Complaint Review: Sawyer Tile & Remodeling

Chris Sawyer of Sawyer Tile & Remodeling is a crook. As a skilled tile-setter of about 20 years I can say with authority that Chris Sawyer is a crook.


I will summarize my experience with him and describe his work and managerial style so that HOPEFULLY nobody in the work force will make the mistake of working for him, and maybe some prospective clients will save themselves a lot of trouble by finding a craftsman to perform their tile work, and not the hack, hillbilly that Chris Sawyer can be.

  I have been self-employed for 17 years and have considered going to work for somebody else. On Wednesday, July 1, I saw an ad asking for the immediate help of a skilled tile-setter. I called and Chris Sawyer answered. He said that he absolutely NEEDED to hire somebody right away to continue and finish a job of tiling a pool deck in Ft. Thomas. He explained that he could not be present during the job. We came to an agreement, and the next day, Thursday, July 2 I arrived to start. Now, I can usually hit the ground running on any tile job, but Chris was not as forth-coming with info about the layout or how to deal with certain irregularities in the deck as I could have hoped for, but he did strike two lines for accent tile around the diving board. Those lines turned out to be NOT square and as any tile-setter will attest, that is a potential recipe for disaster. Everywhere that he had set the thin accent tiles, and that I was to set thicker porcelain tile against it, I found the accent tile (thinner tile) set too low. Needless to say, they could not be matched up despite how little thinset would be placed under the porcelain. 

The week went by without incedent. Chris never called to ask how the job was going. Sunday afternoon I called Chris to arrange meeting at the job on Monday.
Come Monday, I arrived to a very cold-shouldered Mr Sawyer who was typically dismissive and incommunicative. Several times I asked for something to work with, (an extension cord etc. he supplies all tools on the job) and he would look at me as though I was retarded and had a third eye instead of just telling me where his cord was. Fine. I can accept that. I'm not happy that he talks to people as though they are trash but I have a job to do, and instead of allowing me to grind a small stone out of the way of the tile, he insisted that I use his rotary hammer which took longer and made a mess of things by comparison. A little later I asked him how he wanted to address a 3/4" hump in the deck at an expansion joint. He said that he was going to tile it. No grinding? No floating it with a proper bed of proper mortar? Just a sheet of self-adhesive crack isolator cloth? I had a bad feeling about this job and Chris Sawyer. Professionalism and skill were completely absent with this guy.
A little later I was trying to cut some tiles on his tiny Cobalt wet-saw and the tile was cracking. The blade was loaded up with debris and not cutting efficiently. I asked Chris for a dressing stone to clean the blade, and again, he gave me his dismissive "you are a retard" look and asked "what"? I repeated and asked him if he knew what a dressing stone was (I don't know, maybe some guys don't know what it is) and he said "ya, I have a honing stone, why"? I said "The blade is was loaded up and cutting very slow and cracking tile". He said "You are just trying to cut too fast". I said "Chris, I have been doing this for 17 years. Give me some credit. The blade is loaded up. I just need to dress it".

Chris said agressively "pack your sh*t and take off. Have a nice day. Call me Thursday and I'll pay you. I promptly gathered my toys and went home in utter amazement of his unfounded, and unjustified rage.

I called Thursday and Friday, and Saturday. He wouldn't answer his phone. I went to the home-owner's house Friday afternoon expecting him to be attending his job. He was not there, but I did have a lengthy talk with Mr Dapper, the home owner that was very cordial. He explained to me that Chris would spend all of his time on the phone. He also told me ALL about Chris' family and noted that it was very strange that Chris would "whine" about every hard-ship in his life. Mr Don Dapper was certainly unhappy about several aspects of Chris and the job. Mr Dapper said that Chris would be back on Monday and invited me to stop by to ask Chris for my pay, and I did so. Chris saw me and in front of his customer said "what the hell are you doing on my job"? I said "I'm here to get my promised pay". Chris said there is no way in hell he was going to pay me for the two and a half days and said that I "f*ked up the tile" when in reality, he had to remove and raise the perimiter tile that he set too low. He also said something that almost made me laugh out loud. He said that the tile I set at one area had "slid across the pool deck" (not down the 1/2 degree slope, but ACROSS THE SLOPE". He also said (in "ear-shot" of the home owners) that it looked like s**t, but that he wasn't going to replace it, and that he was mad as hell at me. This, as well as the rest of his fake ranting (to get out of paying me) left Mrs. Dapper quite upset and she told him "This does not belong here, and you should act more professionally by taking it out of her yard. Chris boisteruosly replied "he's here illegally". 

In addition, Chris sawyer uses inadequate setting materials that are not sufficiently modified for setting tile in an outside application. He also mixes his thinset like soup. You can pour it from the bucket. I feel really bad for the Dappers. Their pool tile will have a very short life. They deserved better.
Not once did I raise my voice or even let the home owner (who invited me there) hear me say one crossed word.
This is not all of the details. I have not left out anything incriminating to me. Chris sawyer is simply a crook. He admitted to me when we first spoke that "he was an a*****e", but I had NO idea what that really meant.  To sum up: Do not work for Sawyer Tile & Remodeling. If you respect your home or business, you will not hire Sawyer Tile and Remodeling. While his facebook pics look good to the average consumer, any tile guy could pick his work apart in seconds upon actually viewing it.

If you read this far, I thank you sincerely and I hope I have saved somebody, ANYBODY a lot of trouble and expense.

P.S. Chris is claiming to be accredited by the Better Business Bureau. It is a lie as seen on the BBB site.