Hiring Vasiliy for our kitchen backsplash was always a gamble because he had zero reviews online,…read morebut he told me he's a subcontractor for Great Floors, showed me lots of wonderful install photos, and made me feel like he was a good guy who's wanting to get out of being just a subcontractor. Spoiler alert: He's not a good guy, nor is he a good craftsman.
Pros:
- Good layout: We were so excited that we paid more ($1600) than he asked ($1450-$1500) because he seemed like such a nice guy that cared about doing a good job. He was finishing the grout that day and we thought he was done because if the layout was nice, how could he mess up grout? That seems like the easy part? It was not the easy part, and was the longest part of this whole ordeal.
Cons:
- Cannot do grout: His grout left a white residue that was impossible to remove. He also admitted to using a bad grout mix that he doesn't usually use, which was weird because we weren't in a rush and had no deadline for this project, but he kept trying to rush through it anyway. To his credit, he tried cleaning it a few times with acid, but damaged our counters in the process. He actually got it right one time with a dark gray (we wanted black grout and the dark gray looked fine) but instead of asking us, he sent his employee, who literally acid washed it again and ruined it. He grouted a 3rd time, which came out white again.
- Unprofessional/unreliable: Shows up whenever he feels like it. He gave me notice a couple times when I asked him to, but he'll more often say he's going to come by and show up hours late or not at all.
- Messy work: Sloppy caulking work which we had to wipe off after he left because it looked so bad. I feel like it's common knowledge to use painter's tape if you're not good at freehanding caulk, but he didn't care enough to. Also, the acid or cleaner they used left damage on our natural stone (basalt) tiles. He didn't even protect the brand new counters or brand new hardwood floors (there is damage to quartz and a deep scratch on the floor).
- No integrity in his commitments: After all of this, we lost trust in him being able to fix it without damaging our home further. We asked for a partial refund to reimburse the time/labor it's going to take us to meticulously paint the grout the proper color (requires taping since the grout paint dyes the tile as well, and as you can see in photos, there is a LOT of grout lines to fix). He agreed that he made a mistake with the grout and felt really bad about it, so he agreed to reimburse us the $600 we asked for. I even asked if what I asked for was too much, because I've never had to ask for money back like this, but we paid for a complete tile job and are now spending many hours trying to fix the work. He told me "no it's reasonable" and said he would come by on 2 separate occasions, but never showed up. He seemed like he genuinely wanted to make it right, but then stopped responding entirely. I've texted him 4 times since because it seemed odd, but I guess I misjudged his character. I would respect him a lot more if he responded and said he didn't feel good about providing a partial refund, but he decided to just ghost me instead. He advertises a warranty on his website, but don't hold your breath. Even when he messes up a tile install and admits to it, he'll just decide to stop responding whenever he feels like it.
I get that mistakes happen, and I get that things don't always go to plan, but I expect you to own it and communicate with me like a professional. My bar is so low and I'm willing to put up with so much, yet somehow Vasiliy came in even lower than that. The lack of communication is the worst part.
All that being said, I would not recommend hiring Vasiliy. Just find literally any other tile person, and if someone doesn't have any reviews anywhere, take that for the red flag it is.