The CRACKHEAD Plumber Visit

We are redoing the guest bathroom. There was a "builder grade" fiberglass shower/tub in there and we ripped it out and are installing a basic steel tub, tiling around it and retiling the floor to match. This all started with a trip to Home Depot for something entirely different-I have no recollection for what-and I noticed a sink/cabinet. The one we have in there now is cheap (also builder grade) and I just said, "I wonder if this would fit in place of that one we have in the bathroom?"
Fast forward one week, an overzealous significant other, many unforseen details and unexpected issues later, and we are midway through the process of redoing the entire bathroom. It's a small bathroom- you wouldn't think it would be that expensive to tile. The contrast of the projected amount of money and the actual cost is laughable. HAHAHAHA We absolutely wouldn't have undertaken this project had we known $$$$ what we were getting into, but with the way it unfolded it's too late to stop. I'm not upset, though. It is an eye-candy improvement. We will enjoy it. And when we do put the house on the market, I really think it, along with other upgrades will help our house to sell more quickly. Something I learned in real estate school is that many people make the mistake of assuming upgrades will allow them to sell their house for more, but that's not the case. A house typically appraises and sells for very close to what houses of similar size and style are selling for within a certain radius of that area.
Anyway, Rickey personally took on our master bathroom as a tile project before, and let's just say that it took over a year to complete. This time I insisted we hired someone to lay tile while Rickey was going to pull out the tub and put in the new one. The new tub didn't line up with the pipes -although we had been told repeatedly that it would line up- and we had to call a plumber.



to be continued
I'm really not in the mood anymore to describe all of the details of our time with the very obviously drug-addicted plumber team (you know how you can just tell that someone is definitely on something) that consisted of two men. I'll just share the gist of it. First, they made sure they stretched their time into two days and totally over charged us. We were billed for three hours the first day, although we realized later that they were only there for just over two. Then, yesterday one of the men came at 12:31pm (we were timing it this time) and was finished at 1:36pm. He was going to charge us for an hour and a half. I very sweetly and calmly said "Oh, I'm being charged until 2:00? Hmmm, let me see, I think we can find something else for you to take a look at until 2:00."
He responds, "Well (fidget).....uh....I gotta (fidget) pack my stuff up and (fidget) put it in the truck. (fidget) And get my bill pad (fidget) and write the bill up. That's all a part of (fidget) my time."
He also tried to get away with charging us extra for using a standard plumbers tool, which of course was never mentioned as part of any charges prior to that moment. Just supposed to be parts and labor.
Rickey, after calling another plumbing company to find out if we should be charged for the usage of a chipping hammer, got on the phone with the man's boss (the other crackhead that was there the day before) and let him know in no uncertain terms we would not be paying for the tool usage.
Glad it's over. The tile guys haven't been a problem and have been working for several days, removing the tile floor, hanging sheetrock around the tub, and now starting to lay the tile. They should be finished Saturday. I'll post more pictures soon.