West Coast Bath & Shower

I was attracted to the «starting at $ 1995» line for acrylic liner installation. The «same day» was great because our bathrooms are constantly in use; a longer remodel was not an option.
The owner responded quickly to a request for a free estimate. He seemed friendly, but…
Like a used car salesman, he pushed a total make-​over, not just the tub/​shower deal. Our floor was only a year new, and while we’d have loved to replace the toilet, vanity, mirror, and lighting, plus paint, he quoted outrageous rip-​off prices. If we’d wanted to do the whole thing over, I’d not have specifically called someone advertising to simply cover the tub and shower.
The prices were so off the true costs (considering it did not involve the tear-​out and opening up of walls of a «real» remodel) that I felt sorry for the guy. I couldn’t figure out if HE was being fleeced by his suppliers, or if he really thought we were that stupid? The bathroom is very simple. We wanted to go a bit more deluxe than it was, but a $ 500 toilet in that bathroom would be ridiculous.
He quoted $ 1750 for the vanity (it «had to be» the specific one that he chose). I’ve seen the same one in stores and catalogs for $ 600 (including the sink). He said it was because of the granite top, but it’s only a tiny bit of granite! Small spaces present a great opportunity to frugally use high-​end materials because of needing to buy only a little bit.
Instead of what I wanted, he told me what «could be done» — meaning, the things I wanted were not what he wanted to sell me. I wanted a deeper tub, and he said that wasn’t possible (bull!), so I’d «have to» convert the existing tub to a lone shower and then change the master shower to a tub. That would not only eliminate the tub in the main bathroom in a house in a family neighborhood (a big mistake), but it would «require» losing the door off the master bath (just having it open to the bedroom), plus walling the toilet off from the tub area (I told him that was completely abhorrent to me – have lived with such a bathroom before –and he just huffed it off, saying «that’s the thing these days») and losing the master bath WINDOW! and knocking out exterior walls, reducing the size of the patio. All that would cost about $ 30,000, plus $ 6,000 for the main bathroom. How convenient that he WOULD be able to do all the crap we DIDN’T want, and next to nothing that we DID want, yet still expect to earn our business?
He also scoffed at us for being baffled by the quote, mocking what other potential clients had said about it sounding way too expensive. Like if we wanted to maintain our house’s value, we had to just accept it because that’s how much things are nowadays. We had a friend here during the consultation who constantly fixes up houses and he was equally unimpressed, esp. the stupid master bath idea.
While I knew within a few minutes of meeting that I wouldn’t hire him
due to the fact that he talked over me, dismissed my preferences, and criticized my home, I listened to what he had to say because I wanted the basis for comparison with other estimates. I was also taken aback by how oafish he was to badmouth the paint colors for the house. He told me they all «needed» to be changed.
He also disregarded my concerns about the time involved in changing the bathroom — he said it would take a week; the ad said one day. (Turned out that he had no friggin clue what was in his own ad – I had to show it to him — unless he was just trying to sneak by me.) I told him we, with our family of 5 + guests, use our bathrooms too much to have one be out of commission for a whole week. The jerk lectured me on how I «can» live with just one, because HE does. How ’bout serving the customer’s needs instead of trying to change their needs to suit himself?
Another red flag was his ignoring someone who kept calling him during our appointment, reminding him that he was late to their appt. He told me he’d just be late. Treating a client like crap in hopes of earning a new client = shitty. That meant he’d be deliberately late for us, too.
He called repeatedly over the next year, until we finally changed our number.