Wrong size shower in master bath

This one arose from a difference of opinion of what 4' shower in master bath in the contract actually meant. This was a paid upgrade from the existing small shower stall that is customarily installed in that bathroom.

The first shower installed in there was indeed 4' wide but it was only 38" deep which isn't going to be all that comfortable when that only gives one inch on either shoulder for me. The superintendent's first take on the situation was that 4' only meant width, not depth.

So I decided to make some discreet enquiries in a little investigation of my own. Of the ten people I polled at work, nine of them when confronted with the contract language took it to mean 4'x4' at the very least. Since then, we're up to 16 of 17 people thinking those are the dimensions appropriate to the language. In legal terms, this is considered the reasonable man in the street standard for proving your case.

Armed with that as well as a copy of the original plans that are part of their information packet, I was determined to get that shower corrected. You see, the plans show the shower extending beyond the depth of the bathtub and yet the shower that was installed was clearly less deep than the tub! Now, drawings are not necessarily to scale but a copy of an official floor plan isn't going to be that far off...plus the previous sales agent that had sold the house to us had also drawn the shower beyond the confines of the tub.

Thus started five attempts at getting the point across of:

  • The shower we were sold extends beyond the bath tub
  • The plans also show this
  • The reasonable man in the street thinks the contract is talking about a 4'x4' shower, not a 4'x38" shower
  • We've already paid for an upgrade and we're not paying additional, we'd just like to get what we were sold
  • The shower as configured will not be accepted
The following pictures illustrate that the original shower didn't extend beyond the tub as the plans specified:





After more than a little hemming and hawing, we were told that the pre-fabricated units do not come in a 4' square size...the biggest they come in is 4'x42". It was made clear that anything less than 4'x4' would not be acceptable.

At this point, we were advised that they could install a 4'x4' pan and build the shower out of cultured marble. I indicated I'd be perfectly fine with that and then was asked how much would you be willing to pay for that?

Are you kidding me?!? I've already paid for the upgraded shower and pretty much everyone else on the planet I've talked to thinks the interpretation of the contract language means 4'x4'. I think I could take these pictures, the plans, and the contract to any competent judge and win the case plus fees!

At this point, I indicated to them that if cultured marble was the only way they could do what they promised then they needed to do it, it would be on their dime as I've already paid the upgrade I'm going to pay on it, and it needed to happen soon before it became too painful to fix (i.e. do it before the sheet rock hits the walls, guys!). The amount of pain they wished was totally up to them to decide when enough was enough.

The prosecution rests, m'Lord.

And as you can see, the 4'x4' pan has indeed been installed waiting for the marble walls. Our realtor was impressed that we got them to do the right thing on this one. The impressive bit wasn't getting them to do the right thing...the impressive part was not letting the frustration put them into a position where they felt they were cornered and would refuse requiring legal remedies.



There have been a couple of sentiments expressed by the sales staff (both the predecessor and the current incumbent) that go something like this:
  • It is sometimes easier to let them make a mistake and then have them correct it.
  • I want you letting us know about these items as quickly as possible (the corollary being that it is our house that is being built and no one will look out for your interests except you!).
The first one is so boneheaded on several levels it's hard to know where to begin. Do I tackle the angle of it's actually cheaper and less nerve-wracking for you to do it right the first time or the notion that good communication between supervisor and worker can avoid these sorts of things? Or how about the idiocy of raising a red flag to someone who is already paranoid enough about the process as it is to be hyper-vigilant and raise as a concern anything that is amiss? I might have been inclined to not bother with really minor stuff but now they can expect a punch list item on every one of them.

The second idea is a little more sensible as long as you understand that you are truly alone in this process. The builder isn't going to look out for your interest (they want it done as cheaply and quickly as possible and if it's right, that's a happy bonus). The sales staff isn't in charge of construction and isn't going to be motivated to actually verify what is being built meets contract (until the buyer forces them to when they won't accept shoddy or wrong work!). And the town inspectors (whilst probably meaning well) are overworked and underpaid and they're not going to spend any more than the minimum time to give your house the thumb's up or thumb's down. It's not uncommon for these people to supplement their income from builders to look the other way.

You are alone and you don't really have any friends unless they're your loved ones helping you out along the way. Ms. Pat and Julia have been invaluable in that regard as they are veterans of the house building process. Me, I'm what they'd call a virgin...but like to think I learn quickly! :)

We did have a couple of other aces up our sleeves...our agent (Dee Mitchell, she sold our previous house in about a month!) has been hammering them on this one on the days I haven't been. A big piece of advice...do not go into this without at least a buyer's agent on your side. You are not paying the commission...the builder does. So you may as well have someone who is experienced on your side who can help in the more delicate and nasty negotiations that are sometimes required. If you don't feel like fighting with the builder, let your agent do it! That way the hard feelings aren't against you and you're in the clear.

The other ace was the lady doing our mortgage package who just happens to work right next to Bill Clark's office (yeah, there is an actual Bill Clark that owns the company) and she was appalled at the runaround we were getting. That was very useful to know that she'd be willing to engage the top dog to help us out...but as it turned out, it wasn't necessary (but nice to know you have a nuke if you need it!) as the corrected shower plan indicates surrender. :)

That's probably another good lesson to learn from this...just because you're in a fight doesn't mean you have to fight fair. You have to fight right for your rights. If that means bringing the hammer down upon them from above to get the right thing done, then that's what it takes. You shouldn't be pushed to that point in the first place but the administrative chain of command is there for a reason...use it! But don't let your frustration translate into abusive language or posture...throughout the entire episode, I very calmly informed them of our perspective and our expectations and I think that probably scared them more than anything else. You can dismiss someone acting irrationally as irrational...but one who commands their passions is a more dangerous person to have round you.

So when you're right, stick to your guns and enforce your rights as specified in the contract. In this case, they made a several thousand dollar mistake by being imprecise in the contract and they are paying for it. But that's better than us paying the price for not fighting to fix what was wrong and having a shower that does not meet our needs nor was what we were sold for our stay in the house.

And I look forward to having showers in a compartment that isn't standard issue on a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine!