Grout, never knew this!!!

[Cheri]

To the group, which I have recently found, I hired a grout man, called Grout Doctor..ha ha to regrout my tile in the kitchen. Keep in mind that my tile is very small, five by two countertop, with three tiles going up the wall. This guy comes and gives me a bid for 300 dollars, which I think is excessive, but I say...OK. He comes and does the counter, a mess, I might add. Does nothing to the tile going up the wall. When I confronted him and said you did nothing up the wall, he said..."I did not agree to do that." I said, what the Hell do you think I was paying you $300.00 for if not to regrout all my tile in that small area?

Anyway to make a long story short, I put a stop on the check, and he is coming back on Monday. Since I know nothing about home repair, is the cost excessive, number one, and do I have to let him come back? I hired him with the thought in mind that he is going to regrout all of the tile. My problem is this...He did a terrible job when he first came out, so the odds of him doing a good job now, are nil. Do I have to let him make good on this legally? I'm in CA.

Cheri

[RBM]

It's really important for both you and any contractor to be on the same page regarding the work that is going to be included. The fact that you gave him a check at all is something of a statement that you felt the job was completed, unless you paid him in advance. There are certainly lots of less than quality contractors out there, but at this point you may want to call him and offer some payment or take it to small claims, where you'll both loose

[Cheri]

Unfortunately, I did pay him beforehand. I'm new to any sort of outside help doing work in my house, but I'm learning in a hurry. I already put a stop on the check, and I'm not going to lift the stop until his work is at least bearable, so if it comes to that, he'll have to settle for a lot less, or he'll have to sue me. His choice. I just wondered since Grout Doctor is a national franchise, if anyone else has had shabby work done.

Cheri

Cheri

[James "Cubby" Culbertson]

Hopefully you've learned a lesson. Get a written quote on all jobs. And get at least 3 quotes. I'm not familiar with the laws in CA (or anywhere else sorry to say) so someone else will have to chime in on your situation. Cheers, cc

[Cheri]

situation.

That's great advice. One thing I'm noticing with the high gas prices, is less and less people want to give you a free estimate, but IMO even if you have to pay them a little something, it would be cheaper in the long run.

Cheri

[RBM]

I would never pay anyone in full before the job. You need to check with someone in Ca. about the legal ramifications of stopping a check

[Cheri]

I did put a stop on it, and he's coming back tomorrow to do what he was supposed to do in the first place. It's not that I don't want to pay him, I do want to pay him...for a decent job.

Cheri

[James "Cubby" Culbertson]

I still get "free" estimates but the only estimates I'm getting are for a rather large A/C install so they should give free estimates. For a small grout job, they may charge a few bucks. I typically do all the work on my house myself so am really not familiar with the various contracting laws out there. If someone gives you an estimate but won't write it down, keep looking! Good Luck, cc

[RBM]

I understand that, my concern for you is in having given him a check, then stopping it. In NY he would have certain legal rights just by having your "bad" check in his possession. Best all around would be to work it out with him and be done with him. Under the circumstances you should also have someone else with you when comes. Good luck

[Cheri]

Yes, I agree. I just want it over with and get him gone. I'm planning to have my girlfriend here when he comes, though I must say he is a very mild mannered, extremely small man, who is in his 70's, so I could probably take him, if I had to. ;-) Thanks for the good advice, I hadn't thought of the check thing, since I have no experience with that either. From here on out, I do the work myself, if possible.

Cheri

[Toller]

Well, if you don't give him a chance, he will probably sue you. He will say that there was a misunderstanding that he tried to make good on, but you were a jerk about it. You will say that his initial work was so bad that you didn't want him back in the house.

85% chance he will win.

Unless you want to lose the $300, you better give him another chance.

[Ed]

Not enough info for this one..... 1st- You say your counter top is "2 x 5" (10 sq ft assuming you are talking about 2ft x 5ft) but that doesn't tell me how much grout. In other words, 10 sq ft of what sized tile with what size space between tiles. 2nd- you say 3 tile high on the backboard but didn't say what size tile with what size space between tile and if that number 5 you mentioned in your message is a 5ft wide backboard which is three tile of some size high.

If I were quoting this job, I would quote it on exactly how much grout area needs regrouted (a factor of tile size / square footage) and how hard it will be to clean out the old grout (a factor of the space between each tile). Also, if the old grout is epoxy based, then the cost goes up further.

Grouting is not that big a deal but cleaning out the old grout is and the size of the deal it is is in direct relationship to how small the space between the tile is and if I am having to dig out an epoxy based grout.

Regards.....

[Cheri]

I've already decided to do that. I just want it over.

Cheri

[Mapigonehome]

"Cheri" wrotenews: [e-mail]:

Stopping a check freely given, for services rendered, is called "Theft of Service" in Texas and is prosecuted, if he files on you.

You'll never know you have a warrent for your arrest, until you go to the tax office, get an update on your DL, get stopped for speeding or similar.

[Richard J Kinch]

No. Don't allow him back. You will not get it done on the 2nd try.

Sounds like this guy is in the business of stonewalling disputes with suckers, not actually delivering value for money.

There is no magic way to "doctor" grout. There isn't even a good way to remove and replace it.

[Richard J Kinch]

Means nothing. It could be a national franchise for a vaguely scammish line of business. Like duct cleaning.

[Richard J Kinch]

That's not the case. OP sez he paid in advance. Stopping a check for nonconforming work is thus a civil dispute.

[larry moe 'n curly]

Also take good photographs of the work he did and of the tile he didn't touch. I emphasize "good" -- you want photos where the shoddiness of the work will clearly be visible to anybody.

Because Grout Doctor is a franchise, why not contact them at

1-877-GROUT and the FTC and complain about the work? Also contact any local TV station's consumer reporter and file a complaint with And next time, pay with a credit card because it's a lot easier to get your money back that way than with a check.

[WM]

What you did is called "Theft of Services" and there are criminal penalities and jail time associated with it. You can read about yourself in the Criminal Code of your state.

I'd go out of my way to make this go away.

You are looking at huge legal fees to get this straightened out if you can't fix this yourself.

.

[bambam]

And I'm in Canada, so I can't tell you much about California law.

I can, however, tell you about home repair/improvement franchises generally. Generally, they are pretty pathetic. Worse than having Home Depot do installs .... you pay more .. you get less.

Generally, these guys are hacks ... if they were any good, they wouldn't be working for $25 an hour.

The franchise holder ( a fellow in his seventies, I think you said) will likely get less than two thirds of that $300. Here, a good tilesetter earns 60 dollars an hour from contractors ... more from homeowners. So that $200 he's earning shouldn't be buying more than a couple of hours. That he will come back to try to earn that $300 tells you he's a hack.

Yours is a small job ... nobody is going to come and look at it and give you a free estimate.

You have a few options ... settle with the guy ... give him a couple of hundred and tell him to go away ... or have him finish what he started and pay him the three hundred. Whichever you agree on.

Then either live with the result ... or find yourself a good tilesetter. Pay him to look at the job and tell lyou what to do.

Ken