Bathroom DIY Disaster: Snowballing into a $26K Nightmare!

Welcome back to the Chicks in Construction podcast! In this episode, we unravel a jaw-dropping homeowner horror story that started with a simple bathroom DIY and spiraled into a $26,000 catastrophe. Join us as we dive into the challenges, missteps, and unexpected expenses encountered during this renovation gone horribly wrong. From mold remediation to contractor woes, we share valuable lessons and tips to help you avoid the same pitfalls. Grab your hard hat and tune in for an entertaining and informative discussion that you won't want to miss!

00:00 Introduction to the Renovation Nightmare

00:48 Meet the Hosts: Mikki and Jess do the chitty chat

01:07 Small Talk and TikTok Trends

03:15 Dog Troubles and Vet Bills

08:22 Jessica's Busy Life with Kids and Softball

11:17 Homeowner Horror Story: The Moldy Bathroom

24:42 Wiring Woes and Bathroom Blues

25:57 Dog Drama and Family Tales

27:57 Tile Troubles and Contractor Chaos

30:03 The Costly Contractor Switch

33:11 Lessons Learned and Final Thoughts

49:08 Engage with Us! It's free!

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Creators and Guests

Host

Jessica Abreu

As a social media expert, Jessica has a knack for identifying what makes each business unique and translating that into powerful, engaging content that resonates with clients and customers. From crafting tailored strategies and managing accounts to recording on-site content and boosting engagement, Jessica and her team handle it all so their clients can focus on what they do best.

Host

Mikki Paradis

President & CEO at PDI Drywall Inc. Mikki founded her first construction company, PDI Drywall Inc, in 2005 while she was still a student at NC State. After growing PDI into a multimillion dollar company, she has become an accomplished entrepreneur, speaker, and advocate for innovation in business and leadership. With a passion for empowering others, she has built a reputation as a forward-thinking professional dedicated to driving growth and fostering meaningful connections. Known for her dynamic energy and ability to inspire, Mikki is deeply committed to creating positive change in her industry and beyond. Whether through her entrepreneurial ventures or speaking engagements, she consistently challenges the status quo and encourages others to reach their full potential.

What is Chicks in Construction?

You plan your renovation with excitement, trust your contractor, and hope for the best...until things start going sideways. That’s when most homeowners realize they didn’t know what they didn’t know.

From permits that were never pulled to “contractors” who ghost after demo day, the construction world can feel like a maze of hidden costs and shady shortcuts. Too many homeowners end up confused, overwhelmed, and out of a lot of money.

The Chicks in Construction Podcast is here to change that. Hosted by Mikki Paradis, a licensed general contractor with 20+ years of experience, and Jess Aper, a homeowner turned construction content creator, this show breaks down real renovation horror stories and teaches you how to protect your time, money, and home

This isn’t just another DIY podcast or contractor interview show. Mikki and Jess pull back the curtain on what goes wrong in home projects, translating industry talk into plain English and giving you practical steps to avoid common (and costly) mistakes.

After building a multimillion-dollar drywall business and helping countless homeowners recover from construction nightmares, Mikki is on a mission to make sure you go into your next project informed, not blindsided. And Jess brings the perspective of someone who’s been in your shoes and now knows exactly what questions to ask.

Want to renovate smarter and spot red flags before they wreck your project? Hit follow and get ready for real talk, expert advice, and stories that will make you say, “Thank God I listened to this first.”

Submit Your Construction Horror Story: https://chicksinconstruction.com/

18 Chicks in Construction
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​[00:00:00]

Mikki: Welcome back to Chickson Construction, where the dust never settles and the stories get real.

Jess: In today's gym, a bathroom, DIY, gone horribly wrong. It started with the desire for a new fart fan and turned into a little mold one weekend project later, and boom, it snowballed into a five figure disaster, two contractors, endless headaches, and a bathroom that could star in its own horror film.

So grab your hard hat because this is one renovation nightmare you do not want to repeat.

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Mikki: Hello and welcome back to the Chicks and Construction podcast.

I'm your host McKee, and this is my co-host. Hi, I'm Jessica. And we're doing it today. Okay? We're doing it, lady. And if you don't know what do it [00:01:00] lady means, then you need to get on the TikTok and you need to find the guy that says, do it lady. Just do a search. You'll find it, you'll love it. It'll make you laugh.

I was just explaining to, to Jess and Joe about this character on the talk. I don't even have TikTok. It's my husband's. Right. But he's, he has some good phrases and I like a good phrase. And the one is, do it lady. So today we're doing it lady. We're doing do it lady. I like it. Yeah. So, um, you know, small talk.

We, as you know, we're working on it. Yeah. We're gonna, we're trying, we're gonna, we're gonna do a little small chit chat today. It's harder because Jess and I cannot see each other. Through the microphones. Yeah. The microphones caused us the microphones. It's like, it's like, hmm. It's like, Hey, are you, how are you vo voguing?

Are you there? Also, we didn't let each other know what colors we were wearing today. Neither of us are going to a funeral. Just so you know. No one died. This is just what we both chose. Um, we're spending apparently too much time [00:02:00] together. Yeah. And yet we hardly ever see each other. Yes. We're it's both.

Mm-hmm. Because one, I'm the friend and I'm just gonna let you guys know right now. My love language is fire ass reels. Okay? I'm gonna send you between 37 to 52 fire reels and they're, they're. Solid. They're not, they're not dumb. They're not dumb. They're not ones where you're gonna like watch the beginning of it and just, if you do this, don't admit to it.

Or you watch like the two seconds and you're like, oh, Mickey, you send the same reels. They involve raccoons, they involve birds, they involve dogs. If there's a, there, there's a reel that has some shenanigans, I'm gonna send it to you. And I have like five people.

