Ready to hire?

Post your job in minutes, browse real reviews and choose who to speak to.Post a job

Need some tips or advice?

Painting & Decorating

Who is liable if a job goes wrong?

Anonymous user 23/02/2024 - 2.59 PM

Hi there I'm hoping to get some opinions from decorators. I found a decorator that came recommended (not through this site) and has very good reviews. He quoted a price for painting of the hall, stairs and landing. I had existing white / plain slightly textured wallpaper everywhere, and used Dulux Light and Space paint. He knew this in advance. As the job progressed it became apparent that something was wrong - the coverage was very bad indeed, with highly visible patchy differences everywhere. Four coats of paint and seven days later and it is still exactly the same. Decorator believes it is because of the type of paint going onto the textured wallpaper and that "he has never seen this happen before". He's now said the best option is to rip it all off and start from scratch - just fitting new textured lining paper, no paint on top. This will take another 7 days. My question is - who is liable for all this cost? He already wants to charge me for two days extra work than the 7 he was supposed to take, without the extra charge for taking it all over and re-papering. I've already forked out a fortune in paint for the 4 coats, as you can imagine. It's a very difficult, awkward conversation but I feel that at least some of the responsibility lies with the decorator to be able to tell what will or won't work. Any opinions on how I can handle this? Thank you very much for any advice you have! Gill Walmsley

Are you a tradesperson and able to answer this question?

4 Answers

Proctor Decorating

Rating: 5 out of 5

Bridlington

A good decorator should know what to , I would not pay him and go out and get someone else to do the work . He must be not very experience and using cheap retail paint is going to lead to problems. This is his problem not yours .

Answered6 November 2015

Grant's Decorating

Rating: 5 out of 5

Arbroath

The responsibility lies fully with the decorators. The type of paint is not to blame neither is the anaglypta used. It sound like a case of bad preparation and application of material. Do not rip paper off and start again but simply get a quote from a decorator to rectify the problem and deduct this from the current decorators price. As mentioned before this decorator sounds very inexperienced as ripping off the paper and starting again should never even have been mentioned, a good decorator will know how to overcome all decorating problems.

Answered12 November 2015

Anonymous user

If the decorator used retail Light and Space (from B&Q or similar) then I am not surprised. Light and Space is notoriously bad for opacity and often needs many coats. You can get it mixed in the dulux trade equivalent which is better quality than off the shelf paint but depending on the original colour of the wall and the new colour can often need more than two coats. This is one reason WE NEVER EVERY buy paint from DIY stores and only use trade quality paints. Finally, the patches could be caused by the light reflecting off the walls along with the texture of the wallpaper. Is the area light sensitive, ie large windows flooding the walls, especially the wall running adjacent to the stairs?

Answered23 November 2015

Darren's Decor

Rating: 5 out of 5

Bellshill

Tricky situation. I agree with the post mentioning how inadequate the covering power of domestic wholesale paints are. I actually dread it when a client says they will supply their own paint, because you just don't know what they are going to have waiting for you when you come to start the job. I myself have been in the situation where more coats than should have been needed, have been required due to this, but I always inform my customers from the beginning that my price is for 2 coats to walls, and if any further coats are required then the price will need to be adjusted accordingly. I don't understand though why he wants to strip it and start from scratch, a good tradesmen would realise when applying the 1st coat that the paint had no covering power, especially if it was that bad, and would advise the client to this at an early stage. I have mentioned this to clients in the past, and been told to carry on, which I just don't understand, why buy retail paint and pay excess on labour, when they can buy good quality trade paint, which will result in lower labour costs. It's a catch 22 I guess. I feel he should at least meet you halfway on this, as a good decorator would have noticed issues early on, and would not have just carried on. Did he paper your staircase first as well, or did he just do the painting? If so, it must be some size of staircase to take 7 days plus an additional 2 just to do the paintwork.

Answered27 November 2015