Plasterer has finished but poor finish. Is this normal?

pinpin

plasterers must be loaded

Furts

dominoman wrote: »

Yes - I knew the finish wouldn't be perfect with the skirting in place, but removing it would be too big a job. It is old and original. The plasterer told me he could make it look good without moving it.

The sockets I didn't remove as the plasterer told me he would do it. He then didn't.

But here you are admitting that you cut corners and could not be bothered to go about a job in the proper manner - both with the skirting and the socket. Which begs the question do you have architraves in the room and what has happened here?

It is bizarre that you claim the walls were acceptable but you wanted a perfect finish. I say this because you were not prepared to do what was required of you in order to achieve a perfect job. This suggests double standards - "do not do as I do, but do as I tell you but I am not allowing that to happen in a satisfactory manner"

You may have to eat some humble pie when you meet the plasterers boss!

dominoman

Furts wrote: »

But here you are admitting that you cut corners and could not be bothered to go about a job in the proper manner - both with the skirting and the socket. Which begs the question do you have architraves in the room and what has happened here?

It is bizarre that you claim the walls were acceptable but you wanted a perfect finish. I say this because you were not prepared to do what was required of you in order to achieve a perfect job. This suggests double standards - "do not do as I do, but do as I tell you but I am not allowing that to happen in a satisfactory manner"

You may have to eat some humble pie when you meet the plasterers boss!

I didn't cut any corners. I prepped the walls carefully, removed all traces of wallpaper, and would happily have removed the sockets. The plasterer told me the skirting did not need removing, and that he would take the front off the sockets before skimming.

The architraves were also not removed, again because the plasterer told me there was no need to do so before he skimmed the walls.

I'm certainly no plastering expert! But I'm not lazy or stupid either - which is what you seem to be implying.

Anyway - Given where it is now what should I do?

MisterBaxter

Still looks like it was done with a wooden spoon. Reminds me of kids decorating fairy cakes. Perhaps he usually does wattle and daub.

saverbuyer

Furts wrote: »

But here you are admitting that you cut corners and could not be bothered to go about a job in the proper manner - both with the skirting and the socket. Which begs the question do you have architraves in the room and what has happened here?

It is bizarre that you claim the walls were acceptable but you wanted a perfect finish. I say this because you were not prepared to do what was required of you in order to achieve a perfect job. This suggests double standards - "do not do as I do, but do as I tell you but I am not allowing that to happen in a satisfactory manner"

You may have to eat some humble pie when you meet the plasterers boss!

Eating humble pie while the plasterer dines on fois gras and caviar going by the price.

lstar337

Furts wrote: »

But here you are admitting that you cut corners and could not be bothered to go about a job in the proper manner - both with the skirting and the socket. Which begs the question do you have architraves in the room and what has happened here?

It is bizarre that you claim the walls were acceptable but you wanted a perfect finish. I say this because you were not prepared to do what was required of you in order to achieve a perfect job. This suggests double standards - "do not do as I do, but do as I tell you but I am not allowing that to happen in a satisfactory manner"

You may have to eat some humble pie when you meet the plasterers boss!

Furts, sounds like you are expecting the OP to be an expert, which if they were they would do the job themselves.

They called in an expert and got duff advice, not their fault, who is to know if an expert is talking balls?

On another note, £600 for a skim? Ouch!

dominoman

They've been today for the last two hours and patched it up. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm told it looks much better.

I'm still really sore about this. I agreed £600 on the basis of them doing a fantastic job, removing sockets, blending it in nicely against the skirting etc. That's what they told me when they quoted.

So far I've paid £300 and I wish I hadn't even done that.

They're asking for the other £300. Given the poor quality am I entitled to ask for a lower price, or is that just going to cause me more pain? £600 is a huge amount of money for me, and I am really not happy with the finish I got for it.

dominoman

And I have never given a bad CheckATrade review but in this case I either give no review or a bad one.

Furts

dominoman wrote: »

I didn't cut any corners. I prepped the walls carefully, removed all traces of wallpaper, and would happily have removed the sockets. The plasterer told me the skirting did not need removing, and that he would take the front off the sockets before skimming.

The architraves were also not removed, again because the plasterer told me there was no need to do so before he skimmed the walls.

I'm certainly no plastering expert! But I'm not lazy or stupid either - which is what you seem to be implying.

Anyway - Given where it is now what should I do?

Scimming is typically a 3mm plaster coat. If the walls are variable this will be more or less. You have a moulded skirting so how did you expect to get a perfect flat job, yet also blended into the skirting, when 3mm had been added to the wall?

The onus was on you to ask the question.When you received the answer the next stage was to ask "How is that possible" or Does this explanation make sense" or "Am I being fed BS".

Both Doozergirl and I have given you the answer. A perfect job means removal of the skirting and also the architraves. Anything less is a make do and mend scenario. You have to decide what you want.

Credit-Crunched

dominoman wrote: »

They've been today for the last two hours and patched it up. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm told it looks much better.

I'm still really sore about this. I agreed £600 on the basis of them doing a fantastic job, removing sockets, blending it in nicely against the skirting etc. That's what they told me when they quoted.

So far I've paid £300 and I wish I hadn't even done that.

They're asking for the other £300. Given the poor quality am I entitled to ask for a lower price, or is that just going to cause me more pain? £600 is a huge amount of money for me, and I am really not happy with the finish I got for it.

Tough one, if you have agreed at the price, and the work has been 'redone' then it is quite hard to rescind on the price.

Initially, you should have come on here, and would have priced up accordingly.

As mentioned, you have not made it overly possible for a £600 finish, by not removing the skirting boards. The plasterer would then finish to around a few inches from the ground, and then flush with the boards.