I rotate my reel sending too. So though Jess and I have not seen each other, she has gotten. All the reels. No, no less than 10,000 reels. Yeah. And you might even be downplaying that a little bit. I might be, I like you think I'm overselling it. No, I could be underselling it. Yeah. I really overwhelm her [00:03:00] inbox.

And now that I know that, that is your love language, I've been starting to send her some back. She has. She has. And I'm like, I mean, I feel like they're pretty good. Whoa. Yeah, they're good. They're good. I love her reel. I love her. I'm here for it. Um, so. There's that, Jess and I haven't seen each other. 'cause it gets, we've talked about last time.

She's got kids. I've got dogs. Oh, fun story. Ooh, what about my dogs? And not, not really fun, but we're gonna make it fun. It's been a very expensive week. Oh no. In the world of dogs. Which, which one is expensive now? Both. Well, two of the four. Mm-hmm. I know. That's a lot of dogs. That's a lot of dogs. So Optimus Prime, who I should have named Megatron, I'm not gonna lie to you.

He is not optimist prime, he is megatron. I I was hoping for an optimist Prime. I got a Megatron. He was limping and so he is 200 and at the time 25 pounds.

And you just li listen. As an experienced master owner, I was like, oh, we're going to the vet. So the thing about that is when you [00:04:00] take a large dog to the vet for a limp, just make, just get your checkbook out. Like get it. I know we don't it like owning a boat where they're like, bring out another thousand.

Yep. It needs to to be some acronym for the dog. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. It's, I think one of the, one of the things they say about having a boat is like throwing money into a hole in the, in the water. Mm-hmm. It's like that with dogs.

In all reality, he's six years old.

He's overweight. Unfortunately not, not, not by my hand. I'm gonna blame my husband on that. Um, and. He's got arthritis. Like I know that's what it is, but obviously we need x-rays to confirm that it's arthritis. They have to put the sedate him because he is 225 pounds. Oh no. Um, so yeah, a thousand dollars later they call me and they're like, oh yeah, no bone cancer, just arthritis.

Literally everywhere and everywhere. Everywhere. Hips, elbows. Ankles, everything, which good Lord, I [00:05:00] genuinely don't understand because I, having so many mastiffs, this dog has been on joint supplements since he was born, so I don't even, so maybe that you need better ones. I clearly clearly did not do, do it.

Lady did not. I did not do it, lady. So a thousand dollars there. Nice. Then Otis, I honestly don't know how much detail I should go into. Because some people are squeamish, so maybe high level, so I'll keep it high level, but ba I have a, I have a little 16 pound terrier. Mm-hmm. His name is Otis. He thinks he's a mastiff.

Big energy bossy, all the things. I call him the urban polar bear because he looks a little bit like a polar bear. Not really, but he's white. That's about, he's white adjacent and he is very bossy. So. I came home the other day and I said, Hector, I'm gonna need you [00:06:00] to go when you get home into the crawlspace, because I believe there is a dead animal.

The body's decomposing in our crawlspace because the house smelled like that. Mm-hmm. It wasn't that. Was it your dog? It was. And so he had had an accident or, or three in the house, which he never has. So I knew he was sick, so I immediately called the vet. We go to the vet and he has pancreatitis. What?

Yeah. I didn't even know there was a fucking thing with dogs. And so they're like, they're like, the, the, the doctor's face is grim. I'm giving you grim. Okay. And she's like, listen. You have, like, he has to be on a very, very restricted diet. Like, she was like, stop giving him treats. And I was like, you, you stop, you stop giving him treats.

You deal with him where everybody else gets a treat and he doesn't get a treat. Okay? [00:07:00] You have no idea what you're asking, ma'am. And she was like, lemme put it, do this way. If this doesn't get under control in the next couple of days, he's gonna have to be hospitalized. Oh, that's gonna be expensive. I was like, so no treats for hec, for no treats for Hector.

Hector gets no treats, neither does notice. So, um, yeah, so $1,500 vet bill week. And that's that's if he doesn't have to go into the hospital. Oh goodness. So y'all send Otis some vibes when this airs? We'll be, we should be fine. But, um, collectively, if you could just send him good vibes so he doesn't get it again, that would be great.

people are like. Do not say that pets are, do, are and our children because they are not. And I'm like, listen, I know they're not. Because if you lock a child in a crate, you are gonna jail. I can lock my dogs in a crate and that's perfectly acceptable. I understand they're not the same, but sometimes they cost the same.

Yeah, that is So don't come for me. That [00:08:00] is an expensive ve I'm out here making it rain at the vet. So that's my, that's my shitty chat. I mean, I don't know how you follow that. Um, I have, it's a lot. I have no. No major hospital. Thank God. That's good. Knocking, nagging on it, knocking on wood, on knocking on it.

We did all the things at camp A bro camp. To finish up the summer. Camp A is me, I'm the camp counselor. Fine. Just so you know, just as the camp, she is the camp and the camp counselor and the nurse. She's the chef, the cook, the nurse. The chauffer.

The chauffer. The bus driver. We just finished up doing all that. They're back at school. They're loving. I saw their little first day of school pictures. That's so adorable. They're so cute. They are very cute. Um, and then we're in the middle of softball season, so I have, um, life during the hours of nine and three and Monday through Friday and after that there Don't call her, don't, she's not [00:09:00] available.

I'm not available. Don't, she's, she can't come to your event. She's got softball. It's softball. It's, they're on three different teams. Oh, Jesus. Yep. And my what? Are they trying to go to college on softball? I don't know. Well, my older one just really likes it, so she's on a travel team and a rec team and my husband coaches all three of 'em.

My best friend that still lives in Florida, which I don't understand how anybody still lives in that state. Well, specifically Orlando, I don't know how anybody lives in Orlando. They, I grew up there. I grew up there so I could say it.

