Getting the flow of water right in the bottom of a tiled shower is difficult however an experienced tiler should be able to manage it. Tiles on the wall should be flat! I agree keep the $1000 and have someone fix it.

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments. Kate, I think you'll find it will be great with the kids. A friend has kids and a couple of dogs running around on hers and it looks great - very sturdy. I do agree the step definitely needs redoing. I'm going to walk him around the house and point out anything I think doesn't look professional. And I do agree, mistakes can happen and as long as they are rectified I can accept that. The guy we're dealing with is part owner of the business and was a layer for 10 years before going into the sales side. He has offered to come and do the fix up himself so I'm happy with that. Re the colour, I originally thought that we'd end up with a timber shade of some sort, but the house is small and I like the white washed, light beige look of the Ashland. I'll be interested to see what you choose. Very exciting times ahead, lots of work but it will be lovely to have a new house! Best of luck, Trish

Personally I think that even if you managed to get the same tiles it will still look odd because the joins will have to be grouted so there will be an odd pattern of tiles. Unless you got enough so that you could take up the surrounding tiles and therefore get continuity.

God is in the details, and if they haven't been resolved and documented so that everybody on the job knows what is happening then you can end up with this type of messy situation. In an ideal world, all walls and shower niches would be perfectly square and plumb. And the client would have decided on the tile size so that the niche could be designed and built to avoid cutting tiles around the perimeter. And all tiles no matter how cheap they are would be perfectly flat with no bowing or twisting. And all tilers would know how to tile and take pride in their work and redo it at their cost if it wasn't perfect. Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world and there are sometimes elements that are beyond the control of your tiler. But yes it does look crappy, and it would make me unhappy. What does the tiler say? Best of luck with the resolution, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls and Dr Retro Virtual Visits