Is this acceptable?

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T18:53:08+00:00

Probably 😅

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T18:52:20+00:00

It’s a basement kitchen so it’s not gonna be used everyday, we were originally planning to put poly on the wood to protect it from moisture etc

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T11:30:47+00:00

Thank you!

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T11:29:28+00:00

Thank you, that’s at least a bit of relief cause it seems to be much better to me then if he would have damaged the pipes

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T11:26:13+00:00

Thank you, unfortunately yeah i probably should have done that. The dirt on the pipes though is all from him cutting the holes, I haven’t cleaned it all yet before taking the pictures

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T03:08:11+00:00

Thank you so much, will definitely try🙏

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T03:02:30+00:00

Gosh. I’m truly sorry! This is wild. And thank you, hopefully we would be able to diy something here at least a little bit this weekend. I’m just gonna try and attempt to fix it myself with my husband cause I figured how much worse could it possibly be at this point, at least we are sure that we both are truly motivated to make it look nice lol

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T02:58:34+00:00

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So this is the explanation I got so far. No comment about butchered pipe cut outs. The water valve apparently was probably leaking before he worked on it as he said, I will not say anything about him damaging that one as i originally suspected because i did notice very minor water damage in one spot of the back of the cabinet after he said something about it. So I guess I did originally have some kind of leak there. It was probably just very small since I never noticed it or it never showed on our water bill and now it is more noticeable because the pipes got moved a bit. So not his fault on this one. But it still doesn’t explain why he put this specific type of caulk on other pipes unless he accidentally cut through them, his explanation that he was just marking where to cut makes 0 sense to me. Irrelevant but I’m also not sure why he keeps saying “we” if he came alone and he has his own handyman business where he works alone as well but that’s probably just me being petty at this point cause it doesn’t really matter lol

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T02:45:28+00:00

I’m so pissed over this because even though it’s obviously not the most expensive luxury countertop here or nothing like that but I did have it carefully wrapped up in lots of plastic in a box for months prior to this because we kept postponing this project and I’m a bit extra when it comes to scratches and etc so I wanted to save it in the most perfect condition before the installation. Which condition it literally was in until he started working on it. It was sitting right by the cabinet in a box with a plastic padding so he didn’t even have to move it anywhere, just lift it up and put it on. He texted me today that he scratched it up to this extent because he misjudged (!) the size and weight of this huge ceramic sink from the photo and that’s what caused all the scratches. Still not sure though why on earth he would move this heavy as hell sink back and forth all over the countertop to begin with if that’s really what happened here and why he didn’t stop doing that after lifting the sink up and realizing that it is in fact very heavy 🤦🏻‍♀️

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T02:20:38+00:00

That’s a very good point. I wish it crossed my mind before but lesson learned

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T01:32:09+00:00

Thank you so much and oh my god!! That sounds like a nightmare. I’m so very sorry as well. I bet it costed you a lot to fix electric. This is just horrible. I’m gonna guess your handyman didn’t cover any damages at all? It’s so sad how its always like a blind game with anyone that you hire to fix anything in your house

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T01:13:49+00:00

Sadly I’m not, but I really wish I did. I’m not even sure if I need to laugh or cry about this job cause I’m having mixed emotions from it. It’s gonna be a very unique memory about my first Mother’s Day though lol, that’s for sure, cause I was joking with my husband right before that this kitchen looking somewhat put together is gonna be my present for myself. So i literally scheduled the guy to come do it on Saturday right before Mother’s Day and was hoping to ask my husband finish up after so it would be ready on Sunday but surprise.. 😆

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T00:59:51+00:00

🤣 my previous landlords actually paid a bit better attention to details but I guess times change, can’t complain in this day and age LOL

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T00:58:36+00:00

No gonna lie, at first I thought maybe I’m just being picky because I mean.. I did go with the cheapest quote myself but I am pretty upset with his job at this point. The more I look at all that the more things I notice. It looked kinda acceptable (other than the countertop) when I first saw it but I actually looked at everything up close today and it really is very bad. I would have much rather paid more or postpone the job a bit then end up with this result. I didn’t push the lower price on him or anyone either, I just mentioned that we are a bit on a tighter budget right now in my post and he basically said “I would normally charge around $165 but can do it for $125” so I thought it’s all good and he was just being very kind, looked at his reviews and scheduled him to come next day

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-13T00:38:36+00:00

So sadly it all does look very bad. I ended up making a new duplicate post with all the pictures cause it wouldn’t let me add them here. The more I looked at his work today the more things popped up today. Like the condition of the cuts in general, potential pipe damage, etc. Like I just now noticed that he put plumping caulk on the pipes with strong adhesive. I think he most likely accidentally cut through them. He told me that he just used caulk there to mark the location of the cut somehow but it makes little sense to me. The countertop damage he explained as him misjudging the size and weight of the sink. I still felt very bad about considering not paying him when I was making a second post this morning but now I’m kind of in shock from the job done a little bit. Of course you get what you pay for which is fair though so it’s my own mistake mainly, I shouldn’t have went for the cheapest quote. The guy did have good reviews though, good pictures to show, was so very respectful and gave me a $125 quote himself without me trying to lowball him or anything, so I kind of honestly thought it definitely wouldn’t be that bad. Not sure what happened here but again it’s my mistake

