Got a hold of the plumber today. He said that he doesn't know what happened to the alignment. Said it must have shifted in the wall (even though he cut the holes in the insert OFF CENTER...which has nothing to do with shifting in the wall. Even if the valve in the wall had not shifted, it would have to shift to align with the off center holes in the insert, resulting in an OFF CENTER head/valve/tub spout.) Then he said he wanted to get paid for the one bathroom that I said would barely pass (the one with the trim touching..I said I could live with it, but I'm not happy about it.) Then he said that if I paid him half of the agreed upon amount, he may be able to persuade his partner and the third guy (helper) to come back out to finish the other bath (I guess they feel this is some sort of favor).
I told him about the manufacturer specs, and if he had followed them, he wouldn't have trim touching. He replied that he measured the fixtures at his house, and then at a friend's house, and he came up with the same measurement as what he did in the bathroom with the trim touching. I kept repeating READ THE DIRECTIONS, even bringing a direction book into the bathroom while he was working prior to the screw up. Back when I did that he said, "we're not done. Can you wait until we're done to comment? Just chill." Ok. I chilled. By the way, this plumber works full time for the County.
When I first began with the second group of guys, I agreed to pay $2,000 labor total for both baths, now that the demolition was done and hauled off (I paid for the materials which were about $3,000) but I told him it was only fair that he picked up the cost of the 2nd insert since he cut the holes off center (it was about $240). If I pay them $1000 labor for the one bath less $240 for the screwed up insert, then they are looking at $760 for several days of work. What do you guys think? What's fair considering the finished pictures above?