Failed my own deadline on a bathroom reno in Austin and had to call the homeowner

I was tiling my buddy Kyle's master bath near South Congress, told him it'd be done in 4 days. Day 5 rolls around and I'm still fighting with the niche cuts, the waterproof membrane was a nightmare. Had to call him and say I needed 2 more days, felt like I let him down. How do you guys handle telling someone your timeline went sideways?

2 comments

2 Comments

brianm2710h ago

Had a buddy who did the same thing on a kitchen reno in Houston, told the lady 2 weeks and ended up taking almost a month because the countertop guys ghosted him twice. He just showed up with a six pack and was straight up like "look, I messed up the timeline, here's the deal and I'm knocking off a few hundred." She was actually cool about it once he owned it and gave her a real date instead of guessing again.

davidh8810h ago

Drill into what exactly you told him upfront. Did you give him a firm timeline or just say "around 4 days" with a shrug? Because that changes everything. If you promised a hard deadline and missed it, yeah you screwed up and owe him an apology and maybe a discount. But if it was a rough estimate and he's acting like you burned his house down, that's on him for not understanding how renos actually work. Most homeowners think tiling a shower is like painting a wall - slap it on and done. They don't know about waterproofing drying times, niche cuts that take forever, or tile that cracks on the last row. Next time give yourself a buffer and be blunt about the worst case upfront.