I would not be happy with that. I think it's a do-over :(

Just plain sloppy. You got the new guy!

Having done a bit of marginally acceptable work myself, I'm very tolerant of jobs that could come out in a way that's a bit off from what was expected. This seems to go past the "bit off" point. Even the tile grid shows.

The pic really shows an amateur job.

Absolutely have them redo it! The job they did is unacceptable in anybody's book. Wonder if they added something extra to the grout to fill in all the spaces?? Incredibly poor work...so very sorry.

Ugh, I'm so glad you guys see what I see. I know that we're going to face some pushback from them tomorrow. They are actually a couple of older men who have worked on many houses in our neighborhood so I'm trying to walk a fine line between not insulting them and insisting on good results.

And I have NO idea what happened with the grout. I dug the bag out of the garbage and it's clearly marked 'charcoal'. It also seems to be two different colors.

That looks like tiled grout instead of grouted tile.

This is my first ever tile project. In retrospect, probably not the best choice as a first, but I'm ok with how it came out. If I can manage this (admittedly it's not perfect, but good enough that I'm not certain it would be much better hired out), someone with actual experience and knowledge can manage better than that install.

I would not be happy with that install at all. I'd live with the grout color if the install was good otherwise. Maybe they used too much water removing the excess and the color came out?

I did a pebble tile floor in my bathroom a few years back. I spent a lot of time reading and learning before I did it because I know pebble tile can be challenging. Basically, you have to spend a ton of time sponging off the excess grout (which your guys did NOT do) Your floor looks like mine did before I sponged at all. I think I spent a good 45 min and used 3 different buckets of water to clean off the excess. But it turned out awesome. Unfortunately, it would be quicker to rip out and reinstall than remove all that grout. Hopefully, it's not a Kerdi floor under that.

Don't feel bad about asking for a do-over after showing them a few picture of what it's supposed to look like. The amount of fail they had is near epic.

The darker patches may be grout that hasn't dried all the way yet, or improper mixing. Not sure.

I've had some issues with Mapei grout (color not uniform) and it can be due to several factors:
- improper mixing (by hand instead of electrical mixer)
- too much water when cleaning
- added water (if they didn't work fast enough and the grout got thick, they may have added more water).
Absolutely not an acceptable job.

I have heard these floors take painstaking detail to "look right" also they are much of a newer look.
Chances are these guys who did the install were not familiar with the look your were going for and not familiar with the material. Ask for a do-over.

Yup, they didn't remove enough grout at all. DH did our bathroom floor and I was upset when he started because it looked like yours but then after MANY buckets of water it ended up like this:
{{gwi:2139099}}

I hope you can get this worked out to your satisfaction.

williamsem, your fireplace looks great!

It looks as if they floated and grouted the whole floor, rather than just the tile perimeters. It looks like exposed aggregate concrete.
Not an easy tile to grout, but certainly should be doable by anyone with some experience.
Do over for sure... Chris

The other issue that I see is that even if the job were done correctly with enough of the pebbles exposed, the slope doesn't appear to be sufficient for pebble tile. Code requires between 1/4" and 1/2" per foot of slope. The pebbles will trap water behind them with the minimal slope. They need the steeper 1/2" slope in order to drain properly.

This is a complete tearout and redo. Which will compromise the waterproof membrane that was used. At least, hopefully they used a correct waterproofing membrane system for the whole shower. Do you have pictures of the in progress construction? What waterproofing system did they use?