Possible rogue please help me

[Harvey1231]

Thinking back it does seem like he didnt seem to get much done in the time he was here. He still hasnt painted the stairs, only the banister and also hasnt touched the 2 airing cupboards cupboards at the top of the stairs or the bathroom ceiling yet either, plus all of the "touching up" of which we have a whole a4 side of paper :/.

My mum told us to message him and tell him not to bother with the stairs, cupboards and the bathroom ceiling, just to redo all the other stuff, then we will pay him the 1350 still but only after its all redone properly and no more money now, which we told him.

 

[opps]

He then moved onto 2nd bedroom and told us that although the paint was almost definitely loose on other walls (paint was thick too in first room he said) that instead of removing all the paint and lining like the first room, he would be really careful and sand the absolute minimum he can so that the paint doesn't fall off and told us it would still be great and save us extra money and time. We told him as long as its still a top quality job that will last for many years and it's done properly then that is fine.

I have worked in several houses where the first coat of existing paint was not sufficiently thinned. Yeah, it is a pain, but it is not insurmountable. There are numerous sealants that can be used.

I really do not understand why he had to keep wall sanding to a minimum. Paint over gypsum plaster can be sanded all the way off. It is a different matter if the walls are the old gritty plaster. The sander will rip the plaster.

Having read his reviews, his customers seem to be happy, that said, in my experience (and not a sleight on him) many customers could not tell the difference between a good job and an "acceptable" job.

Going back to some of the earlier images that you posted, we all have days where our cutting in is below par. I explain to the customer that I will improve it the following day. I have never needed to have a customer snag it to get me to improve it. Infact, I rarely ever have any snagging, but I will have a customer ask me to add on something that they initially forgot to ask me to do.

 

[Harvey1231]

He said to us to go around and list any areas that had snags for him to do lol, even though it was almost everywhere. I have a couple of pictures I took while he was here, one of how the paint peeled off the walls and a few of the walls after he had prepared them before he painted them, also a couple of the finished rooms, they look great until you get up close and look properly.

The bedrooms have same colour ceiling as walls but wen sun is out the ceiling of second bedroom looks much lighter as you can see in the picture but he just said it's the light although we aren't sure if it needs more coats, it does look same colour though when it's not daylight outside.

The room with no plaster is the first bedroom that he lined.

 

[Harvey1231]

Image 9 is how the previous paint was on all the walls, 5 is the bedroom after he had fully prepared the room and also painted ceiling but hadn't coated walls, image 1 and 7 is living room wall after fully prepared but no paint except skirting boards painted in image 1

 

[opps]

Also we never saw him washing any surfaces. The woodwork was sand, then coat with a coat of the little greene wood paint, followed by another coat a day or 2 later, the walls were filling, sanding mainly on the filler, then paint, 2 hours later paint 1 more coat, except the kitchen which he said needed extra coats

Other than bathrooms or kitchens, I rarely ever wash walls or woodwork given that I am comprehensively sanding them.

Emulsion over emulsion, on a wall at this time of the year, you can get away with a second coat in as little as 2 hours. Normally safer to wait a bit longer.

I have said this before, but he is charging the same kind of London prices that I charge (and I am not expensive). These days any decent decorator has "dustless" sanding. It really isn't a big deal.

 

[Harvey1231]

He said he kept wall sanding to a minimum to make sure the old paint didn't come off, as it would mean more work and more money because of the extra time

 

[Harvey1231]

Other than bathrooms or kitchens, I rarely ever wash walls or woodwork given that I am comprehensively sanding them.

Emulsion over emulsion, on a wall at this time of the year, you can get away with a second coat in as little as 2 hours. Normally safer to wait a bit longer.

I have said this before, but he is charging the same kind of London prices that I charge (and I am not expensive). These days any decent decorator has "dustless" sanding. It really isn't a big deal.

