Second Mile Tile

Nightmare Experience – Stay Away!

I had a leak in my kitchen that required installing new floor tile and new counter top tile. As the property is tenant occupied, I needed to have the kitchen addressed immediately. Unfortunately, all of the top-rated contractors on Houzz.com were unavailable for weeks so I submitted a form on a home-improvement website asking contractors to call me. Kevin called almost immediately.

He quickly came to the property, seemed very friendly, submitted a bid at a good price, and started on the project within days. During the project, communication was very good and he completed the job nearly on schedule. Everything seemed to be perfect but that is where the dream ended and the nightmare began.

The day after he completed the work, I received pictures from my tenants and general contractor (I don’t live in OC so I didn’t see the work before making my final payment) showing that the sink was installed crooked, the amount of stainless steel revealed on each side of the under-mount sink was highly inconsistent, and the layout of the tile surrounding the sink looked terrible.

The tile floor was equally bad. He told me the day before starting the job that the new tile floor in the kitchen would be 1/8" higher than the old tile floor in the living room. The height difference ended up being 5/8" different leaving a hazardous condition when walking from the living room to the kitchen.

When I asked him to fix these mistakes, he refused. He also refused to speak with me on the phone to try to work it out; he would only communicate through text. After texting back and forth for several days, I told him that I would have to hire someone else to fix his mistakes and bill him for the reimbursement. At that point, he said he would sue me for $450 for "extra work" he did on the project unless I signed a release form stating he was not liable for any unsatisfactory work. The "extra work" he now wanted to bill me for was necessary to fix another mistake that he made (not the mistakes mentioned previously). He never discussed charging me for the work during the project: it was purely in retaliation to me asking that he fix the floor and kitchen sink.

He followed through with his threat and sued me. One week later a processor served me with an order to go to court showing that Kevin was suing me for $450 plus a $700 admin fee. I had to fly down to OC to show up for court. I countersued (my first and only time I have sued anyone) for the cost of hiring someone to fix his mistakes. He lost, I won. He appealed the decision so I have to fly down to OC again to endure a second court case.

In conclusion, Kevin left my kitchen looking terrible requiring me to hire another contractor to completely redo the work. To add insult to injury, he sued me requiring me to fly to Orange County twice to deal with him in court. I can't imagine a worse experience.