Looking for: high-end, detail oriented tile setter

Hi all! Looking for a recommendation for someone to cut and set a few tiles in my apartment. Long story short, the contractors I hired for our large scale renovation are great at speed but their attention to detail is lacking. I’m done fighting with them to try to get it to improve, and need to accept defeat and just call in someone to fix some of their work.

As such, I’m looking for someone who is obsessively detail focused to cut a few tiles for where the tile floor meets the hardwood and some other places. I’m happy to overpay, I’m in so deep on the gut renovation that I’d prefer to just finally get the end product I’m looking for.

Everyone suggests Rob Mara (at least from this forum a decade ago), but it appears he may have retired? Anyway, any high end tile setter suggestions are appreciated!

amt230

in General Discussion 2 years and 7 months ago

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justinromeu26 | 2 years and 7 months ago

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You do not have to meet with subs. A good contractor will select good subs. Yes, work off referrals but even referrals are no guarantee. The contractors who cause problems often try to do it all themselves and they often underbid (want to find a crooked contractor? Ask him if he will run a 220 volt electric line for a stove himself or sub it to an electrician. If he says he will do it himself and he is not licensed to do so,throw him out of your house; he does not give a crap to protect his own assets and if he won’t protect himself, he will not care about you and your assets). Always get several bids and never take the lowest bid. If a bid is 10% lower than the other bids, something is wrong with it and even good contractors can make mistakes when preparing bids. Forget something in the bid or bad contractors purposely underbid to get jobs. When this happens they cannot finish or the money is not there to spend on a tile guy.

A good contra ctor will not let this happen. He will not risk his reputation under bidding or doing things he should not.

amt230 | 2 years and 7 months ago

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For the benefit of those reading, what’s the solution? Meet with contractors’ subs as well? Hire a different contractor for the demo/framing and the finish work? Roll the dice with referrals and hope you fare better than I did?

Called Chris and fingers crossed for a response, otherwise still appreciate referrals for fine finish work!

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 7 months ago

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for the benefit of those reading this:

Part of the problem the contractor is having is he is trying to do two different trades and when we try to do that, we never really get good at either. at some point, most of us learn to specialize and get really good at one thing. we can do it faster and better. sub the other work out.

amt230 | 2 years and 7 months ago

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Thanks for this. This was certainly my first time (and will be my last!) and while I’m very happy with the contractor’s work on demo and rebuilding the space, as you note their rush-rush approach is no good for the stuff I actually have to look at in the end.

I’ll give Chris a try, and hopefully I can get him or any other more skilled tradesperson to do the work, even if I have to pay a premium.

Other recommendations still welcome!

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 7 months ago

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So i run another company and when i was first self employed i would take jobs like this where the contractor had been asked to leave the job or abandoned it because the remaining amount of money was not worth his time. The original contractors would have been good at putting up walls and ceilings but could not manage the stuff people see – wood work. In your case tile. I think they would often miss the mark on those details because of the time they take, no more rush-rush.

Experienced contractors do not like walking into these. Often the customers are annoyed. Many times the original contractor had had to ask for more money and after a couple of times of that the customers feel like all contractors are incompetent or dishonest. Often what happened was, both the customer and contractor were new to this and both were not realistic about money from the start.

Give it a try. You can call chris lombardi. He is honest and he does good work. Many of my customers have used him and all have commented that his prices are a lot higher than the next price but hi s price is very much where it should be for someone living and working in this city. He did my bathroom and his price was twice as high as the next guys. He does good work.

If you cannot find his number, you can reach me via brownstonehomeinspection.com. i have it someplace.

Be careful or you will end up with more of the same.

amt230 | 2 years and 7 months ago

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Thank you! If he does general carpentry as well, perhaps the job isn’t so small, as I can have him help me resolve some of the other issues I’ve had with my current contractor’s work.

Has anyone else experienced this and taken this approach, just getting your contractor to do their best and then call in someone more experienced to fix some of the detail oriented work? Feels foolish, but I don’t know how else to get to the end the result I want easily. I just think I want something sharper than my contractor is capable, so going back and forth there feels like a waste.

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 7 months ago

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it will be hard to get someone for a small job. i can give you the name of someone but he might shun something this small. but he is good and he is detail oriented. Chris Lombardi. he does more than just tile work.