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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

decorator messed up ...wants to charge me for his mistake

64 replies

princessconsuelabannahammock · 06/07/2016 11:39

We had a guy in to repaper and paint our kitchen whilst we were on holiday. 2 weeks before we left we had him over to explain what we wanted done. I was worried i didnt have enough wallpaper as i had bought in from a clearance place - luckily i did, he calculated that i had plenty.

He has done work for us in the past and is very good and reasonably priced.

So we went on holiday, i left a note detailing everything again. He text a couple of times to clarify some points, i got back to him very quickly - within the hour.

In the box where i had the wallpaper i also had 2 rolls which are for our living room. Came home and he had done one wall in correct wallpaper and one wall in living room paper. I could have cried - it looked awful and its not moisture resistant and is next to hob.

So he came over and tried to blame me for the mistake as there were 2 types of paper in the box. I explained our discussions and said i couldnt pay him until its rectified, he reluctantly agreed to this but wants to charge me for a day to strip and repaper the wall ( its only a small wall but fiddly). I think a day rate (£150) for a 8ft section of wall with units on is unreasonable.

AIBU to not pay him as its his mistake (extra day not previously agreed sum) and if he was unsure he should have checked? Also i now dont have enough for the very expensive paper i bought for the living room.

I am happy to pay him a bit extra say £50 but not full day rate. He is good and i do want to use him again as house needs a lot of work. AIBU

OP posts:

Cleo1303 · 06/07/2016 14:55

ExtraHot That happened to me once. The decorator sent this incompetent idiot but I happened go to home at lunchtime. He was making such a mess I told him to go immediately. I had to buy an extra roll of wallpaper, and I wouldn't have dreamed of paying a penny. I got a few nasty calls from the decorator himself but just told him to take me to court if he wanted paying and I'd show pictures of the awful job.

It was so lucky I checked up. The idiot would have wasted the lot. He'd even torn it in places!!!

Original poster

princessconsuelabannahammock · 06/07/2016 14:56

its a fair size room and he painted the ceiling, double doors, one v small wall of the utility room, back door area, wood work and walls as well as wallpapering two walls. Its prob 22ft x 11ft. The other quotes were nearer £800. I will pay £400 and that includes an extra £50 for doing the downstairs loo door and woodwork - i am happy with the £400 but not an extra days rate to strip one wall which has a door way and units and an extractor van unit - so small surface area but tricky.

I was really hoping for a definitive "no dont pay him" but its about 50/50.

Paying him the day rate is the difference between me decorating our god awful bedroom or not ( we will be doing that ourselves to keep costs down). ummm

OP posts:

PuppyMonkey · 06/07/2016 14:56

Agreed, Sparkling - and I would be anally writing BIG LISTS outlining my precise instructions with bullet points. And i would probably laminate it too.

BeMorePanda · 06/07/2016 14:58

Painters/Decorators aren't usually (necessarily) creatives. So he isn't to know that a wall paper wasn't to be used in the kitchen as it wasn't moisture proof. He has probably hung many non-moisture proof papers in kitchen at the request of his clients. It is not for him to judge if a paper "goes" or not - he has probably hung many papers he thinks are completely hideous but his clients love.

Yes, though perhaps he should have checked with you, I'm sorry OP but I think this is a mess entirely of your own making. If you hadn't left those rolls in the box of materials for the decoration then he would not have made the mistake.

Clearly he didn't do this deliberately. For some reason he thought that was where the paper went. Crossed wires.

Also while it probably made sense to get the work done while you were away, it meant you weren't on hand to supervise/manage the decorations and you left him to make the decisions, based on your conversations and the materials supplied.

A mistake was made. He would not have done this deliberately. YABU.

candybar007 · 06/07/2016 14:59

Go 50/50 with him, friend is a tradesman and would charge you extra next time to recoup his money so don`t fall out with him would be advice.

Original poster

princessconsuelabannahammock · 06/07/2016 15:00

He did a good job just used the wrong paper. The two papers are like chalk and cheese, there is no way you would put them both in the same room. We run a little home business and we cant have the kitchen out of action so doing it whilst we were on holiday was essential, i would have liked to have been here. Its also one of the most heavily used rooms in our house so i wanted to splash out and have it done well first time and i can do touch ups etc and keep it nice in the longer term.

OP posts:

Sparklingbrook · 06/07/2016 15:02

Yes Puppy. There must not be any misunderstandings when having work done in your home. Bullet points are the way to go.

RubbishMantra · 06/07/2016 15:04

No way would I be paying twice for a job he did wrong.

When we moved in, there was a damp patch, included in the (huge) quote the builder gave us to renovate the house. One of the items on the quote/invoice was to remove and replace damp/mouldy patch. About 3 moths later, we noticed the paint flaking off the walls, and the same colour paint they'd been previously. They'd just painted over the mouldy bit! Yet charged us for re-plastering.

I pestered until they did the job we actually paid for, but then 2 days later, the paint started bubbling off the walls, because they hadn't left enough time for the plaster to dry before painting. I got them in again, and this time they did the job properly.

The funny thing is, they're the most "esteemed" builders in our area!

Saying that, I'd have labelled which wallpaper was to go where (but I'm an anally retentive worry-wort.)

