Bad Bosses·
THE RENOVATION NIGHTMARE
A homeowner confronts a contractor after a 4-month kitchen and bath renovation spirals into misfits, unfinished walls, mismatched cabinets, and a costly battle over fixes.
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A renovation that was supposed to take 4 weeks has dragged on for 4 months, and now the contractor says it is "complete and ready for a final walk through." The problem is that the person paying for it says the job looks nowhere near finished.
They describe the project as a "4 month nightmare" and say this is their first time doing a renovation of this scale, which covers about 750 square feet. With the contractor now calling it done, the poster starts laying out problem after problem.
First up: the flooring and baseboards. The contract only mentions "installation of baseboards," but the poster asks whether the flooring and trim are supposed to be sealed and finished as well. Then there are gaps and holes where the countertop meets the cabinet. The poster says they have "never seen that before" and asks whether that kind of space is normal or fixable.
The cabinets are another mess. Some of them have brown internal sides next to white internal sides, and the cabinet fronts are different colors too. The countertop, meanwhile, is described as "pieced together horribly," with an added piece at the end instead of a single angled section. The seam near the sink, the poster says, looks bad.
There is also a backsplash outlet that sticks out instead of sitting flush. The walls are unfinished too. Even though painting was not written into the contract, the poster says it was discussed verbally and asks whether painting should be part of a full kitchen and bathroom renovation.
Then comes the microwave. The poster says they asked what size to buy and were told "any size," but the installed microwave will not open all the way because it hits the cabinet. That leaves them wondering whether the microwave is the wrong size or whether the spacing was done incorrectly.
The details keep piling up: random mismatched tile in the shower, cabinets missing hardware, cabinets missing shelving inside. The flooring is the wrong color. And after more than four months, the poster still is not living there.
That delay has been expensive. They say they are still paying the mortgage and renting longer than expected, all while staring at a renovation they do not feel good about. By the end, the poster sounds worn down and asks the question plainly: "Should I demand they fix all these things?" Or should they "just not pay them the remaining balance at this point?"