Poor plastering and uneven finish. Please help!

[joe-90]

You've already over paid. Take him to the Small Claims Court and you'll get all your money back. It's a bigger job now than when he first started. It needs the lumps scraping off, PVA, leave overnight, then PVA next day and two coats of Multi, then polish.

 

[Burnerman]

More worrying still, does the guy actually think his work is OK? What does his 'boss' reckon?
John

 

[phatboy]

I agree this idiot is in no way a plasterer, that job is horrid!

But when I have had plasters around, I always make sure the skirting, electrical accessories and anything else are already removed to give them the free space they need to work. Plastering with either in place isn't going to end too well.

But the damage caused to the fireplace is inexcusable - any decent trade carries dustsheets. Most plasterers I have dealt with take great pride in their work, and the finished job needs minimal filling and sanding (Ceilings a little more!), and they leave the room extremely clean.

 

[gregers]

tell him you are reporting him to checker trade,and to trading standards.
you will also be seeking advice from another plasterer and will be sending him the bill for making good.

decorators job eh,if i was to leave anything like that for my opos to do i would be wearing the emulsion.
like joe im not a spread but can do it,but 1 thing i will endeavor to do is to leave a nice job,clean and tidy etc.

 

[dominoman]

Thanks all.

I'm really disappointed as everyone I've used from CheckaTrade in the past has been brilliant. Friendly, tidy, and have done a great job. Only once before did I have a problem with a paint job that wasn't right but when I explained the decorator apologized, came back, and fixed it perfectly. I've always left 10/10 reviews and had great relationship with workers. In a few cases I ended up building them a new website or doing some web marketing as an extra thank-you.

This is the first bad experience. The CheckATrade reviews for this guy are excellent (97 reviews, all good) which makes me question how reliable it is now.

About removing the sockets. I offered several times to do that in advance, and he said not to and that he would do it. On the morning I asked again, and said shall I turn off the electricity. He said no, no need, and he would do it. When I came back and saw the bodge and the awful mess he had already left.

I was expecting the boss to be apologetic when he came around. But not at all. He just said "I've seen a lot worse than this", as if that made it OK. The boss then smeared around some Polyfilla and said it's the decorator’s job to sand off the bumps and fill holes - not his. He didn't attempt to do anything about the lumpy walls (in reality not much he could do) or the parts that were missed near the arch. About the fireplace he said "yeah, it's not perfect" and smoothed it with Polyfilla, but it still looks awful. When I told him I still wasnt happy he reluctantly offered to redo it next week using stop bead. But at this point I've had enough so I said no thanks.

In the end I agreed he keep the £300 I paid already, but I don't pay the rest. In return for him "letting me off" the rest of the money I won't post a review on his CheckaTrade page. Unfortunately that means someone else will get a bad plaster job from him, which I feel bad about. But I just don't want to upset him and get a brick through my window. At this point I'm trying to forget it and put this behine me. I'll spend some time sanding this weekend, and then will call a new plasterer to redo the two lumpiest walls. The others I think will be OK.

Thanks for all the advice.

My lessons learned here have been:

• Insist on the guy who quoted doing the work (not his apprentice or mate)
• Be in the house while it's being done so you can point out any problems at the time
• Don't pay any money until you're happy with the work
• Take "reviews" with a pinch of salt

 

[Burnerman]

Its been a valuable tale of woe to warn people who may be in the same boat as you in the future......thanks for the updates!
Unfortunately its clear that this entire firm are a bunch of amateurs......finishing off with Polyfilla indeed - absolute nonsense. You've let them off lightly, but I think I would have done the same, just to get rid.
(I've had an unsatisfactory 'artisan' joiner working for me of late, £180 per day......accurate to the nearest street, had to borrow a smoothing plane and tenon saw from me, and never once used glasspaper. I am a much better woodworker than he, I was disappointed to find.)
All good lesson points, and best wishes for the final result.
John

 

[roughcaster]

Dominoman, can you post a photo of the window area, that the err,, umm,,, "plasterer" was afraid of, saying it was "too hard to do".
By the way, you have been "brilliant" keeping us up to date with the progress of this saga,,,, well done you.

 

[dominoman]

Dominoman, can you post a photo of the window area, that the err,, umm,,, "plasterer" was afraid of, saying it was "too hard to do".
By the way, you have been "brilliant" keeping us up to date with the progress of this saga,,,, well done you.

Thanks so much for all the help! It has reassured me that I am not crazy.

This is a picture of the lounge (from when we bought the house so the big TV has gone now). The bit the plasterer said he couldnt do was the other side of the arch, and above the windows. I didn't mind about that so said OK. The walls there are already in good condition and have been papered so I was going to just paint over the old paper.

 

[stevethespreader]

That's a lovely front room you have there , but the bad plastering that's been done means there's a lot of remedial work to get it to look right, it should be nice and tight along the skirting not all over the place I could do better with my eyes shut one hand behind my back and standing on one leg there's nothing hard in your front room its all straight forward what did he do with the arch?

 

[gregers]

there must be a way you can leave bad feedback to the con artist?
wonder when he said hes seen worse,was he talking about 1 of the other jobs hes been on?

 

[Burnerman]

If the 'boss man' has seen worse, maybe he had a holiday in Beirut or similar
I've nowt but praise and admiration for plasterers that have worked for me.....perfect job, nowt is too much trouble and real characters, all of them.
To see one guy bouncing around on stilts doing a high ceiling was something to behold - he got a good drink after that one!
Spreaders always get my vote.
John