Having grouted my bathrooms and floors myself, caulked baseboards and joints, and sealed and caulked joints all over my home, I have a fair idea of the labor and skill necessary to do the job. Also, I have an accurate appreciation for when a job is hard, or when it is challenging and requires more labor hours.
Julio is a nice man and very cordial and willing to help. Unfortunately, my wife was managing the very small project of getting her shower grout cleaned and resealed as I was building a fence on my side yard. Although I respect all tradespeople, I was just a little disappointed this time with Julio and I think we both agree to disagree on this one. He did express that this job was a little far for him, and I think that that is where the problem resides. I communicated to Julio that I would repair the work he did myself, and he seemed fine with that and offered a little advice.
JOB DETAILS:
1) I supplied the materials (Mapei Keracaulk U shades "Frost" and "Avalanche") at my own cost. So, those costs were not included in the $250 for 30 -60 minutes of labor. Commonly purchased at Floor and Decor, they are not specialized industry B2B colors.
2) No unsanded or sanded grout needed to be removed. So no labor needed for removal in this case. Therefore, very easy in terms of physical labor.
3) As pictured, we have long, straight grout lines which require less time to clean or caulk. You can do them in one long squeeze of the bottle with a caulking gun. Only a caulking gun is needed and following the line of the tile joints. Similar to doing baseboards. Most bathrooms are far more difficult to grout than this, as they have shorter grout lines and more square patterns to be careful with. For example, rectangular 4"x2" tile on a shower wall takes a lot more patience and time since there are tons of joints (lines) between all the hundred or so tile pieces.
4) The two colors in the photo were provided. Disappointingly, the wrong one was used. The contractor claimed my wife gave him the wrong one, but that is not accurate. Both were placed in the bathroom shower and shown to the contractor. My wife didn't know where the material was or what material was necessary. So, I was the one who provided it when asked by the contractor. It was also very easy to see that when the previous silicon was removed, it was a completely different color. Tile professionals would usually stop at that point and double check the color rather than do the entire job without matching the existing color. You can see that detail in one of the photos as the grey sealant was put on top of the white one where the wall meets the shower floor.
5) The job was charged at $250, which usually is understandable for a half day to full day of work. Having done work like this, I understsnd the need to charge half days or full days for labor even though you may not need that much time. However, this work was done within 30-45 min. and done somewhat carelessly. I know, because when I came in from building a new fence, I was surprised that the contractor had left already. Shocked actually...especially when my wife told me the full charge of $250. I have paid people $300 a day to tile, which is immensely more challenging. So, I was just disappointed in how carelessly the work was done.
6) You can see that the lines were not cleaned with a spunge after application...again, very standard for anyone who has sealed or grouted any type of joint in a house. Again, very rushed and careless, and ultimately unfair to us at the labor rate charged. For many people, $250-$300 a day is the cost of their own full day of labor. So, we have to save up to have work done in our homes and this should be respected, in my view.
Overall, my goal here is not to slam the contractor. I think the business is generally solid, and it is very hard to find people that will just do grout only. Usually, tile tradesmen will grout after tiling, but do not want to come do regrouting. It is usually a job for a handyman or homeowner. My goal is to express my experience here and voice that I think the job should have been redone, or done more carefully, in order to respect both parties. People put immense care and time into their homes, so it is always a matter of trust, respect, and integrity when we work together with contractors in our homes. I wish Julio the best,and recommend him to any people who need regrouting, however, I think our contracts will end with this one. I think he probably does a nice job with mixed grouts. I believe our job was too small for his expertise. read more