Unhappy with DIY job done by friend - how to address?

[deeeyewhy]

We needed the bathroom redoing (mainly tiles). A good friend is an avid DIY-er / house doer-upper and has experience of doing this in their own homes so offered to do mine (paid but at a rate to reflect our friendship and the fact they're not a professional, but still not super cheap). I've visited their house and the kitchen and bathrooms look great.

Anyway, we're a few days into them doing the bathroom and it's awful. The tile patterns don't align well, the edging strips aren't cut to fit exactly (either under or over by a few mm and the corners weren't mitred, just cut straight and overlapping) and there's damage from where the old tiles have been removed.

I'm really, really unhappy but don't know how to address this without it being awkward going forward as they're a good friend (but rarely visit my house). I either will have to ask them to stop, pay for their time and get professionals in to rectify / finish the job or I let them finish and then get someone else in to start again. I don't trust that they can complete this job to a decent standard.
I don't have a lot of spare cash and have already spent hundreds on tiles and associated materials that may be wasted if we have to start over. Help - how would you address this?

I like this - thank you.

Is there a chance that it looks so bad because they haven't finished and by the time they have it will look just as good as theirs? I know you won't be able to answer that until it is finished so that's not much help if it's really terrible lol, I do stuff in my own house and I'm quite proud of myself but if anyone asked me to do something in theirs I would say "absolutely not lol I would end up owing you money knowing my luck"

I don't understand how they can't see it looks shit unless as I said it's not gonna look good until the end 😬

Just stop it now. If you wait it out just to be polite it'll eat away at you because it'll cost more to rectify and you could even be put in the position where you're being asked to recommend them to other people. Just dont do it.

Go with what a PP said, that your expectations are different. Give them something for their time and get someone else in. It's not worth it OP.

I feel for you. My bathroom was installed by an at best DIYer (posing as a professional). It's a complete mess - the expensive porcelain tiles all have raised lipages and the floor tiles have all popped up. They were laid by dot and dab unbelievably with wall tile adhesive.

I would ask them to stop the work.

I think this is a good text. Short and to the point.

I agree. Plus it encourages him to think he's done nothing wrong and he'll carry on offering his services to other people.
Pull the plug on the job, and if he asks why, tell him that what he's done so far isn't right and needs to be corrected. Take photos so that if he complains, you can show him the misaligned tiles and awful corners.

@deeeyewhy Any chance you could post some pics? Might help someone on here to say whether it may be fixable and turn out ok in the end, if they have expertise in putting up tiles?

Unfortunately I can't see how it only looks bad because it's still work in progress and will magically look amazing when the job is finished. It's things like tile patterns that don't match properly where tiles have been cut, the edging is rough, there are marks on the walls from the old tile adhesive that aren't covered by the new tiles (I feel that this perhaps should have required the wall to be skimmed before proceeding with the new tiles - beyond the skills of my friend but should have been discussed - "Hey Dee - this ain't going to look pretty so do you want me to hold off putting the new tiles on so you can get this wall skimmed first?") etc.

No because I think it would be very outing as the tiles are rather unique!

Just be honest tell them the issues you’ve spotted and say you’d rather get someone in to finish it.

If the tiles are still wet take off as many as you can to salvage for re use

@RosesAndHellebores you are joking right?
To save embarrassment live with a shitty job?!
Grow a backbone @deeeyewhy it's your house you have to see it everyday say something

Make sure it's soon though so she can make other plans for next week.

Yeah I can't see how the tiles are gonna magically straighten and it's gonna turn out fine then 😬

You weren't to know though but I bet you are kicking yourself now because I know I would be urgh I hate being put in these situations knowing I have to say something.

I know honesty is the best policy but I also know it can be hard to just come out and say something lol I'm sat here trying to think of excuses for you and the only thing I can think of is to somehow accidentally smash a few tiles because silly you decided to move some heavy furniture about to do a clean up and you must have banged into them 😂

Before anyone piles on and tells me it's a ridiculous idea lol I already know it is but if I didn't want to hurt anyones feelings I would come up with a way to make it my fault and say I'm putting off doing the bathroom for now haha that is the cowardly way but who would really want to tell a mate it looks shit

Nope, deadly serious. The op appears to have bought u ique tiles that are difficult to cut and fix. Rather than hiring a professional and paying the professional rate, she went with a mate for mate's rates. You get what you pay for and this is on the op in my opinion. The approach depends on how much she values the friendship. The mate may be aware, they are out of their depth and for all we know may be in touch over the weekend.

Tiling is tricky and not something I'd ask a jack of all trades or non professional to do. If budget is an issue, far better to go for plain tiles and have them hung well than expensive ones hung badly. A good tiler can make a simple tile look fabulous.

@RosesAndHellebores yeah tiling is tricky that's why you pay someone to do correctly ( if you are unable to do it yourself)
When we renovated three bathrooms we paid someone to do it properly despite several offers from friends and it to look rubbish.
Friends helped with things like wallpaper stripping and removal of things. Things they couldn't really get wrong or do a bad job of.
In the time since we paid someone to paper and paint the hall, stairs and landing the price has almost tripped for the painter to come and redecorate.

Dh tiled our bathroom.
We had the walls skimmed first.
Then for 3 weeks dh measured the walls, drew a plan and spent ages getting it straight in his head where he would start and where his cuts would be.

Your friend hasn't worked out the final finish.
I would stop him doing any more.

I think you need to be honest as kindly and politely as you can, giving her an out but being firm that she doesn't have the option to continue.

"I'm really sorry, I had no idea this would be such a difficult job but the old tiles being so stuck and the surface underneath being so uneven wasn't something I'd envisaged. I can see you've been doing your best but the finish just isn't working. I'll pay you for your time so far - let me know - and I'll get a professional to start again. Hope no bad feelings, I just don't think either of us envisaged what a challenge the wall would be. Thanks for having a good go at it. "

Hopefully she'll be relieved but if she is offended and huffs off then at least you aren't stuck with a bathroom you hate and hating yourself for being a people pleaser.

Thanks all. Lots of advice here and I appreciate all your help and suggestions for how to proceed.