Maybe a bit of compromise on both sides - he didn't listen properly/make notes and the lack of labelling on your behalf could be the way forward? I bought a really good bottle of wine to thank the owner of the building company for correcting the oversight. But I'd never use them again.

Original poster

princessconsuelabannahammock · 06/07/2016 15:05

I have no doubt that if he does other jobs for me, i will end up paying for this extra day. I think as its hard to get a good tradesman i am going to have to bite the bullet and go 50/50 with him. I want to keep him on good terms and he didnt do it on purpose, he did seem distraught when i pointed out his error and came straight over. What annoyed me was he insisted it was my fault and i felt if he was unsure he should have checked with me as he did with other stuff. Also it was such a large expense for me.

OP posts:

AlpacaLypse · 06/07/2016 15:06

If you were going to use two different papers, you would have discussed with him which walls were going to to have which paper. Definitely his fault.

user1467805734 · 06/07/2016 15:06

Why not take the holdiday but stay home to supervise, that what we do when getting house work done but holidays but no go anywhere so we can make sure thing are going ok, if we left them the wrong material and where not their to supervise we would know it wasour fault.

PuppyMonkey · 06/07/2016 15:06

RM - "One of the items on the quote/invoice..." you had it all in writing, so its a totally different situation.

Original poster

princessconsuelabannahammock · 06/07/2016 15:08

i am usually a bit of a list writer and love a good bullet point but time got away from me. I actually blame my DH for not putting the actual rolls on the side rather than the box! I think i will text him and see if we can come to a 50/50 agreement

OP posts:

RubbleBubble00 · 06/07/2016 15:08

I'd offer to strip the wall and pay him £100. He's very reasonably priced for the work you have had done

MumOnACornishFarm · 06/07/2016 15:11

My OH is a builder and qualified electrician and his day rate is £160 for electrical work. I appreciate it may be a regional difference but £150 for a decorater is not cheap in my book. I cannot imagine why someone thought to use 2 different papers in one kitchen? How strange. If you like him and otherwise rate his work then offer to go 50/50 with him, and if he values you as a customer he'll also be open to compromising on this.

2nds · 06/07/2016 15:18

Extrahot might have hit the nail on the head about the Apprentice suggestion.

TallGreenLamp · 06/07/2016 15:25

My dad is a decorator. If you gave him ordinary wallpaper to hang in a kicthen or bathroom he would probably refuse to do it on the grounds that the paper isn't suitable. Even if this had been the paper you wanted in your kitchen, a good tradesman would not have put it up knowing it wasn't suitable.

Mattscap · 06/07/2016 15:27

The man's an idiot. Strip the wall yourself, go on CheckaTrade, and pay someone to stick up the correct paper, 1/2 day at the most.

I wouldn't use him again anyway, the goodwill's gone.

SpidersFromMars · 06/07/2016 15:27

I'd go 50/50 - but make sure to include in that cost the expensive living room paper he wasted. If you can't replace the one he used up, you'll need to buy two, all because of his mistake.

SideOfFoot · 06/07/2016 15:31

A decorator made a similar mistake in my house once. It wasn't obvious at first and had paid before fully aware of the mistake. I blamed myself for leaving out wallpaper where a mistake could be made. I didn't get him back, my husband redid it. Although annoyed at the time, I think I should have not allowed such a mistake to happen, I never will again and feel that the blame lies with you.

EarthboundMisfit · 06/07/2016 15:35

Usually you get what you pay for with decorators, which I have learned to my cost. If one quote is massively lower, you don't want to use that person.

Not much to be done if he won't do it in his own time, but I'd pay someone else to sort it, not him.

moggle · 06/07/2016 15:36

People saying it's an understandable mistake since the papers were in the same box - I don't really agree just because if he thought you wanted two different papers, how did he know which wall to put which paper on? As you obviously didn't tell him (since you didn't want it) - surely this would have made him think, hm I don't know which wall to put each on, so he should have contacted you then...
Anyway I think if he is otherwise good I would still offer him something to rectify the mistake, and also make sure he knows that you want to use him again in the future for more work - then he will hopefully see the worth in sorting this mistake out at (mostly) his cost in order to keep a good customer.

Sparklingbrook · 06/07/2016 15:49

When he came over to discuss the job I would have shown him the wallpaper and said 'I want this wallpaper on these walls' then left just those rolls out for the decorator to use.

MaisieDotes · 06/07/2016 15:55

You didn't answer my question but anyway:

If one quote is massively lower, you don't want to use that person < this.

Also it's best to get a price for a job, rather than a day rate.

mellicauli · 06/07/2016 16:08

So he used the wrong wallpaper even though you showed it to you, even though it was of the wrong type for the room and even though there wasn't enough of it to complete the job? Although it sounds like he does know what he is doing as a decorator.

My conclusion is that he didn't do the job himself. At worst he sub-contracted it or slightly better, he got one of his guys to do it. In either case, he failed to provide proper supervision and failed to pass on your instructions.

I would be seriously cross that I trusted him and he left some random into my house to work unaccompanied while I was away. I would be even more cross that things went wrong and he lied to me about it for his own financial gain.

Your contract with him is not for a day rate, but fixed rate for completion of the job. He hasn't a leg to stand on. Frankly, I'd be asking him to refund my wallpaper money and standing over him while he finished the job.

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