Not happy with decorating work carried out - next steps ?

Jimmy_Boy

Hi,
Apologies if this in the wrong section, not sure what category this falls into.

This is quite a long story, but i'll try to condense it to the main points / issues.

I have had work carried out by an independent contractor (single guy working on his own, 'been in the trade for years' and left previous employer to start on his own) to perform building / decorating work.

The work carried out has involved building stud frames, plaster-boarding, fitting new skirting and architrave and painting.

I rather naively (ive never had anyone in to do work before, so it's new ground for me) got the guy to proceed with the work with no quote or schedule of work to be done, just that he charges £18 p/h. It has been verbally said by him that the room should be done in about 10 days, but in total it has took about 2 months (bits here and there, as he got a new contact with someone so wanted to 'keep them sweet' for future work and has been going there mostly).

Ultimately im not happy with the finish of the work. The main complaint being that the skimming is of a poor standard (its like running you hand over a mountain top - its very lumpy and bumpy), cracks are starting to appear everywhere, paint hasn't adhered to the wall and has air bubbles underneath and the finish is just not worth the money I have spent (IMO).

He has gone VERY slow. To plasterboard one wall and a ceiling (and build the stud frame) has took him 6 days (3.7m x 2.7m). Someone I know in the trade said the work carried out should only of took 1.5 days, 2 max.

There is still outstanding work to do which was meant to be done this week but he hasnt turned up, no communication from him. The last day I seen him (15/01/2021) he gave me a bill for the 6 days mentioned above. I had some queries about the bill so didnt pay it straight away as I was hoping to see him when I got back home from work to discuss these issues with him. (eg, 'materials' are not itemised, and as far as im aware there where no materials required (its all here ready to go), but he charged £110)

I previously highlighted that I wasnt overly happy with the finish, and he said when all the work is finished he will address these issues at his expense.

This at first seems reasonable and acceptable, but the work he has done in the second room is no better than the first (ive been giving him the benefit of the doubt as hes been claiming its been tricky to get right), so although he has offered to rectify it, I feel he just doesnt have the ability to the a quality job (im really not that fussy, but the finish is BAD), and his fix will be no better than what I currently have.

So... with him not turning up this week with no communication, he's then travelling to Manchester (400 miles) (during lockdown) to do some work for his brother, which means it will be about 1 month in total between his last day worked and his next, I have decided I dont want him to continue with the work anymore and get someone else in to finish off (will do better this time, get quotes and work to a price).

What should I do about the work im not happy with? Do I have to give him an opportunity to fix it? Can I request a full refund for the work im not happy with, or can I get someone else in to fix his bad workmanship and forward there invoice on to him?

Any advice, as always, is appreciated.

tacpot12

Step 1 - document everything, using your account above as a starting point. It might help to draw a timeline of activities and contacts with the contractor. Photograph everything, to see if you can get photos that really show the problems - decorating problems are notoriously difficult to capture on film.  If you can't get the photos to show the problems, you may need a better camera, better lighting or a professional photographer, or to reconsider if the work really is that bad - sometimes once you have seen a problem, you can't stop seeing it every time you look. 
Step 2 - You should really offer him the  option of coming back, but if things are really bad, you can just request a refund for work you are not happy with, but the amount repayable is unlikely to amount to a full refund unless there was nothing that was close to acceptable. (Every piece of work would have to be unacceptable) Best you can hope for without going to court is 50%, so see if you can get them to commit to that.  
Step 3 - If they won't agree to a reasonable refund, and your photos show very poor quality work, sue in the small claims court, otherwise get an expert witness to write a report/witness statement for the court, then sue. 

If you have home insurance, check if you have Legal Expenses Cover. If you do, call the legal helpline to check the above advice - they might  be able to support you to negotiate a settlement with the contractor or might represent you in court once they have see the photos. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Do you have any photos of the work done so far OP?

Jimmy_Boy

Thanks for the advice, I have personally documented the work carried out on days.
I only have an phone for camera and its proving difficult to capture the defects on the skimming, when the lights on you can clearly see the wall is not smooth.
I suppose personal interpretation is at play here also, one persons 'terrible' might be another's 'fine'. Reading back my post, maybe I made I overstated on BAD. It's not like there is stuff falling down or anything, but the finish (IMO) is not good.
I've attached some photo's to try and show an example. Would appreciate people's thoughts on the finish here, as ive paid about £3-£4k to him for the work done (Stud frame, plaster, skim, paint, flooring (I paid for separately) ).

Doesnt look too bad in the picture, your eye can pick up a lot more pits in the skimming



Most corners are like this

tacpot12

It is very difficult to see the problem with the skimming. I did turn the brightness up on my screen and was able to see a distinct orange-peel effect on the left hand side of the wall.

