Following-up from my 'have I been over-charged' thread, the job is now done and there are some areas I'm not sure are acceptable or not. Since this is the first plastering job I've had done, I'm not sure what to expect and how much finishing of detail areas is the job of decorators vs plasterers.
Just to recap, the job was to skim 4 walls over existing paintwork... just wanted them levelling as we're getting the house re-decorated and I don't want to polish a turd, so to speak. At the same time, the lads skimmed over holes throughout the house that were left from recently-installed cavity wall insulation (we had most of the drilling done internally). Also, they patched over a couple of areas where the cavity wall insulation guys accidently drilled through an internal wall and knocked a couple of chunks of plaster out. They (2 lads) were on-site for 7 hours from start-to-finish.
Here's the finished result... I've taken some pics of the entire walls for the 'big picture' view then the rest are close-ups of areas I'm not sure about. Mainly, I'm not sure what to expect of the finish around switches and sockets and what to think about a bit of mess over skirting and coving. In particular, one of the newel posts on the stairs (pictured below) is a bit of a mess. In their favour, the lads did mop and vacuum-up after themselves before they left.
There has been a HUGE amount of drama already on this job... spent an hour (yes, an hour) on the phone to the gaffer last night. My partner expressed surprise to the lads while they were on-site (I was at work at the time) that they were finished so quickly and she thought it would take them 2 days. This, as it turns-out, seemed to offend the boss (who quoted me for the work and who has been on-site quoting for a number of other much larger jobs). He rang me and accused my partner of upsetting his boys and said they felt unappreciated and upset at how they were treated. My partner wouldn't say boo to a goose and is very friendly, so this was certainly blown out of all proportion and she wound-up in tears. He went on to say they're not cowboys and take pride in their work and it's not all about the money for them. I (very diplomatically) pointed-out the few areas I was unsure about and he got immediately defensive about that too... told me I was nit-picking and he paid his lads £150/day and £400 for the job was cheap. He went on to tell me they don't appreciate being criticised as he knows they're the best around and I won't get any better than his boys (who he trained), etc. All got very melodramatic indeed... to be honest, I don't think I've ever dealt with such Prima Donna like behaviour in my life. Both myself and my partner needed a stiff drink after the phone call. I could go on, but you get the picture. It was all very surreal, to be honest, and got pretty heated. I haven't given any money for the work yet and he claimed he wants me to be happy before paying for the job, yet it seems his idea of me being happy is him convincing me I'm being picky and unreasonable about any flaws in the work so I end-up accepting everything. He sent me a text this morning apologising and saying it was all crossed-wires, but clearly the damage is done and I can't imagine what he'd be like to deal with on a large job.
Anyway, on to the pics...
Just to recap, the job was to skim 4 walls over existing paintwork... just wanted them levelling as we're getting the house re-decorated and I don't want to polish a turd, so to speak. At the same time, the lads skimmed over holes throughout the house that were left from recently-installed cavity wall insulation (we had most of the drilling done internally). Also, they patched over a couple of areas where the cavity wall insulation guys accidently drilled through an internal wall and knocked a couple of chunks of plaster out. They (2 lads) were on-site for 7 hours from start-to-finish.
Here's the finished result... I've taken some pics of the entire walls for the 'big picture' view then the rest are close-ups of areas I'm not sure about. Mainly, I'm not sure what to expect of the finish around switches and sockets and what to think about a bit of mess over skirting and coving. In particular, one of the newel posts on the stairs (pictured below) is a bit of a mess. In their favour, the lads did mop and vacuum-up after themselves before they left.
There has been a HUGE amount of drama already on this job... spent an hour (yes, an hour) on the phone to the gaffer last night. My partner expressed surprise to the lads while they were on-site (I was at work at the time) that they were finished so quickly and she thought it would take them 2 days. This, as it turns-out, seemed to offend the boss (who quoted me for the work and who has been on-site quoting for a number of other much larger jobs). He rang me and accused my partner of upsetting his boys and said they felt unappreciated and upset at how they were treated. My partner wouldn't say boo to a goose and is very friendly, so this was certainly blown out of all proportion and she wound-up in tears. He went on to say they're not cowboys and take pride in their work and it's not all about the money for them. I (very diplomatically) pointed-out the few areas I was unsure about and he got immediately defensive about that too... told me I was nit-picking and he paid his lads £150/day and £400 for the job was cheap. He went on to tell me they don't appreciate being criticised as he knows they're the best around and I won't get any better than his boys (who he trained), etc. All got very melodramatic indeed... to be honest, I don't think I've ever dealt with such Prima Donna like behaviour in my life. Both myself and my partner needed a stiff drink after the phone call. I could go on, but you get the picture. It was all very surreal, to be honest, and got pretty heated. I haven't given any money for the work yet and he claimed he wants me to be happy before paying for the job, yet it seems his idea of me being happy is him convincing me I'm being picky and unreasonable about any flaws in the work so I end-up accepting everything. He sent me a text this morning apologising and saying it was all crossed-wires, but clearly the damage is done and I can't imagine what he'd be like to deal with on a large job.
Anyway, on to the pics...