Um, they. Did the travel softball. Mm-hmm. And I honestly, but my God today, the amount of money they spent, they could have just put their kids through college. Like the whole point was like to get scholarships, which they did. Both her, both her kid, her daughter, good for them, full ride, um, to college on, on a scholarship for softball.

And then her son just started college full ride on baseball. But at the end of the day, [00:10:00] at the end of the day. That's a lot. I'm pretty sure they could have just paid for college if they hadn't paid for all the, because it's not just travel ball, it's like coaches and pitch coaches and and batting coaches, and I'm just like, mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. No, we And then your whole life. Yeah. So luckily, because my husband is the coach of the travel team, we don't have any crazy travel schedule. Like, okay, it's just one tournament every other weekend. No big deal. That's not bad. It's, it's, it's only like an hour and a half away. So you're not staying in a hotel or anything like that.

So where you are a good mom? 'cause I'm like immediately, no, this is why I don't have kids. This is why you have dogs. Percent. See, I don't wanna have to pick up poop. That's true. You don't have to deal with a dead body in the house. That was not a dead body. No. See we have our things. That's right. You, you can handle all.

She gladly deals with travel [00:11:00] ball while I gladly deal with poop. Monstrosities with crimes committed in my home. It's a crime, so, oh man. But yeah, so I'm glad that they're back at school and, and they're enjoying it. Yay. Now I can, you know, get back to business. Back to the business at hand, which, um, I have to tell you about.

We got a homeowner horror story. We do. We do. And I died laughing, died. I said this to her, I was like, you're gonna love this. Yeah, M saw it first and she sent it to me and she's like, um, so this person takes privacy to like another whole level. So like, you know, I was like, just, I thought you were extra.

Just kidding. This is the definition of extra, you know, that I am not going to tell anybody's real name. It's just not happening. Yeah. Not do, I just don't want to. Even if you give us us permission, so this person's name is Joe Smith. Okay. And then they [00:12:00] make a note, like they mention it in the, in the email like that.

They're like, sorry, I just take privacy really seriously. Seriously. And I'm like, clearly you don't watch the show. You've never met me because Jess does do their email address is, this is the best part. No chance. I'm telling [e-mail]. And the, you know what kind of sucks about this is I had some follow up questions on this one.

I was like, mm, I couldn't, couldn't respond to Joe Smith. Yeah. So Joe, I have no chance. I'm telling [e-mail] because that wasn't a real email. So Joe, um, I, I think that you really do live in Florida, 'cause you did put central. S in, in the story there is Central Florida listed there, but we might need you to give us some updates and further Yeah, you might need give further the information here in the comment section.

You can make a fake YouTube thing if you didn't want anybody to know who you are. Very, very anonymously. And, and give us, and [00:13:00] give us some context because yeah. Because we got, we're gonna get into it, but I have questions, so, so let me start the, he starts with, sorry for the vague email and name. I don't like the idea of people knowing my stuff.

Me neither. Me neither. Yeah. Jess is like, mm, get your nose out my business. But here is my story. I live in central Florida where the heat and humidity never let up. It's true. And if you own a house here, yeah. You know, it can eat away at everything over time. Yeah. Last May, I finally decided to tackle the peeling drywall in musty smell in our guest bathroom, which, oh my God, I can't stand a musty smell in the bathroom.

Yeah. I immediately panicked. I immediately panicked because of the mold. Now that I know so much about mold, I'm like, no, no. We cannot have that. He says, for years the paint had been bubbling and I figured it was just poor ventilation. [00:14:00] My wife had been telling me to put in a real exhaust fan, and I thought, how hard could it be?

Oh my God. Famous last words. Famous. How hard could it be? I'll be fine. It's gonna be fine. It'll be fine. A little DIY project. Never hurt anybody said no one ever. No. So they set aside about 5K to update the bathroom. He says, my plan was simple, replace the fan paint, get a new vanity, and if I was lucky, put in some tile.

So I'm like, I mean, that seems legit. Yeah. But unless it's the world's largest bathroom. So, but he says that he wants to tackle the peeling drywall for the musty smell. Like is paint going to just cover that up? No, no, no. So I was like, maybe he just, you know. I forgot that he was gonna have to take drywall, have to take the towel.

You know what I'm suspicious of? Again, Joe, I would've loved to be able to email you back mm-hmm. And ask you this question, but I'm suspicious if he thought that just [00:15:00] putting in a, in a fan which is a, it sucks air out. Like, especially like they, they even make fans now that you don't. Have to switch them on.

They have a, ah, they have a thermostat. And so when it gets to a certain temperature or a like humidity, humidity inside the bathroom, it will just turn on and pull the humidity outta the room. And honestly, if you are doing anything and switching out your fans in your house, get that kind because nobody turns the, I call it the fart fan.

Nobody turns the fart fan on. Um, nobody ever. So get that. So it will just turn on automatically. But I'm thinking that maybe he thought he was gonna solve the drywall issue with the fan. With the fan. That's what I thought. But again, I couldn't ask him. He did pull some drywall from the ceiling down to put in the new fan, and that's when shit got real and that's when it gets crazy.

There was black spots on the back of the drywall. Mold, [00:16:00] not just a little patch either. It was running down the wall cavity and behind the vanity. I am not an expert. Good job. Yeah. Knowing what you are, that's the, the first. Knowing our limits. Knowing our limits. Step one, that the first but I knew right then and there, this was something I couldn't just ignore.

And a little bleach wasn't going to cut it. No, no, no, no. Do not put bleach. Don't, don't do that. Even I know that. Yeah, it's, but you, you would be surprised how many people think, oh, just spray some bleach on it and you're good. And, and, and listen, I'm not a scientist. We know that I'm a drywall contractor.

