Rick Christopherson
Senior Member
Oh this sounds fun! I haven't had the chance to get this off my chest in a profession environment in 15 years but it still tweaks me off.
My GC (who later became my best customer) built my house 15 years ago, but I did a lot of the work myself, such as all the wiring, woodwork, cabinetry, landscape, etc., so I was on-site every day. The plumber was a bad-egg and irritated all the other trades, but I didn?t let him bother me....at first.
That changed as we were nearing the final stretch of a very tight schedule and he was plumbing the Jacuzzi in the master bath. He approached me (as the home owner, which is a no-no) and stated that code required plumbing access to the tub...of course. I responded that I specifically constructed the vanity next to the tub for this access, but he was adamant that the access MUST be right in the front of the custom tile surround.
He said these new tiles (installed by the GC's tile guy) had to come out and a scuttle hole had to be made in the front of the tub surround like they do in all the other houses. I told him that if the building inspector had a problem with the scuttle hole that I planned for in the side was not valid, then he should see me.
Well, the next morning I came in and found that this guy had taken a hammer an smashed out the new tiles in the face of the tub surround....not to put in a scuttle....but to FORCE me to put in a scuttle. He didn?t remove them, he only broke them!
The inspector never had an issue with the design. It was just this plumber. Thankfully there were spare tiles to replace the broken ones. The plumbing company was good, but that particular plumber was banned from all projects my GC hired them for.
My GC (who later became my best customer) built my house 15 years ago, but I did a lot of the work myself, such as all the wiring, woodwork, cabinetry, landscape, etc., so I was on-site every day. The plumber was a bad-egg and irritated all the other trades, but I didn?t let him bother me....at first.
That changed as we were nearing the final stretch of a very tight schedule and he was plumbing the Jacuzzi in the master bath. He approached me (as the home owner, which is a no-no) and stated that code required plumbing access to the tub...of course. I responded that I specifically constructed the vanity next to the tub for this access, but he was adamant that the access MUST be right in the front of the custom tile surround.
He said these new tiles (installed by the GC's tile guy) had to come out and a scuttle hole had to be made in the front of the tub surround like they do in all the other houses. I told him that if the building inspector had a problem with the scuttle hole that I planned for in the side was not valid, then he should see me.
Well, the next morning I came in and found that this guy had taken a hammer an smashed out the new tiles in the face of the tub surround....not to put in a scuttle....but to FORCE me to put in a scuttle. He didn?t remove them, he only broke them!
The inspector never had an issue with the design. It was just this plumber. Thankfully there were spare tiles to replace the broken ones. The plumbing company was good, but that particular plumber was banned from all projects my GC hired them for.
