Hi all.
We've just had some decorating work done - basically skimming and painting a couple of rooms and a bit of tiling. We're both pretty appalled at the quality of the work, and although the chap involved is a very nice guy - considering he's spent around 19 days doing it we think the results are unacceptable. I got him back in to discuss the issues and he says he prides himself on his cutting in and he's never had any complaints before. I kept telling him that I could (and have done in another room) a lot better myself and I'm not supposed to be a professional. He has offered to come back and spend another two days addressing the issues, but I have no confidence in him - if he couldn't get it right in 19 days why will he suddenly be able to now?
Also I suspect that some of the issues (such as blisters or patches where the undercoat is showing through) can't just be "patched up" - when I did our dining room a while back every time I found something that needed sorting I basically had to roller the entire wall again or else the patches would look pretty obvious.
In terms of cutting in he kept saying "if you really want me to come back with a fine artist's brush I can touch those areas up" - seems like madness to me. Whenever I've done it I haven't needed to use a flipping artist's brush - just us a normal brush (or a cutting in brush) and after a bit of practice you just.... well you just do it. Straight. And if you accidentally go across the line, you wipe it off and do that bit again!
I'm especially annoyed since some of these walls were freshly plastered as part of the job (by a plasterer he knows) and so I would have expected the finish on those walls to be, well, perfect.
You can see the photos here: http://bmhphotos.imgur.com/all/
There are quite a few but worth looking at them all since some of them are fairly trivial but some are (IMHO) appalling.
I would be very interested in hearing a few opinions (especially of course from professionals) as to whether or not
a) This is an acceptable standard of work for a professional decorator
b) It can be fixed piecemeal by touching up / patching etc or whether we will need someone to start the whole things again to get the best possible finish.
c) Is there any sort of independent assessment I can get done which would carry some weight in legal proceedings, especially if the verdict is that the whole thing needs to be done again from scratch to get the same result as if it had been done properly the first time
Thanks in advance. A headache we really didn't need.
We've just had some decorating work done - basically skimming and painting a couple of rooms and a bit of tiling. We're both pretty appalled at the quality of the work, and although the chap involved is a very nice guy - considering he's spent around 19 days doing it we think the results are unacceptable. I got him back in to discuss the issues and he says he prides himself on his cutting in and he's never had any complaints before. I kept telling him that I could (and have done in another room) a lot better myself and I'm not supposed to be a professional. He has offered to come back and spend another two days addressing the issues, but I have no confidence in him - if he couldn't get it right in 19 days why will he suddenly be able to now?
Also I suspect that some of the issues (such as blisters or patches where the undercoat is showing through) can't just be "patched up" - when I did our dining room a while back every time I found something that needed sorting I basically had to roller the entire wall again or else the patches would look pretty obvious.
In terms of cutting in he kept saying "if you really want me to come back with a fine artist's brush I can touch those areas up" - seems like madness to me. Whenever I've done it I haven't needed to use a flipping artist's brush - just us a normal brush (or a cutting in brush) and after a bit of practice you just.... well you just do it. Straight. And if you accidentally go across the line, you wipe it off and do that bit again!
I'm especially annoyed since some of these walls were freshly plastered as part of the job (by a plasterer he knows) and so I would have expected the finish on those walls to be, well, perfect.
You can see the photos here: http://bmhphotos.imgur.com/all/
There are quite a few but worth looking at them all since some of them are fairly trivial but some are (IMHO) appalling.
I would be very interested in hearing a few opinions (especially of course from professionals) as to whether or not
a) This is an acceptable standard of work for a professional decorator
b) It can be fixed piecemeal by touching up / patching etc or whether we will need someone to start the whole things again to get the best possible finish.
c) Is there any sort of independent assessment I can get done which would carry some weight in legal proceedings, especially if the verdict is that the whole thing needs to be done again from scratch to get the same result as if it had been done properly the first time
Thanks in advance. A headache we really didn't need.