Um, but we've had experts on the show that have said, don't put bleach on it. Like bleach isn't gonna solve the problem if it's, it's kind of like, if it's. On the surface level, it's all up in that board and bleach. Unless you're gonna soak the whole [00:17:00] sheet of drywall in bleach, um, you're not gonna, you're not gonna kill it all.

You're not, it's not gonna happen. You're not. It has to be remediated. My guy. Yes. So that's when we switched gears. I call the local mold remediation company. They quoted me $2,800 to clean it up. Reasonable. I'm. It's seems, especially if you have mold everywhere. I mean, I'm like, you gotta get it out. It's a good price.

I was not pleased with the price. Well well, Joe, it was, that was a reasonable price, my guy. Yep. I mean, he wants to do $5,000 to do this whole thing, so that's more than blew my budget. I'm like, well, the mold, the blame, the old, the tile. I'm not gonna get the tile. But wifey said it needed to get done.

So two days later they showed up, sealed off the room, and started pulling things out. Love that. They sealed off the room. That's great. Yeah. So he had a good company. Yeah. So things, things are going okay. I mean, it's not great, have mold. We're, I mean, we're still here, so we know it ends bad, but it's starting.

[00:18:00] Okay. It started. Okay. That is when we learned that the previous homeowners had cut every corner in the book. Oh God. They had used regular drywall in the shower and there was no vapor barrier at all. Years of steam has soaked everything, and the mold had gotten into the studs. Now, the job needed a full gut all the way down to the framing.

The bill went from 2,800 to 6,700 just to get us back to a clean slate. So explain to me, 'cause I'm not very familiar with drywall. I know it has to go up everywhere in your home. Yeah. What is this vapor barrier he speaks of? Okay. So this is a thing that you'll see more, more commonly in like very humid places like Florida or like even in um.

Like when we, when we built in the Turks and Caicos, like there, so any place that it gets spicy, hot,

Jess: mm-hmm.

Mikki: Um, and has a lot of humidity, they will, it's essentially a sheet of plastic. Oh, okay. Nothing fancy [00:19:00] but. Vapor barriers are tricky because they can sometimes cause more problems than they prevent. So, so somebody at some point started this rumor that if you put a vapor barrier up, it's gonna protect your insulation and your, your okay framing and all of these things from.

Mold. But essentially what it can do is it can catch like humidity in between that plastic sheeting and your drywall and create like a Petri dish scenario for things to grow. And so like, while it might prevent it from getting into your insulation and into your framing, it's still gonna create a world of problems.

So they have, there's just. Better products than a vapor barrier to use. Like, um, really what you want to do is have something that prevents moisture from getting in [00:20:00] from, from the get go. From the start. Yeah. Obviously that has sailed like a fan, like one of those obviously for this dude, for Joe. That ship has sailed.

Yes. But, um, yeah, you vapor barriers are, eh. Some say they're the best thing ever. Some, some people who've dealt with like the ramifications of a vapor, vapor barrier are like never again. Yeah. So moral of the stories. No vapor barrier. Yeah. Just get a better, yeah, better just get a better product. Like especially in a shower like.

Now we know that there are products out there that are waterproof, like get a waterproof system in your shower and have an awesome fan that can suck out the heat because in reality your ceiling is gonna be drywall. Mm-hmm. So it can be a moisturizer and drywall. But I'm gonna let you guys, our viewers in on a little secret here.

Okay. [00:21:00] Moisture resistant. Drywall is a little bit of a sham. It is a little, it is a little scam, and I'm not saying it doesn't have some moisture like mold preventing properties in it, but water does what water wants. Water does not care. Nope. About your plans in life and if it's gonna, if something is gonna continuously get wet and continuously get wet and not have the opportunity to like fully dry.

Um, I don't care what it is unless it is one of these completely waterproof situations. If it's a drywall product, it's going to have mold grow on it. And I know this because I've been a drywaller for 20 years and I've seen the moisture resistant drywall covered in black mold. So really the key is yes, you put a drywall up on your sea, up on your ceiling.

Mm-hmm. You can make it moisture resistant. That's fine. But you have to have a really good ventilation if you're, if you like, take really hot [00:22:00] showers or there's a lot of humidity in your bathroom, you have to have really good ventilation. That's the key. Good to know. Now, you know, I love taking a hot shower, so I, I always put my fan on.

Oh, good job. Always good job. Because I know it gets a little, I to have the special fans because I will not. Yeah, it just won't. It just won't. I'm a problem. Oh man. So poor Joe. At this point, he gave up on the idea of a DIY, and he hired a contractor. The guy came recommended by a friend. Mm-hmm. So I thought he would be solid.

We know about that. Yep. That happened last time too. I will call him contractor A 'cause again, we're not, Joe's about privacy up in here. He not spill the tea on who they are. He quoted $12,000 to rebuild the bathroom. Said it would take three to four weeks and promise to handle everything. I signed the contract on June 18th.

By mid-July, we were already behind. He [00:23:00] was constantly rescheduling people barely showed up, and at one point he left electrical wires hanging out of the ceiling for over a week. I was getting, yeah, again, I had a question on that. Yeah. Frustrated and wanted things to move quicker. He had seen nice yell Joe and was re recommended, and yet he was not hailing the job as we were hoping or expecting.

So let's talk about these wires. Okay. What, what do we think? There's so much. There's so much. First of all, okay. $12,000. Like I get that we had to, we had to take this down to the studs, but like. Are we putting in Carrera Marble? Like how big is your bathroom? This is why I wanted to reach out to Joe because I'm like, sir, right?

