How much filling can you expect a decorator to do

LlamaKarma

We have got a decorator to paint 3 of our downstairs rooms. One of them (the sitting room) has been skimmed by a plasterer last week, but now the paint's on there I can see some minor defects that definitely need filling.

I pointed out something in the kitchen yesterday and he has filled that.

I sort of thought he would go through and fill everything to begin with to ensure a perfect finish but he hasn't. We are paying £480 for up to 3 days work (2 people).

I was going to ask him in the morning to fill the other bits, but I jsut hate these conversations. Am I expecting too much?

phill99

There are 2 issues here:

1) The room that has been plastered should not need any filling at all. Plaster is like a huge tub of filler that goes ober averything and is smooth once applied. I think you should have a word with your plasterer and not expect your decorartor to have to deal with another trades poor workmanship.

2) If you are paying 2 guys £480 for three days work, thats only £80 a day. Bear in mind he will have costs out of that eg running his van, caulking, spirit, filler etc. So you expect a quality job for effectively £60 a day?

Ectophile

When you invited them to quote for the job, did you actually ask the decorators to fill any bad spots as part of the work?

From your description, it sounds like the decorators have done exactly what you asked them to do - paint three rooms.

LlamaKarma

I assumed that the decorators would do what is needed to ensure a good finish.

If you were decorating your own room, if something looked like it needed filling, you would fill it. You wouldn't worry about if it was "someone else's job" you would want it to look good at the end of the day.

I think what has happened with the plastering is that there is a wooden bit of wall, that's the bit that needs a bit of filling. We are not talking massive amounts just probably three small bits of filling plus some calk (I think!) down a gap between two walls.

Re the price, that's the price he estimated. I didn't beat him down. I expected he would estimate the right price to give me a quality job.

keystone

If you are paying only £ 80 a day you are not going to get a quality job.

Cheers

lindens

Also if the room has only been plastered a week ago, I'm surprised you have painted it already. I had mine done last month and was told at this time of year it takes 3 weeks to dry out properly.

keystone

lindens wrote: »

Also if the room has only been plastered a week ago, I'm surprised you have painted it already. I had mine done last month and was told at this time of year it takes 3 weeks to dry out properly.

A skim is paintable in 24 hours. A full platsreing job from brick/blockwork outwards will require a lot longer to dry out.

Cheers

vax2002

you would have been better asking for help before they quoted, you could have then included to quote to standard level of preparation required to provide a smooth defect free finish.
However to be honest if either of these two have ever set foot on a building site or public works they will be aware that a certain standard of work is expected on either an architects or Clark of works job and they would snag any defect area that had poor finish and the painter would be expected to either surface fill any defects or pass any that required attention from the plasterer back for remedial.
It is "part of the job" and I would point this out, if they complain they have not budgeted for this I would point out that in future they quote to do the job correctly and ask if they would present such work with defects to an architect .

Filling afterwards is running the risk of "flashing" the paint where the over painted area has a different colour texture to the other areas.

grizzly1911

I'm with Keystone on price/quality this is a cheap piece of work.

With new plaster blemishes can often be hilighted by the pait finish.


Might be worth a gentle "any chance you could" and if they are receptive show your gratitude with a "tip" or agreed supplement.

As VAX says this may mean a whole section, wall may need to be redone.

macman

Since the blemishes must have been visible before he painted, why didn't you either ask him to include the filling in his quote, or fill it yourself? It's not his job to make good for previous tradesmen unless you specify exactly that. And for £10 an hour, he's not going to throw it in for free. Why wait until it's painted?

fred7777

LlamaKarma wrote:

Am I expecting too much?

Sorry to say but yes you probably are.

£480 for 6 man days isn't very much. Of course you don't say how big the rooms are which could make all the difference.

The best time to sort out exactly what the job is is at the time of quoting. I paid someone to decorate a room last year and we didn't choose the painter who was insisting on extra prep of filling and sanding because of his higher price so it's best not to assume people know the standard of work you want.