this is a letter that i wrote to the owner but can not find an active e mail account to send it…read more feel free to read it and keep in mind that the $3,000 quote was before the recognition of the extent of the water damage. the active bill now is over $12,000 as the entire bathroom is being removed and reconstructed from the foundation up. all new floor joists, sub floor, pan, electrical, plumbing, walls, and tile. the letter reads as follows:
I'm addressing you to convey my genuine concern in regard to the work that you did in my home when I initially moved in. The issue is somewhat complex and relatively straight forward at the same time. The complex element includes the notion that, as I understood, we were at least acquaintances and for that reason I chose you to oversee the remodeling of my home for handicapped accessibility. You worked swiftly and were mindful of my budget. I thought your ideas were great, and you and your team made my home beautiful and functional. I truly appreciate your efforts and recognize the fact that you allowed me to pay one installment up front, and the other upon receipt of my insurance settlement. I am aware that the second payment took over a year to come through, but as I understood you were aware that I was as anxiously awaiting the court to settle my claim as much as you were interested in collecting for your services. As soon as I received my settlement I cleared my balance with you. I assumed that the legal delay in my settlement did not interfere with our initial agreement of payment scheduling.
The straight forward element of this correspondence is quite disheartening. Upon recognizing a serious water problem in my driveway, my electrician discovered that the entire floor of my remodeled shower was root of the issue. I had you come out to professionally assess the situation, and you confirmed that the floor, subfloor, and supporting joists needed to be replaced. You gave me a quote of around $3,000. When I inquired as to why my relatively new bathroom was failing to perform whilst my 30 year old bathroom on the other end of the house that was not remodeled is in fine condition, you informed me that I was not routinely caulking the grout lines. I was never informed that I was to routinely caulk anything. You told me that you would try to put me on your schedule for March or April to begin repairs. I texted you to see if you were going to work with me in regard to cost and my responsibility with respect to the percentage of that cost I should incur, and I never heard from you again.
In the two years that have transpired since my last inquiry to you, I have had four different licensed contractors assess the situation, and all four agree on two elements; all of the repairs that you mentioned are indeed required, and more poignantly, the cause of the failure was "poor craftsmanship". When I had the shower floor removed an electrical conduit was revealed to have been cut during the original install and taped back together. This taped conduit was resting in a pool of water that has been there for seven years. It is a wonder as to how that didn't cause catastrophic events including fire and or electrocution.
I must admit that I was generally upset initially upon the discovery of the failing bathroom, but what bothers me most is the uncanny similarities of the four independent diagnoses of "poor craftsmanship". It was as though all four of the independent contractors had deliberated in a jury room and came back with that phrase in unison. Not one of them was an acquaintance of mine, and not one of them mentioned anything about me routinely caulking grout lines. Each contractor quoted me roughly the same estimate as you had, concluding in the range of $3,000 and one of them will start working on it at the end of this month.
It is disconcerting to me that this situation has occurred, and I simply want you to know that I am very disappointed in the manner that you handled it.
