Internet?
Dodgy decorator or am I being pedantic
- Thread starter Mlb123
- Start date
Internet?
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Its difficult to say without seeing the original condition of the proposed works, it also depends on location of the job, London/ Home Counties Rates are basically double the average costs , to get an idea of prices one should get at least three estimates for comparison, if you tell us what you paid for the decorating this would give us an idea if you were ripped off,
this was either a lazy decorator or a DIY, not a professional job but still down to cost (value for money)
Found him on checka trade, had really good reviews 9.94 out of 100 odd and the pictures shown made him look very professional etc.
We were quoted 800 plus materials approx. 6 days. In margate kent.
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The walls are new plaster so pretty much perfect,I had already painted the most coats, wood work basically brand new, skirting was literally and the door frames had been stripped back with a heat gun and lightly sanded to smooth off. So he only need to fill some of the imperfections. Doors are also all new and factory primed.
We were quoted 800 plus materials approx. 6 days. In margate kent.
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The walls are new plaster so pretty much perfect,I had already painted the most coats, wood work basically brand new, skirting was literally and the door frames had been stripped back with a heat gun and lightly sanded to smooth off. So he only need to fill some of the imperfections. Doors are also all new and factory primed.
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Never use Internet firms like Checka Trade, the reviews can be put in by friends and family which mean nothing, pictures of jobs completed can be taken from other sites so can give a false. impression of standard of workmanship . Its no good complaining to Checka Trade they will not be interested.
IMO price of job is high for the standard of workmanship. I would pursue the matter, you could go to the local Trading Standards they may help and give advice.
"Word of Mouth" Tradesmen are the best, ask in your Local Decorating Suppliers ( not DIY Stores) for names of reliable decorators builders etc, get at least three estimates for comparison .
There is a similar thread running in Plumbing section re Internet Tradesmen
IMO price of job is high for the standard of workmanship. I would pursue the matter, you could go to the local Trading Standards they may help and give advice.
"Word of Mouth" Tradesmen are the best, ask in your Local Decorating Suppliers ( not DIY Stores) for names of reliable decorators builders etc, get at least three estimates for comparison .
There is a similar thread running in Plumbing section re Internet Tradesmen
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Well this is the trouble he is trading standards approved and to be fair, I also think a lot of his reviews on checka trade probably are genuine to be fair.
The trouble is people have different standards, I certainly do which is the reason I have a problem with his work, i can paint and In my opinion im pretty darn good at it, but my thought has always been a professional decorator can do what I can do but with probably much easier methods and can achieve more, alot quicker than what I can. say cutting in for instance. Anyone can do anything they set their mind to it just takes a lot longer for the mere mortal if your not trained and or experienced in doing something.
Everyone can paint, but not everyone can make it look neat and fault free.
I think some in this thread has summed it up, he is clearly not a decorator just a DIY-er, for a lot of people asking for his service (on checkatrade for instance), it's probably more than acceptable if they literally cannot paint and decorate! They'll probably know no different, but as I mentioned in the beginning the only reason I decided to go for a decorator is purely time, I have another room waiting to be decorated (just been plastered) that I need to get done in the next 5 weeks, as have all new furniture arriving and want it delivered straight in to a nice newly decorated room.
The shame is, in future I probably wont trust a decorator to do this type of work again, as some one said sometimes if you want something done right do it yourself. No disrespect is meant to other decorators as I'm sure theres plenty that are perfectionists.
I have spoken with the guy it has got a bit ****ty because I'm sure he thinks I'm just being over critical, he has sorted some of the issues but still not quite how I want it, so once hes gone il be finishing it off myself!
The trouble is people have different standards, I certainly do which is the reason I have a problem with his work, i can paint and In my opinion im pretty darn good at it, but my thought has always been a professional decorator can do what I can do but with probably much easier methods and can achieve more, alot quicker than what I can. say cutting in for instance. Anyone can do anything they set their mind to it just takes a lot longer for the mere mortal if your not trained and or experienced in doing something.
Everyone can paint, but not everyone can make it look neat and fault free.
I think some in this thread has summed it up, he is clearly not a decorator just a DIY-er, for a lot of people asking for his service (on checkatrade for instance), it's probably more than acceptable if they literally cannot paint and decorate! They'll probably know no different, but as I mentioned in the beginning the only reason I decided to go for a decorator is purely time, I have another room waiting to be decorated (just been plastered) that I need to get done in the next 5 weeks, as have all new furniture arriving and want it delivered straight in to a nice newly decorated room.
The shame is, in future I probably wont trust a decorator to do this type of work again, as some one said sometimes if you want something done right do it yourself. No disrespect is meant to other decorators as I'm sure theres plenty that are perfectionists.
I have spoken with the guy it has got a bit ****ty because I'm sure he thinks I'm just being over critical, he has sorted some of the issues but still not quite how I want it, so once hes gone il be finishing it off myself!
I may be wrong, I often am...
I believe that site is Trading Standards approved rather than the tradesmen.
With regards to reviews, I would imagine that most are from genuine customers. As you suggested, some people do not understand what a decent quality of finish entails.
By way of an example, although I am a professional decorator, my other half decided that she wasn't willing to wait for me to repaint our hallway. She used one of those finda trader type sites. The bloke lived locally, he had 5 star reviews. He turned up with one grade of sandpaper, no sander, no dust extractor. Once he had painted the walls, the emulsion felt like someone had added sand to it.
She gave a 5 star review, paid him and then asked me to repaint the whole hallway.
It took him 5 days to do a job that should have taken 3.5 days. I spent in excess of three days sanding back his paint work in an attempt to get the walls and woodwork back to the state that they were in before he turned up.
He was clearly a contractor decorator that is used to painting warehouses and office blocks. The kind of work where if the spec says apply two coats of emulsion, that is all you do, you don't care how it feels.
Possibly the worst possible place to find anyone to do a job. Usually the photos of work done will have been copied and pasted from a professionals web site, bad reviews are deleted and the 'tradesman' pays to be listed on the sites - site also has a vested interest in them being listed, no matter how bad a 'tradesman'. The sites do not carry out any checks on them and its pointless complaining about poor work done, to the site owners. They will just wash their hands of problems. Anyone can be listed and claim to be reputable tradesman.
Decorating is one of those easy jobs to get into, no qualifications needed, anyone can do it, but it takes real skill to do it properly.
Checkatrade is an awful place.
Some tradesmen pester their clients to leave good feedback before the job is complete.
Some tradesmen pester their clients to leave good feedback before the job is complete.
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