Is it a seven piece bathroom? Like I don't understand. That's so much money. Um, maybe his wife was like, [00:24:00] now that we have to take it down to the studs, I'm going to get a bathroom that I really wanted. Yeah, maybe she's like, where I'm putting in my dream soaking tub, which listen, I support you. Everyone should have a dream soaking tub.

I have literally renovated houses around a bathtub. The first thing I purchased was the bathtub, and I did the design around the bathtub. So I get you. So maybe that was the, maybe because I'm just like, I don't get it, but I could not ask Joe what the deal was. The other thing too is like when you say wires.

I mean, were they live wires? Were they sparking? Were they like, were they not? I would hope tripping your breaker box. So like if you're just seeing wires. Unless there are ca sparking or causing mini fires in your bathroom, right? That's kind of not a big deal. Like wires be hanging, like that's what they do.

The electrician probably came in and like did some things with the wires and left it there for the next person. I, until [00:25:00] this fun fact, fun fact for everybody, but mostly Joe, um, until we put a fixture up, there's gonna be wires. So. I, I, I was interested as to why that was such a concern, unless they were like, not again, if they were sparking and causing like, mini fires in a state, which I feel like if that were the case, it would've been an email.

I've been, they were probably capped wires, I'm assuming, so I don't, I'm just mad that they were there, didn't understand why this was such, so upsetting to him, but he, he just annoyed he put it in the email, so he was hot about it. Ha. Yes. And it gets worse, so yeah. Yeah. Oh, he does this poor guy. It's poor guy.

He's like, I should have never, he's like, I hate done anything to this bathroom. I should have just left. It should've just burned the house down. Should just moved. Put the house for sale. Move. Just get a brand new one. That'll be fine. That's my go-to whenever, like when I, when I [00:26:00] told my sister about the situation with my dog, my sister goes, burn it down, Mickey.

Burn. Yeah, burn it down. Yeah. Well that would be, if I had to clean up dog crap, that would be what I would do too. That was my sister's response. When, oh my gosh. When my sister, so like when I was younger and I lived at home with my parents and stuff, my youngest sister got a dog. Okay. Her own her own dog, little Jack Russell Terrier.

Oh. And I was pissed off that like she got a dog and like I couldn't have a dog, the nurse. Anyway, outrage. Outrageous. But I came home from work one day and that little. Little shit. Yeah. Can I swear on this? I don't even know. Well, we, oh, I have it marked on our podcast settings that we use foul language.

Oh, okay. Great. So that little shit had left a nice pile of shit on the floor right as you came in the door. So outrageous. And I was like, you know what, I'm, I know that my my sister will come home next, like she should be the next [00:27:00] one to ride home. Yeah. And it's her dog. And it's her dog. So I just backed.

The fuck up. Locked the door, got in my car and drove away because I was like, I'm not, I'm not, you're locked on my circus, not my monkeys. Yes. Another time I got to my parents' house, like when I wasn't living there, but I still had the key and their dog had crapped on the floor. I literally got a box of the recycling bin.

No, you didn't. And, and just put it on top of crap. This is also why Jess does not have to hard. I put it right there. And then I went in, I went into the other, the other living room and, and you're like, it's fine. Not there until, until they got home. Somebody got home, you're like, Hey, this a little surprise for you.

I covered up a little treat for you that your dog left. I didn't have any bows to put on it, but, oh man. That's delightful. Sorry, that was a delightful side note. You, you're welcome for that. Sorry. Um, so now the tile guy comes for this bathroom. [00:28:00] Okay. All right. So the tile guy he brought in made it even worse.

Oh god. This, why is it always a tile guy? Listen, apparently tile is really hard to do. People just, it's wild in these streets with the tile guys, they just thinking that they can do everything. Listen, I got a good tile guy, but I'm not gonna lie to you. Whenever I, whenever I recommend them to people, I'm like, listen.

He is so grumpy as human you've ever met. He great tile guy, but he's also IOR in physical form. Oh my gosh. So if you can handle that, I'll give you his contact information. But I just want you to know in advance, GRU, we letting you know he grumpy. He is a grumpy. Well, he's not going all the way to Florida.

But you don't No, he's not. So this tile guy, um, did the slope on the shower floor. Oh, wrong. The slope is important and the water was pulling in the back corner. Not good. I pointed it out and he brushed me off. I had to insist they rip it out and redo it. That fight cost us another week, and the work still didn't feel right.

Feel right was right. [00:29:00] You know, I have a lot of feelings. I have a lot. They're not always right. A lot of feelings. They're mostly right. I mean, by August we were living in with one bathroom, two kids under 10, and a very frustrated wife. Yeah. I finally fire contractor A and hired someone else, so. I guess so since June that they were living.

'cause they say by August we were living with one bathroom. But I mean, my God, I feel like they were just, the whole time they didn't have a bathroom. I'm a, a bathroom that they could really use because. It got all torn up and he was really feisty when he was writing this, and so Yeah, he might, he, he was, he was like, he was hot.

He was torn hot. I can just imagine him and then, sorry Joe. We don't mean to laugh at your No, we're not laughing at you. Exactly. We're, we're laughing with you, with you. Adjacent to you. Sorry. [00:30:00] We we're sorry Joe, for you're, so then he hires, it's not funny. Hire contractor B. Okay. Because again, specifically, no names.

No names. Contractor B was better, but he came in at a higher price. He, his quote to finish everything was $17,000. At that point, I had no choice. The bathroom was torn apart and we were already thousands in. But like some stuff was done, so I feel like this contractor was like, yeah, I'm just gonna give you the, I don't really wanna do it Price Yeah.

To see if you pay it. Yeah. Or you are up the creek without a paddle price. Right. Yeah. It doesn't make sense. It's, it's more you're up a creek without a paddle price and you like, everybody's gonna charge you this amount of money, so you might as well just pay me. But again, um, like, like how big is the bathroom?