Ah OK, I wonder where all the grit came from then in the paint? Maybe dirty equipment? The paint is 120 per 5l and is supposed to be top quality so find it unlikely it was in that, the previous banister for example felt smooth when running hand down it, but now running your hand along a 30cm length for example you can feel and see maybe 10 or 12 bits of sharp feeling gritty particles so it's a bit sandpaper like lol

 

[opps]

The blue room. The ceiling will look a different colour depending on the light source.

The guy has clearly sanded the walls. In his defence, you can't always see imperfections until the new emulsion is applied, but once it becomes visible, fill and sand them...

 

[Harvey1231]

Yeah he didn't do that in a lot of places. The thing that bothers us the most with the walls, apart from the gritty paint and cutting in ect is how none of the paint actually looks flat and smooth on the walls with the exception of the lined room, how they are in this picture, although there is clearly lots of areas that need more sanding or filling ect.

First picture is how almost all of the walls are close up

 

[Harvey1231]

How would you recommend proceeding? The advice we got from the electrician who came over was that to actually get a professional rather than diy style finish, the walls need filling, sanding, lining and repainting and the woodwork resanded and repainted.

Hes coming over tomorrow

 

[Harvey1231]

This is how the kitchen wall is, he said he did 4 coats in kitchen but 2 in other rooms

 

[Harvey1231]

I really appreciate your advice so wanted to say thanks, also if @Wayners would be able to chip in I would really appreciate it.

My mum and stepdad said that if he doesn't redo it all to a high finish about doing your previous suggestion of getting an estimate to redo it properly and go to the small claims courts to claim the costs.

Our thinking is that he should of lined the walls in the first place but he was in a rush to get to other jobs, his attitude seemed to be quality focused at the start until after the first room he seemed like he had had enough, saying he can't be here too much longer ect

 

[Harvey1231]

Little greene have just replied to us saying it could be he used a too high pile roller. Doesn't explain the grit in paint though. I have attached one final picture of the finish of the door frames as I didn't include those yet, the electrician said there shouldn't be as many brush lines

 

[Harvey1231]

I asked him and he said he used medium pile and said the issue on the walls is something to do with the walls being previously painted

 

[opps]

I am a decorator, not a lawyer.... if a customer asked me to provide a higher quality of finish, I would quote to line the walls. Materials aside, you are looking at about 8/10 hours of labour per small/medium room. The problem however is that he didn't do that when initially quoting. I cannot comment on why he didn't.

If I see excessive orange peel build up on the walls, I will recommend lining paper. If it is slight (and not vinyl silk- which gums up when sanded),I will simply sand the walls. .

I have no way of knowing how much he contributed to the orange peel effect.

A few years ago, my other half used a checka type site to find a decorator to paint our hallway- she didn't want to wait for me to be free.

The day that he finished, she paid him, and asked me to repaint it (in the same colours). I had to sand away his emulsion build up- I had previously lined the walls and only applied two different coats of paint prior to him messing up the walls. Previously, there was no noticeable paint build up.

The paint felt as though there was grit in it. I suspect that, given it was a very hot week, he applied a second thick coat too quickly. All of the woodwork had grit in it as well. Recifying his work added about 30-40% extra labour.

From your posts, you have explained that you were happy to pay a premium for a high quality finish. From the (selected) images that you have posted, you did not receive a high quality of finish. In my opinion he should have recommended lining the walls, given that you stated that you wanted a better quality of finish.

Any small claims judge will expect you to offer him the possibility of rectifying things before litigating. If you are asking him to line the walls, he will then have to repaint the walls and cut in the woodwork and ceilings. That will have a massive impact on his pocket. He could reasonably insist that you pay for the paper and his labour to line the walls (and possibly for the paint). He can also argue that he thought that he was providing the quality of finish that you were happy to pay for.

It could get messy, very messy.

Before going down that path, perhaps keep nagging him to improve things, or to refund you a sizable amount so that you can get someone else in. In all likelihood, both of you will end up out of pocket though.

Sorry, I wish I could be of more help- either way though, get a minimum of 3 (detailed quotes).