Assume Nothing

When an army of workmen are involved with any remodel, good communication is imperative to minimize mistakes and to get a task done right the first time. When it comes to the execution of a design, good communication is imperative between the designers and those for whom they are designing.

Many weeks ago Rebecca and I sat down with a designer, Becky (one not with our contractor but rather with one from the flooring and tile supplier), to try to figure out a design for the back splash above the counter top. The type of material and a basic design were discussed and approved. I pretty much left the designing up to Rebecca and Becky but overheard enough to get a general idea about the design.

A day or two before the tile installer was to set the tile we got a drawing "as described to her" from our contractor's designer, Tiffany, and wanted to know if that's how we envisioned it. Though the design looked nice, it was not what I had overheard Rebecca and Becky discussing so assumed there had been a change in plans. I made a copy of the design and showed Rebecca and waited for her response. "That looks nice," was her response so I thought my assumption of a change was correct. I emailed Tiffany saying we both liked the design.

A day or two later the installer, Craig, started installing the tile according to the plan that Tiffany presented to us. Right away I noticed something different about the glass tiles. I didn't remember us choosing more than four colors of glass but there were five. I called Rebecca and asked how many tiles we had chosen and she confirmed my memory. Not being able to describe the extra tile sufficiently, I took the glass tiles to her office to show her. Her blessing was given so the tile setting commenced. (I now vaguely remember authorizing Becky to add another color that would pick up the floor color). Craig could not finish the install because he ran out of material. It seems tile was ordered for the original design and not the one presented to us by Tiffany.

When Rebecca got home from work I told her that Craig ran out of material so couldn't finish the install. She took one look at what was on the wall and said that the design was not what she and Becky talked about nor envisioned. I reminded her about the design she liked that I showed her and, well, I won't go into the heated words and frustration that followed, suffice it to say we were not happy campers.

It seems Rebecca was confused about the black and white design I showed her and I did not explain the difference between the new design and that of what I had overheard her and Becky discuss because I assumed a plan change had been made.

I emailed Tiffany and our job foreman, Denis, of the situation and the next day Denis came by to remove a portion of the incorrect tile design before the mortar set up. Denis removed the tile while I scraped off the mortar. We were lucky that the mortar was still a little damp because we were able to salvage 90% of the tile. Another day and the tile would have been a total loss. The only tile we had to discard was the specifically cut tile of which we would not be able to reuse.

As I see it, the communication ball was dropped by three people, myself, Rebecca and Tiffany. Tiffany assumed her interpretation of the design as told to her was correct but did not confirm with Becky before sending the drawing to us; I should not have assumed a design change without first getting confirmation from Rebecca; and Rebecca assumed that what she saw in the drawing was what she and Becky had envisioned and did not think to confirm her assumption. The issue is going to be resolved to our liking despite our unintentional efforts.

The "misunderstanding" has probably set us back a few days (and dollars) in our schedule. The original design has been drawn and "signed off" and next week Craig will resume work. A good half day of the installer's work is wasted as is about a dozen or so tiles that had to be reordered. But all will be good and the finished design will look eye-popping fantastic.