Really Wish we could have had a follow up question. 'cause I'm just like, okay. Wait, so how much did you end up paying the initial guy? Did you pay him in full? Like how did that please God no. [00:31:00] Um, I'm assuming not. Yeah, so like, like why was it now 17? Like, did the guy do nothing? Mm-hmm. Or did everything the guy do had to be undone?

Like so many questions. So many, so many questions, unanswered questions because Joe took his privacy very seriously. Very seriously. I really would've liked. Mm-hmm. But listen, there's still learnable things in here. That's why we're sharing. 'cause some of you may be like, why are you sharing this story if, if we don't have answers to our follow-up questions?

'cause it's, it's still happened, allegedly. I mean, we're assuming that Joe's not lying. Joe's not lying. I mean, I wonder if like, his price points were a little. If he exaggerated the cost. Yeah, because I'm just to make it a better story, maybe, but either way, I mean, I do love some drama. You don't, you don't want your tile to be wrong in the shower because pulling water, it's a big deal.

It's actually a big deal. Like it like, so when it pools in the back, eventually that grout will fail and that's how you get the [00:32:00] water will penetrate and it'll get into the, the wood and then it will start rotting. Um, I guess with, when you add the humidity and, and just the fact that Florida is the, the surface of the sun all year round.

Mm-hmm. It probably could lead to a mold situation. So like you do have to take that your, your shower pan is installed properly. You have to take that seriously. So that does matter. So he was right to push back on that. Um. But again, I don't, I'm like, so did the new contractor come in and say, oh, okay, we're demoing all of this and like starting from scratch, $17,000.

I mean, I'm so confused. I'm going to say that he must have done it all over again. Yeah, because then he says the file inspection didn't happen until August. I'm sorry, October 7th. Four months after I started, what was supposed to be a simple $5,000 update turned [00:33:00] into a $26,987 lesson. Okay. So that means he paid both contractors, actors, yeah.

Yeah. In full what? What are we and the doing people. Yeah. Crazy. So one, don't pay somebody in full guys because they haven't done the work. I feel like this horse, we have beaten it to death, but we're just gonna keep on beating it. You have to stay in, in control of the money. So our last guest that we had on talked about deposits and talked about, you know, really how the, there's a, there's a level of liability that.

The contractor is taking on by taking on your project and, you know, fronting costs upfront. I think that that is a fair thing for like when you're building a brand new house, but when you're doing a renovation, there should be some risk on their end because there's a whole lot of risk on your end. So keeping as [00:34:00] like.

Negotiating deposits. And the other thing that was a really good tidbit, because you, you haven't seen the, nobody, nobody but me and me and Joe have seen Joe's also our, there's two Joes, there's Joe in the, in the story, and there's Joe that is our, is our studio. God. He's a studio God. Um, he keeps us on track.

Yes. He tells us when it's, we've been talking for an hour and shut it down. So that happened last time. Um. So, so one thing that she really mentioned, which I thought was, oh, that was such good advice, was having all of the, like what is going into each phase in the contract that is good. So when. Somebody doesn't provide that the, the right tile or they don't provide the right, if the shower pan's not installed correctly, like all of, if all of that was in writing, then you could say, well clearly, you know, you haven't provided this, so I'm not paying for [00:35:00] this.

Mm-hmm. So really it's all about your contract. It's all about how you've documented everything. Um, because allowances is how a lot of general contractors will come in and say, okay, well we're gonna give you an allowance. Mm-hmm. For tile. Got it. And so in that allowance for tile, you need to have it specifically what kind of tile it is because they can come back and say, oh, well.

For that kind of tile, we have to charge you $5,000 more. And it's like, no, no, no, no. So that's, we're having it in writing and having it very specifically, like this is the product that is in for this allowance. It covers you both. It covers the GC for if you wanna change and it covers yourself. If the GC starts acting, acting a little cra.

Um, so a 26. Thousand dollars. Bathroom renovation to me is, is crazy. [00:36:00] What, it's a lot. And I, I'm like, okay. On the mold side of things, I think that price, the, the $6,700 or whatever it ended up coming to. Right. That sounds right to me. And I know if you're a homeowner, and I'm assuming this bathroom is not that big of a bathroom.

Mm-hmm. That sounds like the most ridiculous amount of money, but. If you're using the right people and they have the right certifications and they're doing things in the right way. They're making sure that there is no like potential health issues left inside of your studs. Like they, the, the studs have to be treated with a very specific product.

It's very expensive. It has to be handled a certain way. You, like everybody that's using it has to have very specific training and very specific education. Um, or it could go horribly wrong. So on something like that, where, where you really need the results to be, I. And now my house is healthy and my kids are safe.[00:37:00]

That's not really something that you wanna cut corners on or like, you know, go with the cheaper guy, like, no, six 60, $700 to me to like re re remediate a bathroom. Like making sure that there's no mold properties left in that bathroom. It sounds about right. So does it suck? Yes. Is it completely and totally necessary also?

Yes. Um, but how we got from that? So, so that number of the $26,000 makes sense. The rest of the $20,000, I'm very confused 'cause I'm like, listen, a plumber is gonna charge. They charge about $500 a piece. And so when I say a piece, it's like the toilet is a piece, the sink is a piece, the shower is a piece.

So like if you've heard, oh, a three piece bath. Mm-hmm. Meaning there's a toilet, a shower, a sink. Um, so. If you've got a dual vanity. Okay, so that's, that's [00:38:00] a four piece bathroom, so Ah, okay. I'm like, all right. And, and that includes coming in, putting in the, the new piping, you know, like connecting everything.

