Decorator Drama - what do I do now??

[BillieTheFish]

I'll start by saying my house is very small, a 2 up 2 down town house with a kitchen and sitting room downstairs, open plan, then stairs and a landing, bathroom and bedroom.

Sorry too this is long.

I organised a decorator to come and do a recce. He saw the house and went away and gave a quote, I said fine and he arranged a date. I accidentally put the date on the calendar incorrectly though as 25/04 not 22/04. The guy messaged me on the weekend to ask if it was OK for Monday, and I said yes.

I have moved here from a 3-bed detached with garage and have a lot of stuff still to sort through. I'm not in at all very much because of being at work and I do long hours. I also can't reach things well (v.short) and so I thought fast and messaged the guy saying that it would be best if he started with the bathroom landing stairwell etc (including over 25 spindles and banister, insides of the stairs etc). The internal doors are composite so only skirting and door frames need painting plus of course the ceilings.

I had cleared the stairs and stairwell and rubbed down the paintwork in advance. I didn't expect him to touch the kitchen or sitting room yesterday. The bedroom would be done later in the week. I was sourcing my own paint for that.

I planned to work from home today - I couldn't yesterday - and would have helped him move things.

He turned up yesterday and then messaged me that he couldn't do any work because I had not moved things out of the bathroom. The things were a bin, a laundry hamper, a towel rail and a bathroom mat. AIBU to think he could have simply put them on the landing? I'd forgotten to move some toiletries off the surface but I thought he could have put a dust sheet over them, he said he couldn't.

The bathroom only required ceiling, ONE skirting board and the door surround painting, it is fully tiled. Well it is a shower room, there isn't a bath.

I said I would have a look when I got home (I'd left him copious notes, explaining I wouldn't be there, and already texted him that anyway and explained I would wfh today ie Tuesday to help him move things about).

He then came back and said he had moved another job forward to today so he couldn't do it anyway and he would come back to me with another date.

He came recommended from three lots of people who have had him and his work is v.good. I told one of my friends this and she said he insisted on her moving everything out of the room so he has a totally empty room. He didn't tell me that and it's impossible anyway as I don't have anywhere to move things to, only in the middle of each room.

What should I do now?

a. Message him and apologise and arrange another date
b. Do nothing and see if he contacts me
c. Buy the paint and do it myself. I could do this but it would take forever and I can't manage the stairwell or ceilings, I have a phobia of heights.

I feel absolutely terrible. I feel like an idiot and that he thinks I am ridiculous and stupid and an awful person.

WWYD??

It probably would have been better to ring him and say you'd mixed up the dates and discuss a re-scheduling.

Ring him, apologise and re-arrange. If he doesn't answer or doesn't get back to you then find someone. Irrelevant what he said to someone else about clearing rooms completely (though weird).

He did message me afterwards and said that he would have to rearrange as he had pulled someone else's job forward to fill the gap, which made me think he CBA to do it now and was fobbing me off.

I'd cut your losses and find someone else.

Putting aside whether you should have moved a bin or shampoo bottle, he's clearly being a bit 'tricky' and your relationship isn't getting off to the best start.

I wouldn't go any further down this road. Consider it a warning of what may be to come and find someone else

I could do that. I did think of it. But I still won't be able to clear all the rooms in advance.

Can you add that as there hadn't been any discussion about rooms being completely empty you had assumed things placed in the centre would be fine. Could he please clarify if this is the case before rescheduling as there is nowhere else for you to store your belongings. Unless he replies with somehting encouraging, maybe just go with someone else

The decorator hasn't asked the OP to clear the rooms though, this is just what your her has said she had to do. Did he view the job before you'd moved in?

If he's incapable of moving a couple of items out of the shower room that doesn't bode well. I also don't understand why a professional wouldn't prep the woodwork on the stairs himself.

@NigelHarmansNewWife No, I had all the stuff inside when he came and he never asked me to clear anything. The loft is already full so I can't put things in there. I have a kitchen with a (movable) dresser, a sitting room with sofa, chair, wall unit, two cabinets (all movable into the centre of the room), and the bedroom with obviously the bed and a dressing table plus cabinet and fitted wardrobes. It can be decorated/painted around. I don't want wallpaper, just the walls painting.

There are boxes with things in yes but I would have been home and moved them for/with him (I can't move the furniture really) but he never mentioned that I should empty the room before he started. He said on the texts (I was at work when the conversation took place):

"Sorry Billie but I can't work with all your belongings around like this. I can't even put dust sheets in the bathroom without having to move everything. Sorry."

I told him that I could move things out of the bathroom when I got home. He could have moved those himself to be fair, would have taken him two minutes.

"I understand there's not much room to put things but I didn't expect it to be like that. It's open plan so I need clear funs for ceilings or they will be streaky when they dry."

I think he means that if he for example moved the wall unit, painted the ceiling above the wall unit, then put it back and moved along and painted the rest, that it wouldn't match up. Perhaps, I don't know.

When he came to view and give a quote he didn't say anything about having to empty the rooms.

Text back, 'Sorry didn't realize how difficult it was to work around my things. I don't think this is going to work out so let's leave it. Take care.'
And then move on. Just do it yourself, got a mate to help (take her out for a fancy meal) and make a weekend of it. It can actually be quite fun.

Op you’re listing the things in the bathroom like it was just a few easy objects that you’d forgotten about, but it was actually literally everything, wasn’t it? It’ll be a job in itself just moving the toiletries out of my bathroom, let alone the towels/rails/mats/laundry baskets/whatever else is there. He’s not turned up to a job and then decided to piss his own schedule around, leave without paying and bring another job forward just because he didn’t want to move a few objects. There was clearly a lot of clutter, limited places to move them to, and he’s decided your job was such a pain in the arse that he’d rather reschedule for when you’re actually there and prepared for him. He’s had to dick his own schedule about as well as yours, he’s not done that for fun