Who should we blame? A viral Tik tok
Everyone loves a good finger-pointing blame game in the renovation process. For starters, it’s easy to say you weren’t there or you don’t know why something happened especially if you didn’t know what was on the agenda for that particular day. Renovation moves pretty slowly until suddenly one day it ramps up and so many things are happening at once you can’t believe the daily progress. Most of the finished material is discussed in meetings or given plans. But what if it was added last minute and the GC told the client he wouldn’t be able to get to the tile install for quite some time but then “surprises the client” and does it a few days later, and on a Sunday, without asking tile direction. In my client’s defense, her GC asked her (and me) which direction every single tile should be laid in this project. He even called me on a Sunday, months before this hick-up, to ask which direction a penny tile should be installed. On this particular Sunday, he didn’t want to “bother anyone” and so made the decision to assume the tile direction, hence my viral Tik Tok…
Incorrect tile installation.
I loved this brownstone project so much and this trending sound on Tik Tok made me think of this tile install error immediately. After 1.8 million views on Tik Tok I realized how common this issue really was. In this particular case I was 1/2 joking about it being the General Contractor’s fault but it’s also important to note that in renovation everyone loves pointing fingers. I do believe that is actually why the video went viral. Everyone wanted to blame someone else. I wish it was that black and white but in this case it wasn’t.
The problem here was I designed the tile vertically but my client wasn’t sure about the tile and passed on the design originally. Hence, the GC never saw the original design. We sourced this super cute wallpaper instead and primed the walls for paper. I was also no longer working on the job, as my contract had been completed. The homeowner, my client, reached out and told me she’d been thinking about that original tile and ordered it. She then asked if she could pay my hourly rate and have me come on Monday to meet with the GC and review a few last-minute details. One of the details is the additional tile going up in the kid’s bathroom. My client went on to tell me her GC mentioned he wouldn’t have time to install this new tile and that she might have to wait. Surprise! On Monday when my client arrived, the tile was up. She sent me the photo and I think we both gasped. It was installed horizontally but it was always intended to be installed vertically.
Bathroom construction
After all the back and forth, the blame game, finger-pointing and everyone feeling defeated we let the dust settle, literally. A few days later my client decided it wasn't worth keeping since she was always going to be annoyed and so she ORDERED THE TILE AGAIN. I don’t know all the details of what was negotiated but my hope is that the GC covered the tile and discounted the re-installation fee. I do not think that was the outcome but I do think that would have been the right thing to do. And while I do believe the General Contractor was mostly to blame here I do think I am also to blame and so is the homeowner. I am to blame because I have a lot of experience in renovation so I know how quickly GCs work toward the end and should have immediately provided him with the tile design information. I should have known that while he told the homeowner he couldn’t install this tile that it was also possible his tile installer would be available and he would jump on that opportunity. The homeowner takes a small piece of cake blame as well since this was a last-minute decision and not part of the finished look, once she passed on it months earlier.
In the end, the bathroom looks beautiful and my advice would be to learn from our mishap and leave instructions on any newly added finished material no matter when the GC says he or she can get to it.
Rikki Synder Photography, the final look