Not happy with decorator - advice please!

arietty

I have just had a decorator finish quite a big job in my house and I am not at all happy with the quality of the end result. He has papered and painted what I asked, and the overall effect looks great. But close up it's really disappointing. 

I asked for all the woodwork (skirting boards, frames etc) to be sanded back before painting but they are rough and uneven. I can see brush strokes in paint work. The paint in one room scratches off at the lightest touch which I have never seen before. There is paint on the carpets when I made it clear they were not being replaced. 

The decorator to his credit has come back twice to correct small areas. However the issue I think is with the overall job and the standard. To get it to what I expected it would need fully doing again and to be honest I now don't want him anywhere near it. I was relieved to get my key back.

Of course he is now chasing for payment and I am pretty devastated at having to pay £1250 for a job I feel I could have done better myself. I expected this to add value to my house and make it more attractive when I sell in the future but feel it won't last any time at all. He is blaming the paint used in the kitchen (Valspar) saying no tradesmen uses this. Worth noting I supplied the colours and he supplied all the paint. 

I have absolutely no idea where I stand with this. He is just a one man band so there is no company I can complain to. Not to sound dramatic but I am also a female living on my own and am concerned about getting into some serious problems with this. Am I able to challenge payment or do I have to suck it up and put this down to bad luck? 

I'd appreciate any advice. 

williamgriffin

Have you told him you're unhappy and what your concerns are? The first step should be giving him a chance to rectify any problems 

kazwookie

For what you paid it sounds like you got a fair job.

You need to list out all items you are not happy with in writing and send it to him, asking when he can come over and fix the points listed, take some photos as well.

arietty

Thanks. Yes we’ve had multiple discussions and he has come back twice as I said. Unfortunately it’s not just small bits and pieces, it’s the overall quality of the whole job which I think would need redoing which is obviously not an option. 

I’m interested that you say I got a fair job for the price? 

Grenage

£1250 seems rather cheap for a 'big job', so I'd be sceptical of the workmanship.  How big a job?

rob7475

Did he warn you about the valspar paint being rubbish before starting the job? Isn't Valspar just B&Q's own brand?

Any decent decorator would have offered to supply trade paint in the colours you wanted. Cheap paint does tend to give an inferior finish that isn't as durable which he should have warned you about before taking on the job

arietty

It was decorating the kitchen, master bedroom and hallway/stairs. I got several quotes which were all around the same mark. This wasn’t a case of going for a cheap bodge job and then complaining when the end result isn’t good. 

I told him the colour I liked and he said he didn’t use valspar but would get it colour matched with dulux. It turned out that he didn’t. I have valspar elsewhere in the house and it doesn’t scratch off at all in the same way so I think blaming a widely used product is disappointing. I expected that I’d be paying £1250 for a trade finish. 

He has offered to knock £50 off which isn’t even close to what I’d be happy with. 

arietty

Worth noting he used dulux in the hallway and it’s already chipped off. 

Grenage

It sounds like the decorator didn't do the prep required before painting, which is a good chunk of the work.

He provided the paints and did the work, so I guess you have to give him the opportunity to correct it.  As for what comes after I'll leave it to those more knowledgeable in the proceedings.

Rosa_Damascena

arietty said:

Of course he is now chasing for payment and I am pretty devastated at having to pay £1250 for a job I feel I could have done better myself. I expected this to add value to my house and make it more attractive when I sell in the future but feel it won't last any time at all. He is blaming the paint used in the kitchen (Valspar) saying no tradesmen uses this. Worth noting I supplied the colours and he supplied all the paint. 

I'm not sure it would ever have added value, but it would help a property sell faster. A future buyer would want to change the decor but could possibly live with something for longer if it looked good from the outset.

The paint won't have been applied during a single day. Didn't you keep any eye on it as it progressed so you could be clear about the kind of finish you wanted?

arietty

The paint won't have been applied during a single day. Didn't you keep any eye on it as it progressed so you could be clear about the kind of finish you wanted?

It took them 3 days, yes of course I checked everything when I got home from work each evening (I never saw them) but all the issues are with the finish which I immediately discussed with him (several times) when they told me they had finished. I expected them to take the full week. Things like brush strokes in the paint I assumed were going to be covered by a final coat, then it became clear they weren’t. 

I didn’t want to be one of those customers being really demanding and complainy during the job so assumed the right thing to do was to give them the benefit of the doubt, assume they know best about what they’re doing and discuss any issues at the end. I’m not experienced with using decorators so I’ve learned from this and in the future would have that dialogue each day.

Do I have any stand point to negotiate on the price? I don’t feel they did the basic prep required to ensure a high standard and this can’t be fixed now.