We recently moved into a new house. Tiles were not included in the ensuite and bathroom. We asked the builder for measurements and also a quote from his tiler to lay them. He gave us the measurements of 25 sqm ensuite and 25 sqm bathroom. He informed us that the normal charge would be E20 sqm ceramic and 25 sqm marble or porcelin but said as we were not taking the fridge freezer included in our built in kitchen and also as the house would not be ready on the day it was suppoded to be, he would sort something out for us.
We agreed with this and went ahead and bought our tiles. We had to have them on site on a specific day as the tiler was only on the developement every now and then, which we did.
Tiling was done before we moved in and it wasn't the greatest. Didn't look like a professional job at all. Around doors wasn't grouted at all, grout was loose on ground at saddleboards and the place was left in a mess. We noticed a lot of full boxes of tiles were left over too. We put the grouting issues and the holes not filled on the snag list (which is still not completed!) and left it at that as we thought we weren't being billed for it.
One or two people that have visited have commented on the poor quality of the tiling; lack of symetry, a large crack in a tile behind a heated towel rail that we hadn't noticed, chips out of corner tiles and also of the mess the bathrooms were left in.
My partner was chatting to one of the odd job men on site a few weeks ago regarding the lack of work in the building industry now and he was casually informed that there was lots of work, especially for tradesmen. He went on to tell him that the tiler wasn't available after all on the day our tiling was to be done so he had done it himself with one of the juniors on site.
We kind of just agreed to cut our loses over the poor quality as we weren't being charged for it even though after people pointed out the flaws that we never saw before, they were all we saw after that!
Then, last week we received a bill from the builders office for E1400! (price including VAT, trims, grout, adhesive etc)
Can anyone tell me what my rights are regarding this?
Surely I shouldn't be billed for a professional tiler when I didn't get one?
Have I any comeback on the fact that the builder gave me measurements of 50 sqm and the measurements were actually only 42 sqm? I'm out of pocket for all the extra tiles! (it may sound petty but the tiles we bought were E60 per sqm)
Should a tiler leave the place in showhouse condition or is it exceptable for it to be in a mess with the grout all over the walls still?
What can I realistically expect to happen?
Can I demand for them to re-tile my bathrooms at there expense?
Any help, tips advice welcome