Advice for painting work

last year

We recently asked a tradesperson to freshen up our holiday let, it’s a 2 bed flat, we were quoted a price for the flat which included walls, ceilings and woodwork.
The week of the work myself and partner ended up being at the flat every day after and during our work to help paint. The end of the week saw us pull a 20 hour day to turn the flat around. We did all the woodwork and the work carried out by the tradesperson is poor. My question is do we pay this person - we received an invoice after the work which was £300 higher than the original quoted price. I’ve attached photos of some of the areas of work. Let me know what you would do.

To further the stress it turns out the said person removed a socket in the living room and didn’t isolate the wires meaning we’ve had to call out an electrician who was furious at the work done. (See photos)
*it should be noted the tradesperson is a friend of our parents.

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Comments (6)

User
last year
Personally I feel that many so called 'professional' painters and decorators are not very professional, so I prefer to do it myself. Maybe I'm biased because my dad was a professional painter and decorator having served a 7 year apprenticeship after leaving school at 14 (as was common back then).
Daisy England
last year
last modified: last year
You’re in a difficult situation with the tradesperson being a friend of your parents but regardless l would be far from happy with it. It looks like it needs another coat. A quotation is a quotation and that is the price the invoice should have been for unless you agreed to additonal work being carried out. Regarding your additional price for his error relating to the electrical work l would query this.

I would explain that the invoice was for more than you agreed the price to be carried out for plus the work was unsatisfactory, you personally had to do some of the work which normally you would expect to be deducted from the original cost because he had not carried it out and also mention the additional cost incurred by the electrician.

Put it in writing whether by hard copy or email so you have a copy. Hopefully he will negotiate with you.
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Sonia
last year
People think it takes no skill to be a painter and decorator, but of course the opposite is true. He obviously isn’t a true tradesperson, but you weren’t to know. I wouldn’t pay him the extra £300 and explain why, and put it down to experience.
PRO
Urvission Interiors
last year
Hi Kirsty M,

This is quite an unpleasant situation. My advice is don't pay this painter. As I can see from the pictures, he didn't do the work, so.....
Kirsty M
Original Author
last year
Thanks for all the advice, we have gone back and forth with whether to pay the quoted amount, less or nothing. After the issue with the electrics and being able to see the poor quality in the rooms we are swaying towards a lesser amount than the quoted figure. We will definitely put it down to experience and not be using family friends again - it’s not even like we got a “Mates rate”!
PRO
Caldicot Kitchen & Bathroom Centre
last year
Kirsty, if I might chip in - while it certainly looks as though the painting is not yet to an acceptable standard, I would always advocating giving the tradesman ample opportunity to put the work right. With painting in particular, it is all to easy to miss the odd "streak" or mark - especially if the paint is still drying or in different light conditions/times of the day.

As to expecting extra - that rather depends on whether it was a fixed quote or estimate, and whether you have required extra materials or work to be carried out.

The electrical wiring is certainly unacceptable, but God knows why the chap didn't use the little reusable isolating clips that all our teams have on their vans for just such eventualities.

Hopefully you can find an amicable resolution.

Advice for painting work

Comments (6)

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Daisy England

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Advice for painting work

Comments (6)

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