is this really the work of a professional decorator

[dextrous]

If i may, pic no. P1010360 shows a wall that looks like its been plastered by Stevie Wonder! If that was the level of craftsmanship your palsterers were capable of then i'd be more concernced about that.

True it could have been better in parts, but I've yet to see a plastered wall that's perfectly finished. That's partly the purpose of a mist coat, to identify any rough spots to enable fine-fill and rubbing smooth.

I'd say that's usually cos you've HAD a shoddy plasterer in the 1st place.
And i agree its what i'd use the mist-coat for when i plaster, but with pro's its nearly always spot on, with the mist-coat then being applied with its proper purpose in mind......moisture fixing.

Have only seen the results of 20 or so different pro's finishes in my time in different customers houses, only one of which required no further work. That's a lot of shoddy plasterers then!

 

[kjacko]

Ok mate, seeing as your provocatively picking apart every word i said and not really getting that i was kind of generalising, i'll retract what i said somewhat and re-word it.

A decent plasterer should leave you with the bare minimum to do, certainly NOT the amount the OP had to do.

I haven't seen as many job as you have, but i've had plasterers in my house and at work, and their work was spot on, requiring hardly any additional prepping other than the mistcoat (is it 'miss' or 'mist' ?)
My extension walls were skimmed out by a plasterer who learned his trade in 2 weekend courses. Apart from wiping the walls with a damp cloth to remove surface dust, i didn't have to do any rubbing down or filling at all. Honestly, not one bit. I just caulked the edges and miscoated.

So, our experiences differ, but good plasterers are out there, maybe i've just been lucky enough to have ones that are very good.

 

[Alastairreid]

Have only seen the results of 20 or so different pro's finishes in my time in different customers houses, only one of which required no further work. That's a lot of shoddy plasterers then!

yeah 19 shoddy plasterers

 

[dextrous]

Ok mate, seeing as your provocatively picking apart every word i said and not really getting that i was kind of generalising, i'll retract what i said somewhat and re-word it.

Not trying to be provocative at all. Just my experience. You are totally right in that a decent plasterer should leave it spot on for finish - I'm just stating that I've rarely ever known it to be the case. It's a decorator's job to prepare the surfaces for the finish, and altough some of the walls you refer to would require more than expected work to be carried out to get it right, the decorator in question should have taken account of this in his quote.

I think the op has been unlucky with his plasterers (like the 19 or so that I've seen!), and maybe it's me who has an incorrect view of what plasterers realistically achieve based on this evidence.

We don't know how many quotes he had for this. Nor do we know how many quotes he had for a decorator. It may be the case that he didn't go with the cheapest and thus expected a good finish - I'm pretty sure I would if I had spent all that time, money and effort over a period of months.

You are spot on in your analysis of how the paint should be applied around the sockets etc - it really is common sense after all, and it's worrying that an alleged pro has made such a complete hash of it all and wants to blame the paint.

 

[Deccy]

No excuse for that kind of work, are you sure he's a proper deccy? Any self-respecting good decorator would not leave that like it is. Tell him to thin the paint a little that will help with those horrendous brush/roller marks, and get some decent kit to put it on with! If I were you I would finish him and not let him carry on. I must say though that for the work you mentioned, £1000 is cheap, that's probably why it looks like it does. ''Pay peanuts get monkeys''. Still no excuse for shoddy work though.