So like, you're around $500 a piece. I'm like, tile is what it is. How we got to $20,000 on a bathroom renovation. Mm-hmm. Again, unless we're laying Carrera marble down, just like wrapping the whole bathroom in Carrera Marble, I'm. Confused. Um, but again, I think really the, the situation here is staying in control of the money.

And we, the guys, we don't pay for things that are done incorrectly. I love that this guy, unlike I feel like the last bathroom renovation ho or um, the lying homeowner horror story, that was a bathroom situation. Um, they. Just paid for the crappy tile and then paid mm-hmm. Another guy to come in and do it.

It seems [00:39:00] like he pushed back and was like, no, no. So I love that. Good job, Joe. Mm-hmm. Um, but it seems like he paid for it anyway, and I'm, I'm just, I'm like, we guys, we don't do that via $26,000. You take out the six. For the mold remediation, the, so you have to 20. So he couldn't have paid, he must have paid part to the first guy, maybe.

Oh yeah, because it was in 17. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So he didn't pay in full, but he didn't tag on still a lot of money. It's so much. A lot money. Much and too much money for a bathroom. Like if you wanna know how much things should cost, listen to our episode that we. We talked about budgets and what we did, we had, it was, I don't remember what episode it was, it wasn't in the studio.

It was when we were in my basement. So the lighting and the sound's not gonna be as great, but, but it still has, the information is fantastic. Fantastic. Yeah. Um, yeah. So yeah, like I, I'm, especially when you go into it like. I just need a new fart fan. I [00:40:00] mean, when you start there and it, I mean, it probably has $26,000.

He's the best fart fan ever. It better be. So my whole thing is I can't stand this sound. I can't understand the sound of a fan of an exhaust fan. Oh, okay. Cannot stand it. But I'm not alone. In this because there is an entire industry around the quietest exhaust fans in the world, and they're, they're more expensive, obviously, if you don't want it to sound like, hmm, what is the word I'm looking for?

Um, one of those industrialized fans that you see, like when, like at Disney or wherever like that are like, oh, if you don't want it to sound like that, you have to spend more. Which I'm fine with because I don't wanna hear it. So get the fan that doesn't make the sound. Get the fan that automatically turns on like, and just removes the, the humidity out that has a thermostat in it.

Um, I [00:41:00] hope he has that now. I'm sure he does. I would've loved to ask. Yep. I would've loved to ask. Um, but yeah, he was not, I mean, I think the takeaways from this are again. Just because somebody recommended a, a contractor said due diligence, you still have to check up on them. And I will give you guys this example.

Um, 'cause and it's not always gonna be like this, so you need to understand this. My neighbors delightful humans. They're like in their early, maybe mid twenties, just had a baby. They had some damage to their, the soffit, which is like, what's underneath your roof? And we recommended. Some guys that we know to them, they worked at a deal.

Guys came, my God, today they did the worst job I've ever seen. Now my neighbors are lovely human beings and they did not at any point think that this was my fault or like my responsibility just because I recommended them. But they did at some point mention that they were having a problem because they did a bad [00:42:00] job and then they were, and then they kind of ghosted them.

Jess: Oof.

Mikki: So let me tell y'all, lemme tell y'all I got on the phone. With those guys and I was like, here's the deal. I saw your work and it's so bad. Number one, I'm never recommending you to anyone ever again. I don't know what you were thinking, but number two, Venmo them back their money right now or I'm gonna come find you and I get the money from you face to face, making direct eye contact.

Um, they've Venmo that money right back now. You are not gonna have that with everybody. That gives you a recommendation, like that's not gonna be the experience you have. Mm-hmm. So, like, because I made that recommendation, because these guys know who I am, they were like, oh, oh, oh,

Jess: oh, we, sorry,

Mikki: here's your money.

Yeah, my bad iPad. And then we found them a much, actually, I connected them with Bailey from, you know, the name of her [00:43:00] company and don't. Cadmus Cadmus, Cadmus Roofing. So I connected them with Bailey, who was on a guest on another one of our podcasts. Check that out. Um, and she gave them a price and it all worked out.

But just because somebody makes a recommendation, doesn't you, you gotta do a little bit more digging. Mm-hmm. Um, 'cause maybe somebody had a good experience. But it doesn't always mean, it doesn't always mean that you're gonna have that same experience. I find it annoying when people give a recommendation of somebody that they didn't actually use their service.

Oh. So I, and I find this a lot with companies that are in like BNIs and, and things like that. Oh yeah. Not knocking a BNI and stuff like, we're not knocking it. We're not knocking it, but we're like me, but. Just because somebody is recommended numerous times on a Facebook post. Yeah. Or in a group or something.

You want to make sure that those people actually used them for the service that they're [00:44:00] going to be providing. Mm. Ask them if they have before and after pictures. Ask them for some more information so that you can be sure that they actually. Had this person do work and are really happy with it. Yeah.

And you can see the quality of work that they do because, God, I never even thought about that. There are many people that will refer somebody because they are, are, they could be friends with them, which fine, like I have friends that are, that are in business that do high quality work, and I have. Seen their work.

Yeah. And I have maybe it's like a preface it like, hey, listen, I've never used them, but like, these are buddies of mine. I've seen their work, but like letting people know if you haven't used them. Mm-hmm. Say that like, hey, just like, I know this guy. Like, like, like, you know, my, I've used, I've used the tile guy that I recommended.

That's how I know he's so grumpy. But he is also my husband's [00:45:00] nephew, which I think that also makes him my nephew by law. But, um. But you're not, you're not, I'm not claiming that. Not, you're not claiming grumpy pants. It's fine. Grumpy pants. Pants is a little too grumpy for me to claim as my nephew. So like, I'll always explain to people like, listen, he is grumpy, he's a good tile guy.

