advise on Granite stone fabrication

Dear Sir/Madam:

I am willing to pay your $20 fee for the advise. Let me know when to pay.

 

I am requesting for your advise and want to thank you in advance for your time and effort. We recently decided to remodel our kitchen to make it more modern and look pretty as well as easy to clean and maintain. We chose to replace the old laminated countertops with Granite. We contacted a fabricator to come and give us an estimate. Fabricator came and measured our kitchen countertops and gave us an estimate. We picked the stone from the fabricator's warehouse and signed a contract to get granite countertops to be installed in our kitchen. We paid 50% ($2600) in advance and the rest to be paid at the completion of the job.  Lay out of kitchen is included as a file attachment with this letter.

On the day of installation, we noticed that the large piece (see figure) had a joint (seam) in the front, close to the entrance of the kitchen. First of all we were shocked to see the seam; we were never told that there would be a seam. Looking at the design of my kitchen any one can see that seam is not necessary, each piece is independent. The large piece is less than 10.5 feet long. I was told average piece of Granite slab is about 12 feet long. Secondly, we were shocked to see the seam in the front instead of the far end where it would be least noticeable or in the middle where sink is, also least noticeable.

We objected to the seam in the front because esthetically it takes away the beauty, especially when it is right in the front. If seam has to be placed, it should be done in the least noticeable place.

We requested the fabricator to remake this piece and offered him $500.00 extra. Fabricator demanded that we will have to pay $1100.00 if we wanted to have the seam in a different place. He brought to our attention to the fine print on the contract form where it says, Fabricator gets to choose where seams will be placed. We did not notice this when we signed the contract and did not even ask about the seam because of our kitchen layout. We did not even think there would be a seam. During the verbal argument he said you have paid me 50% and I have done 50% of the work, we are even. After several efforts, we were unable to resolve this issue with the fabricator. We decided to go with someone else and get the job done. We found the matching granite and had it installed without the seam.

Once again to our surprise, the fabricator sued us for the remaining money, which includes the back splash work and finishing the countertop. Fabricator's argument is he has the right to place the seam. Our argument is, professionally he should have told us that there is going to be a seam. Any professional will choose to avoid the seam if it is possible. Secondly, if seam is must, professional fabricator will place the seam where it is least noticeable. Remodeling jobs are done to improve the esthetics and quality. Customer satisfaction is more important in remodeling jobs.

I am requesting for your opinion/advice as a professional. I respect your opinion and the time spent. My question is am I right or contractor is right and his practice fits within professional code of conduct. Thanks very much,

Sincerly yours,

Sushil K. Jain