What's reasonable recourse after really shoddy decoratoring

ryand75

Have had quite abit of decorating done (before moving into the house) and the end result is poor to say the least.

The decorator was found via recommendation and had references a plenty, God knows how.

We have reached an impasse, in that we have withheld a proportion of the money owed to him as we consider the standard to be so bad. We have also at this stage refused to let him back into the house to try and sort out the situation - as we're not convinced he can/is able to put it right, if this is his best effort.

Where do we go from here? - he thinks the amount/any amount withheld is unreasonable .....

Looksguywalker

ryand75 wrote: »

Have had quite abit of decorating done (before moving into the house) and the end result is poor to say the least.

The decorator was found via recommendation and had references a plenty, God knows how.

We have reached an impasse, in that we have withheld a proportion of the money owed to him as we consider the standard to be so bad. We have also at this stage refused to let him back into the house to try and sort out the situation - as we're not convinced he can/is able to put it right, if this is his best effort.

Where do we go from here? - he thinks the amount/any amount withheld is unreasonable .....

You allow them to correct the problems you have found. Refusing to do so is not a clever move.

Guardsman

What instructions did you give him ? What was the state of the property before he started the job.
A lick of paint will only hide so much and maybe the walls needed far more work done on them at extra cost before they were even painted.
You can either let him in so he can inspect and maybe put right what he was told to do or at least have a chance to explain why it looks so bad or you can pay him what he is owed and move on.

ryand75

As a money-saving exercise the house was fully stripped when the decorator came to quote for the job - so there weren't any surprises for him in terms of the conditions of the walls.

We have inspected the work together already and despite being a 'professional decorator', which I'm not, there are missed patches in the paintwork, seems of the lining paper are coming unstuck already - and lots of other mistakes that even a novice like me can see.

To my mind, that hardly inspires confidence in his ability to put anything right. Would you let him lose again on your house?

DVardysShadow

ryand75 wrote: »

Would you let him lose again on your house?

Yes. You have to give him a fair and reasonable opportunity to put his work right - unless he is so poor that he is causing collateral damage. Essentially at the moment, what he has done, while not adequate, it has not made the house worse that it was when you handed over for him to start work.

I suggest that the right way forward is to agree 1 room to be fixed - cover your side in writing and make it plain that you will sack him completely if this one room does not come up to scratch.

ryand75

Good idea - but have no confidence at all in him being able to rise to the challenge .............. and am actually quite nervous about having any further dealings with him at all.

He didn't take critism well and initially (at least) didn't acknowledge there were any problems at all..... to me he seems to be a total 'cowboy'.

DVardysShadow

Imagine him taking you to the small claims court. How are you going to defend? It does not matter if you have no confidence - unless you are going to negotiate a settlement now to pay him off, you need to go through the motions.

pinkshoes

You HAVE to give him the opportunity to put it right, as if he takes you to court, then it might be you paying the fees!

Put everything in writing, giving a list of all the things that need putting right before he gets paid.

As suggested, give him a trial I.e. A few items on the list, and if they're not done to a good standard, you'll not be paying him and will pay someone else to finish it.

Equaliser123

pinkshoes wrote: »

You HAVE to give him the opportunity to put it right, as if he takes you to court, then it might be you paying the fees!

Actually, you don't.

If the work is that poor and the relationship has broken down then there is no requirement (other than to mitigate loss and subject to contractual terms) for the tradesperson to reperform service.