realize when they have a good crew, asked for a budget and then play a supportive role.

That all said, I hate ripping things out. As others have pointed out it usually does not go back together the same way.

And in general if I have to ask any of my trades to fix things that are not going together well I take that as a sign that we do not play at the same level. Better to not use them than try to manage their work.

That said I can do work at the highest level of the residential construction field. But I am small so inherently slower. I oversee a lot of my own work and good work takes supervision. I cannot compete with the truly high end not because of the work but because of the volume and production levels. If you hire me you will get the same work but it will take me longer.

If you hire a ham and ever then he will never be able to produce my work.

There are levels - you need to insure you hired at the level that you want.

My clients know by reputation that my work is very well laid out and executed. They also know that better work takes longer.

I run into trouble when clients are tight on resources - money and time - because that’s not how I work.

So again from your post - a good painter can fix a lot of trim flaws but you really only have one shot at tile.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Are you not using an architect? Standards and tolerances are typically called on in project specifications.

[Anonymous]

I own a house that was built in 1950. Mostly square, mostly plumb, lots of settling, but I wouldn't expect perfection if the house framing and floors have existing issues. An experienced contractor can work around these types of issues, but it has to happen on the front end, before other work begins. If you can build that into your contract and timeline, many issues can be mitigated. Some contractors do sloppy work, though. In this case, you should ask them to fix it. You should catch any issues before the contractor moves on to the next step.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you not using an architect? Standards and tolerances are typically called on in project specifications.

No, not using an architect - changes are cosmetic only (floors, bathrooms). This is not an $100k+ job.

[Anonymous]

It can depend on how much you are paying. For a bonded contractor above the average charge, especially someone in demand who you had to wait for, you can be pretty picky -- you are paying a premium for them to get it right.

If you hire the lowest bidder, someone with a lot of availability, and someone who is likely not properly bonded and who hires a lot of day laborers and has few skilled craftspeople on staff, you get what you pay for. You can ask for greater precision, but they likely won't deliver, and you have to accept a certain amount of sloppiness/shortcuts.

[Anonymous]

A decent level.

Nothing should be chipped or broken or loose or not aligning correctly with floors/walls/angles.

That's all pretty basic stuff and expectations. Not "Perfection."

If someone is telling you you'll never get "perfection," and then defining their shoddy work and broken parts as acceptable, they're totally gaslighting you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes to both of those. I have never come home to a chipped tile, assuming you've given him substantial extras.

agree. I wouldn't buy a new house with this either, it implies a lot of cutting corners on who knows what else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It can depend on how much you are paying. For a bonded contractor above the average charge, especially someone in demand who you had to wait for, you can be pretty picky -- you are paying a premium for them to get it right.

If you hire the lowest bidder, someone with a lot of availability, and someone who is likely not properly bonded and who hires a lot of day laborers and has few skilled craftspeople on staff, you get what you pay for. You can ask for greater precision, but they likely won't deliver, and you have to accept a certain amount of sloppiness/shortcuts.

We've found the DMV area and its contractors use a lot of unskilled, under/untrained day labor and subcontractors. Not impressed. They're pushing volume and trying to help out and hire everyone's "cousin." Lots of lying about job experience too. Trying to get volume done before the interest rates went up and people got wiser and pickier.