He's also technically related to me. Um, but you know, like I give, I give the whole story. Mm-hmm. Like, and so I think if you're recommending somebody that you haven't used, but like, you know them or you know them in the community, or you have to state you haven't used them. That just seems like it should be the way it goes.

It should be, but you know, so I'm just saying like, be, be cautious. Yeah. Just because this is the second time that someone's come to recommended. Yeah. And it has not worked out and air on the side of caution. Yeah. And, and I'll tell you the, it seems like the bathrooms are a hot or a hot item or a hot area where, where a lot of people are [00:46:00] expecting things to cause one thing and then it's like, holy moly.

That was so much more than I had anticipated. And I will say a bathroom is, is a prime place for you to find some shenanigans. 'cause of water. Mm-hmm. Like so, like if you're renovating a bathroom. Absolutely. I would up your contingency. To be perfectly honest, we always say a 20% contingency. Mm-hmm. I would say 30 because listen, there's gonna be something stupid in that bathroom.

There's gonna be something stupid in that bathroom, unless everybody did their job. Right. Which Murphy happens. Lost suggests, not even possible. So, yeah, like if you're doing a bathroom renovation, there's water involved, there's water intrusion involved, like, oh, they're gonna, oh, they're gonna take that tile out and it's gonna be like, ah.

What did you know? All your studs are rotted out. Like I great. It's dumb, it's stupid, but bathrooms are a hot item for like shenanigans. They, they shena once and they will shenanigan [00:47:00] in a bathroom. So that's that. That's that. So make sure you're checking your references. Even if they were referred to you hold onto your money.

Like we, we understand the deposits need to be, need to be made. But I would recommend not paying a deposit until they can say, okay, we're gonna go get your, your tile, go to the tile pace, place, and pay for the tile. Like mm-hmm. Hold onto as much money as you can, get creative with how you can hold onto your money for as long as you can talk to your gc.

In the beginning about you being weary about paying, you know, all the money up front. Be like, Hey, I watched these two crazy ladies on shakes and construction, and they say to hold onto your money and I'd like to have a good experience, so I'm gonna hold onto my money. Can we work? Can you work with me on that?

Now some GCs may say no, but if they say no, there's a reason why. There's a reason why. So you might wanna, [00:48:00] you know, you might wanna just find another one, another one. So, yeah, that we feel really bad for Anonymous Joe. Um, $26,000. I, I hope he didn't say this in the email, but I hope that he's happy with the bathroom.

Yeah. That he now has spent $26,000 to renovate. He did say that he would wondered what would've happened if he never opened. Wall and like if they would've gotten sick from all the mode that was growing. Yeah, probably. Yeah. Yeah. Guys, listen, if you have, um, this is a, just a drywaller from one drywaller to a non drywaller.

If there's bubbling happening in your bathroom, don't ignore that. Um. It could be nothing, but it could be something. And so, because we know that water can cause all kinds of things. Mm-hmm. And it can affect your health in a very real way. Don't ignore like spots of mold in your bathroom. Don't ignore [00:49:00] bubbling paint for years.

Please have that looked at. So it really does matter. Um, so as far as that, please, the rest of you continue to submit your homeowner horror stories on our [e-mail]. Super fun. You just go to the website, you scroll down a little bit and you can just, right there you don't even have to use a real email apparently.

Um, share your stories with us so that we can share that with other people so that we can help other people not have the same experience because there's nothing worse. Then learning or then wait, there's what's our, what's our catchphrase? There's nothing learning the hard way, overlearning. Oh, there we go.

I know it. I know it. Learning the hard way is overrated. So learning here. Is great when you share your homeowner horror stories so other people can learn from your mistakes. So that [e-mail]. And then Jess, where, where can they follow us? They follow us on [00:50:00] all the socials, LinkedIn, all the socials, Facebook and Instagram at Chicks Construction podcast.

I think we have to get a TikTok. I, yes, I know. I We're gonna, we're gonna end up on the TikTok. We're gonna be on the talk. I am. Listen, I'm old. I'm old. I'm old in my soul. And, I'm scared of TikTok, but everybody says we have to have a TikTok so we're, so we're gonna, we're gonna get a TikTok, we we're gonna get a TikTok and it'll probably be Chicks in Construction podcast.

It'll probably be just so it's all the thing. We can probably go ahead and secure that right now before it goes live, because somebody else might grab it inside. Joke we can't tell you about, but we'll, someday we will. One day I'm gonna spill all the tea. I'm gonna spill, spill it. Spill it. Um, also.

Apparently I have to say this, which surprises me. It surprises me. If you like our content, it would be great if you would subscribe to it. Um, comment on it, like get, like, get we'll, we'll respond. We'll wanna have a chitty [00:51:00] chat? You've been wanting a chit chat with the chicks and construction. Put a little comment under either radio.

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Um, and apparently I've been noticing this 'cause as we've discussed at ad nauseum, I would say I only watch YouTube and all the YouTubers are doing this thing now, where they always say it's free to subscribe, it's free to do it. I thought we all knew that, but apparently I have to say it. It's free to subscribe, so if you wouldn't mind, subscribe so that we could be friends and you could know when we post new videos every [00:52:00] Tuesday, it's changed since we, we switched to the studio.

So it's Tuesday evening. Um, but like, you know, get into the bathtub, turn on some chicks in construction, you know, set. Get the mood right. It's a vibe. We're here for you. We're here for you for your evening vibes. So yeah, subscribe, please. If you wouldn't mind, leave a comment. Get get, get a little click, click click clickety clackity, and we'll click clickety clack right back.

I can't use my words today. My sounds aren't sounding. But we love you guys, and we are so grateful for all of your like and subscribes that are coming. We know you're gonna do it. We know you're gonna subscribe. You're gonna click the button and yeah. So we'll, we'll catch you on the next one. Bye bye.