Marc started our bathroom remodel in June 2022. He said it would take 2 weeks. We know things often…read moretake a little longer, but it eventually became ridiculous.
We put 50% down to start and everything seemed ok at first. My husband works from home, so was the contact for the first few months. Marc's schedule varied without notice - Sometimes he was still working when I got home around 7pm, other times he wouldn't show up for a few days or even a few weeks. He kept needing advances on the balance. In October he texted to say "ok I'll be done tomorrow so I'd like to be paid the balance tomorrow" (it was just a few hundred dollars at that point). But... the bathroom was clearly a long ways from being done. There was still a big hole where the toilet pipes go into the wall, the trim was unfinished, and even where the trim was "done", it didn't cover the splintery gaps where the flooring was poorly cut. I spent a few hours cleaning the super thick sanded paint dust out of the window and off the cupboards and floor so I could see the actual condition of the bathroom. The trim was even worse than I had realized - most of it was not flush, and he filled the 1/4" or so gaps with bumpy brown goo. The (new) sink in the new countertop had the roughest sealant I've ever seen - it is going to be terrible to clean unless we scrape it out and replace it with a smoother finish (maybe using some type of tool to smooth it). I hear that a lot of contractors just use their finger to smooth it, but the back is a narrow spot to reach. The (new) cupboards had a lot of scratches that I don't think they had when they were delivered.
The poorly cut metal transition piece between the flooring and the carpet outside was already bent the day after he installed it. It also wasn't wide enough to fit - I think he just used a scrap left over from another job. The new outlets weren't squared - and the walls around them were very rough; their texture didn't come close to matching the rest of the walls. The outlets were also partially plugged with mud or spray texture. The tiles above the sink were chipped and rough. I thought there was paint splattered all over the cupboards, but it turns out it was just spray texture that he hadn't yet cleaned up (remember "I'm going to be done tomorrow so expect to be paid in full"...). So after I did my scrubbing, I post-it'd the worst issues, and because my husband was so annoyed at the condition after 4+ months of work, I took over as the contact. This apparently made Marc angry because it limited him to working on my days off (Thursdays, Fridays and if he wanted, Saturdays). Sometimes his girlfriend came over to help, and she did a much better job cutting the trim - I wish she had measured and cut the flooring at the beginning of the job, too. I think she's the "R" in the "R&M" so if we'd known that to begin with, we might have been able to just hire her instead. Sometimes we unexpectedly had to babysit his kid, both before and after I took over, so he could work on a day that his school district had off.
Starting Thanksgiving, I had mandatory OT at work and only had Saturdays off. When I took over in October I didn't expect this to be a problem because after all, he originally said it was only a 2 week job and in October when I took over, he was going "to be done tomorrow". But sadly, he was still a long ways away from being done at this point. I mean, the bathroom had a functional sink and toilet, so that was a plus, but one cupboard door had a stripped screw that he never fixed, the walls weren't yet painted or fully textured (it's super thick spray texture from a can, which I've never heard of before), and we had a mish-mash of trim colors and styles. And weird thick brown goo to help the trim corners (sorta) mesh.
Around the 1st of the year he said he'd be back after the current round of spray texture dried... and he packed his tools and never came back. We're left with unfinished trim, weird irregularly textured walls, and the messiest sealant around a sink that I've ever seen. I'm fine with painting (I can do that) but it would be nice if he'd finished the other stuff that I don't know how to do, and don't have the tools for. He never insisted on the last few hundred dollars but there is a lot more than a few hundred dollars worth of work left to do. We actually want him to come back and finish it right, using his theoretical 20+ years of skills and tools, but he stopped replying to our requests regarding when he'd be back, and sadly, I don't think he has the tools or skills to decently finish the job.