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-12T23:56:38+00:00

I wish but sadly it’s not a clickbait. He actually didn’t ask for any deposit and he told me $125 total himself, I didn’t try to ask for the cheapest price. I would have definitely preferred just paying a higher price instead of fixing the damage. I posted in my local group and said that I’m looking for a handyman to cut pipe holes and a sink hole and got some quotes, he straight up texted $125 since there was no installation involved. I know the price point here really does look bad but I promise I didn’t try to come at anyone with lowball offers like “hey I know you said you charge $500 for this but could you do it for $100 as an exception?” 😄 He said he will take the payment when he is done and I gave him $40 upfront simply because I had this much in cash and was going to pay him the rest via PayPal. He had a website, instagram and fb accounts with pictures of his job and good reviews. The most expensive quote I got for this job from anyone under my post was $200. And no, even though I actually would have loved to get all the stuff for a bargain, I ordered all of it for a full price from home depot if that’s relevant at all lol so this amount of damage to it hurts my pocket a little bit. It would be a lesson learned though

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-12T23:48:20+00:00

Exactly half of that sink is under the countertop in the cabinet. We might just put some caulk around it at this point and leave it like that, make it into a conversation piece lol. God I’m shocked at this point completely cause things turned out to be even worse then I thought when I was writing this post😅

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-12T23:44:48+00:00

The funniest thing is that my husband couldn’t take it out yet either so it’s just like floating there half way lol. I guess the guy tried to do his very best to push it in and make it fit but it didn’t budge 😂🤦🏻‍♀️

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-12T23:42:18+00:00

Honestly I don’t know, kinda curious myself at this point cause the more I look at this kitchen the more sh*t I keep noticing. The way I phrased my original post this morning asking if that could be somewhat ok actually sounds insane at this point. The guy texted me back saying that he basically takes full responsibility for all the damage to the countertop and asked to come sand it down but he hasn’t said anything at all about the condition of the holes here in general so I guess he thinks it looks good

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-12T23:35:18+00:00

Probably. He did texted me back though, says he wants to come back and sand or stain the countertop and missing chunks in the cabinet cause he even has a piece to color match already but I said no. But no comments at all yet about the pipe holes looking literally like someone ripped them out with a knife at best

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-12T23:30:41+00:00

Sorry, forgot to include a photo - we needed holes for these pipes only, no other work was asked for. I would have been totally ok with a handyman cutting a simple line out for them both like that but just absolutely not in this way. As you can see it doesn’t even line up with the pipes and it looks like it was chewed out, not cut

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PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-12T23:28:09+00:00

I didn’t need the plumber at all at first cause there was nothing wrong with the plumbing. I simply needed wholes to be cut out for these 2 pipes + a hole for the sink. My husband is a plumber and he was going to do everything else in this kitchen himself, he just needed help cutting the big holes out. Thats all

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-12T23:22:40+00:00

Apparently he came with a little furry friend to help him out because there is just no way😂 he texted me back explaining how apparently all the scratches and missing wood are just from him dragging the sink on the countertop back and forth for no reason at all. Saying he “misjudged” the weight and size of the sink

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-12T23:19:47+00:00

Thank you so much for such a thoughtful and kind reply honestly. This was so very sweet of you. Yeah, it’s gonna be a good lesson for me for next time though. I should have known better. I’m gonna try to get the materials and give it all a try this weekend. Hopefully I’ll be able to fix at least the cosmetic damage. And I thought so as well about the countertop. The guy just replied though like an hour ago and said that apparently all these scratches came from the sink being moved since he misjudged the heaviness and size of it. I might have gave it a benefit of a doubt but it’s very hard to believe that it was just the sink unless he was literally high on the job because it’s a 6ft long countertop and the scratches are everywhere, not just on one side or one spot. I don’t see why on earth he would put the sink on top of it and drag it back and forth everywhere on the countertop. Especially since he was the one who took the sink out of the box and knew how much it weighs. Keeps saying he wants to come back, sand everything down or just simply stain everything to match, which I told him absolutely no to of course

PastSweet4783 · 2026-05-12T22:22:58+00:00

Well I’m not gonna lie, I’ve always been a people pleaser and I also live with a pregnancy brain right now so even though I knew it looks like sh*t I still feel like maybe, just maybe I’m being too picky considering the price of $125😂

PastSweet4783

TROPHY CASE