Very poor workmanship and still unwilling to make good his mistakes 9 months on
Work paid for: Full bathroom installation. I supplied the tiles and bathroom suite (walk-in shower, toilet, sink, taps)
Two videos of the installation are on you tube reference:
gE4hsNcRhU8 and bEyuWkZc3ms
What's good: installed with minimum mess and dust. Carpets protected. Waste and water supply pipework seem to be ok so far.
What's bad. In my opinion, the installation and finish looks very amateur and too many things wrong and of very poor workmanship:
1. Shower tray not level and not installed according to manufacturer's specification, so doesn't drain fully, leaving a ~86cm pool of dirty water that never goes and therefore cannot be cleaned easily. Plumber initially tried to claim the product was faulty, rather than not installed level.
2. Woodwork extremely poorly finished (not level, not cut to the correct profile, differing profiles of facing board used, cut too short and filled with roughly applied mastic/filler, facing board proud of top at one end, and loose because it's not attached properly).
3. Shower waste pipe cracked (installer claimed that we broke the waste pipe showering, even though it is flush with the shower base and has a removable plastic cover on it!).
4. Toilet not installed straight to wall. Cistern sits on top of toilet at an angle because of this. Toilet looks and is 'squiffy'.
5. Sink unit not level left to right (noticeable against the tiles behind it), because it has been fixed to the wall with mastic/glue, rather than precisely drilled wall holes and screws for the unit's pre-drilled mounting holes, as stated in the manufacturer's installation instructions.
6. Wall tiles behind sink are not flush, so there is a very noticeable gap between one side of the sink top and the wall.
7. Some floor, shower and wall tiles are proud of others, have uneven gaps between them and are not aligned to others horizontally or vertically.
8. Some tiles are not cut straight or cut too short.
9. Tile edge trim above sink is uneven, bulging in middle and bent. A square mirror cannot be mounted above this as planned, as there will be very noticeable gaps below both ends.
10. Grouting not finished in some places.
11. Chrome shower screen support has visible damage on two sides. I assume it happened during cutting to the correct length (they were perfect when delivered to us).
He promised to remediate in January 2025 and to buy and fit a new shower tray. Then he rescheduled/ cancelled 5 times and then ignored my messages for months and is still unwilling to fix it or refund me unless and until I take him to the small claims court for breach of contract. As far as I can tell, he believes the workmanship is acceptable (to quote him: "Your points need to taken to a small claims court to allow an impartial viewpoint"). Recent unfriendly and dismissive communications about my complaint in my opinion.
Before starting the job, he told me that his tiler colleague had left (and was not available to do my job), having recently setup on his own. I assumed the installer was a competent tiler, having taken on the work.
Shower now needs to be removed and new shower tray bought and fitted, as the permanent residual water make it dangerously slippery in my opinion. Toilet and sink need to be refitted straight. Many tiles need to be removed and reinstalled correctly. Woodwork needs to be redone/repaired. Will cost thousands of pounds.
Here's an odd thing: The front panel was removed from the toilet pipework boxing-in (as part of a remediation cost assessment) and a large filthy rag that I believe the installer had used to plug the inside of the old toilet waste pipe while fitting the new bathroom, had been left prominently inside the otherwise clean and tidy toilet pipework boxing-in section. I don't believe it had been left there by accident, as insulation had been installed around it. It was disgusting and should have been one of the first things to be disposed of immediately once the toilet waste pipe had been connected and before the boxing-in was constructed! PK Plumbing - if there was a high-tech reason why this was left there, please let me know!
In my opinion, customer service and installation competence needs to be very significantly improved by this trader. He needs to take professional responsibility for fixing things when he makes costly mistakes.
I would NEVER EVER use him again, nor recommend him to others. My installation came with no warranty whatsoever, only a site visit the day after to verbally agree to fix it, which to date, (28th Aug 2025) has not happened. Unfortunately, I paid in phases and the last payment in advance of the work completing and before I checked it and used it for the first time. Beware! A costly mistake. Bathroom now unfinished while recovery action is ongoing.