My mom recently had her bathroom refinished. Within several weeks the tile started to crack and come up off the floor. Turns out the contractor didn’t put down any cement backer board underneath the tile/on top of the sub floor. Is this something we can go after him for in small claims court? I wasn’t there when plans were discussed but I’m assuming there was no discussion of this. We would be looking for the contractor to remove old tile, prep surface (including cement board), buy and lay new tile. Or to refund money for this portion of the job

Seems that industry standard would be to put the cement board down. This is recommended by the National association of home builders.

He also left some small projects unfinished (new baseboards, trim around door, and finishing light switches. Most important thing would be recouping money for tile

We are in Illinois

Thank you