The loss of paint adhesion around the sockets is bad, and looks like the wall wasn't primed. An experienced decorator should have known the right primer to use, and used it. The decorator might claim that his finish has been damaged by someone taking the sockets off, so you might need more evidence of poor adhesion. Have the sockets been off since the decorating was done? Can you prove that the walls weren't primed due to your observation of the steps he took and the products he used? Many old hands will prime a plastered wall with thinned down emulsion paint. I don't know whether this is acceptable in the trade these days - an expert might confirm that this is no longer regarded as good practice. (This is one problem with employing people that have been doing it for years - they have been making the same mistakes for years and can't change their ways!) 

The cracking looks like it is due to the corners being taped, but not enough support behind the boards to prevent movement. The issue here is that you have engaged a decorator to do plaster-boarding which is a separate skilled trade. Plastering is a skilled trade, and in my experience, only trained plasters can skim a wall well. What steps did you take to ensure that he knew how to plasterboard and skim adequately? You might be partially at fault here for not selecting a skilled contractor, although the contractor also has an obligation not to take your money for a job they can't do to a professional standard.  I think a court would make some allowance for the fact that you have saved money by not employing a plasterer to dry-line the room, and a decorator to decorate it. 

IvanOpinion

That does not look a good job.  There used to be a poster on these boards called nelly who was a plasterer and could probably have provided some great advice - but I don't know if he is still about.

Alfrescodave

Big mistake was to agree to a rate of £18/hr, this is the equivalent of an open cheque.  Any further work should be agreed beforehand for a fixed price.

Jimmy_Boy

I'll answer some questions that have been raised.
Q. Primer used?
A. I believe he wanted to use some 'green grit' (?) but he didnt have any / couldnt get any so used some blue stuff instead (not sure of product name)

Q. Sockets moved after work?
A. I believe (cant remember 100%) he left the old sockets on when skimming / paining, the electrician came along afterwards to fit the new sockets (as he requested to be done)

Q. Why did you choose him?
A. I had 2 people recommend him (although, they are friends of his and also mine). He shown me a portfolio of his work and it looked ok from what I could see. He said hes been in the trade for years and 'does it all'. That appealed to me as I could just deal with one guy to handle everything without me having to negotiate between different traders etc... The previous company he was working for has got a good reputation as doing quality work, so I thought with the above factors taken into account he would do a quality job.

"I think a court would make some allowance for the fact that you have saved money by not employing a plasterer to dry-line the room, and a decorator to decorate it."
I understand your point, whats the going rate for a quality plasterer? is £18 p/h considered low (wish I earned that much! lol)

A couple questions from me
1. The only leverage I have at the moment is I have an outstanding bill to pay for the work started in the second room (£630). I worry if I pay it i'll never see him again. Am I within my rights to withhold payment until he rectifies the work im not happy with (at his expense) ? Although, like mentioned above, I worry that he just doesnt have the ability to do a good job and will just be a carbon copy of what I already have,

2. His bills state 'Materials: £xxx' with no itemisation. Im quite sure that he has bumped these figure up on several occasions. Also, suspicious on latest bill as it was £110.00 exactly, and also I believe no materials where required as everything was here ready to go. Do I have a right to request a breakdown of all materials he has purchased for my job, to cross-reference what he has billed me?

Jimmy_Boy

A few more pictures... its proving particularly difficult to capture on camera the quality (lack of) of the skimming.




Plasterboard fitted to second room with a million screws, someone else looked at this and said 'errrrr. W TF?!?' lol

47Revisited

Bad Job. Also too many screws!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

A good plaster will leave the walls like glass, they are hard to come by.

Regarding the sockets, it probably wouldn't be his job to remove them, although a decent tradesperson would you tell you they need to be removed, probably the easiest issue to tidy up.

That ceiling in the second batch of photos looks really wavy, was that new plasterboard installed or a skim over an existing ceiling?

Cracking above the door suggests to me no tape on that joint or the plater was applied to thin (but I'm not an expert).

I'd expect issues with the first room resolved before making any further  payments or allowing any further work in the other room. 

If you don't pay and he isn't happy then he'd have to take you to court, best thing you can do is get as many photos as possible. Consumer rights act dictates a service must be carried out with reasonable care and skill.

Regarding materials, builders can charge anything really and marking up materials is common. If you know what has been used have a look on the Travis Perkins website, without a trade account to login in with the prices there are expensive, if you've been charged more than that I wouldn't be happy.

You say he took 6 days to build stud work (one wall?) and plasterboard, is that 6 days at 8 hours a day?