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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

WIBU to not pay the full amount quoted?

23 replies

PleaseLetItBeNapTime · 22/12/2019 08:01

I’ve got a decorator in to wallpaper my hallway. He’s done lots of work for a friend who recommended him to me, and having seen his work in her home I had no doubts about his ability to get my hallway done to a decent standard - unfortunately I was wrong.

The work isn't of the standard I’d expect for a professional decorator to say the least. Honestly, I could have done better myself and the only reason that I didn’t attempt it is because we’ve got really high ceilings over our stairs and I didn’t fancy trying to rent one of those stair ladder platform things.

So, he’s not put lining paper on random parts of the wall, so now the wallpaper is on there’s lots of places where there are horizontal lines; there’s random creases in the wallpaper; there’s places where there’s small gaps between the pieces of wallpaper; bits that are lifting.

Not only do I have a problem with his work, but he’s been a bit disrespectful in my home -leaving chewing gum on the floor, leaving my sons bedroom floor literally covered in wallpaper paste as he couldn’t be bothered to put a dust sheet down.

The job was supposed to be finished in two and a half days, however it’s been three days and it’s not finished. He hasn’t actually worked what is consider to be a full day since he started. When he left on Friday I was at work and my husband said he something along the lines of “I can’t do this anymore”, as he’d basically over exerted himself being on a ladder and that he’d be in contact with me about coming back this week, however he hasn’t.

The only mitigating factor is that when I went to check on him during a fit of swearing on the second day, he told me that he thought he was having a heart attack but he thinks he just pulled something, so he’s not been at his physical peek.

Due to how shoddy the work is, WIBU not to pay him the full amount quoted? He’s asking for £300. I don’t even know how much I’d give him instead.

OP posts:

Dinosaurrawr · 22/12/2019 08:04

Of course you’re not being unreasonable. If the work hasn’t been completed to the agreed standard he should be paying for you to have it put right. Get someone else in for a quote to correct it and take it from there.

Patchworksack · 22/12/2019 08:06

You don't pay him anything until the job is completed to a professional standard.

Moondancer73 · 22/12/2019 08:08

To be honest if the work isn't completed and is that bad I wouldn't pay him anything. I'd take photos of his handiwork and when he contacts you I'd send him the photos and explain why you're not paying him, leave a review on either his page or website or a trader site and find someone else

Brakebackcyclebot · 22/12/2019 08:14

I wouldn't pay at all until donr properly.

I also think £300 for all that is ridiculously low though and I would have questioned his business sense at that level of quote!

RhymingRabbit3 · 22/12/2019 08:17

I wouldn't pay anything until he has finished the work and cleared up what he did wrong in the first place (as well as the chewing gum and wallpaper paste).

longearedbat · 22/12/2019 08:17

TBH if he is only charging £300 (for 3 days), that is not exactly a professional decorators rate, which implies it is more of a 'bit of cash in hand for xmas' job rather than a time served decorator. You get what you pay for really. Even so, it sounds like the work will have to be done again. I would pay him a proportion (say half), explain why and tell him not to bother to come back. What's the point if you are going to have to get someone else to do it again?

Original poster

PleaseLetItBeNapTime · 22/12/2019 08:19

Thank you all.

Here are just a few pictures to show you what I mean, and there are several more that I could upload.

I guess I'll be finding a new decorator in the new year. Thankfully I bought surplus wallpaper so I am hoping there's enough spare to rectify the worst of the issues.

OP posts:

Original poster

PleaseLetItBeNapTime · 22/12/2019 08:22

In terms of it being a low quote, he was supposed to be just wallpapering above a dado rail, so it wasn't a massive surface area to begin with and he charges a day rate. We're also in the north if that makes a difference.

OP posts:

Sweetpeach3 · 22/12/2019 08:24

Been here

Still going through it
My decorator paparred one wall (ripped the paper doing it) said it wasn't his fault but he wasn't coming back to do the other stair case
This was all last week
He did things like say he had hip home for something- left paint treys out an paste etc and didn't come back. This left me fuming!!!! I pulled him up on this I ain't paying him to go home every 5mins to take his kids places that are 25+ and to leave me clean his shit up.
So we just Refused to pay him until it was up to our standard and finished like we agreed and he stopped being lazy
He came back the next day and did it and he apologised and that was it

So I'd have a word with him that your not happy and your not guna pay until he does if he doesn't wana do it you'll happily pay him £50 but that's it as you need to rebuy the materials and get someone else out at this time of year! Xx

Original poster

PleaseLetItBeNapTime · 22/12/2019 08:45

@Sweetpeach3 - oh wow he was definitely taking the p! I'm glad his attitude changed after your talk with him though.

I'm conflicted about whether to try and have a chat with my decorator - but honestly based on what he's done I don't even know if he's capable of doing any better.

I can see that what he's got left to do will to the same way too, as he's overlapped lining paper and left other random gaps. if he does get in touch with me, I might to give him the opportunity to make good what he's already messed up and then if he can't/ won't then it'll be £50 and a see you later.

OP posts:

Instagrump · 22/12/2019 08:59

You need to stop him and tell him before he does any more. He will know he's done a shitty job but is relying on you being too "Britishly polite" and non-confrontational to say anything. He's expecting you to pay up and quietly seethe about it for the next decade instead.

FIL insisted on us using a family friend's DH to do our new place. He was charging £10 an hour and spent most of the day chatting on his phone. We're talking 1hr+ conversations every half hour! It took him a full day to paper two small walls. I also noticed he was cutting over a foot off the top and another foot off the bottom of each strip. It wasn't pattern match either! At the end of each day I was throwing two bin bags full of wasted expensive paper. I kept telling FIL to get rid but he was really pushy about it (even though we were paying) and it was threatening a family fall out. I sacked him myself with a flimsy excuse after I got sick of him yelling out the windows of our brand new place. He'd see a friend walking by and screech out the window, "OI OI GAZ! SKIVING OFF WORK AGAIN YA LAZY BASTARD!?!", "OI JIMBO! RUN FASTER YA FAT FUCKER! HA HA HA!"
Or similar lovely sentences. God knows what our neighbours thought of us.

Greyhound22 · 22/12/2019 08:59

God it's awful OP - I think you need to talk to him though and tell him you're not happy and what does he plan to do about it?

MotorwayDiva · 22/12/2019 09:02

My decorator in the North is a bit more than that daily, but works quickly and efficiently. Honestly I was amazed how much he would get done in a day. So I don't think you decorater was necessarily cheap depending on if city or more rural north

ohprettybaby · 22/12/2019 09:16

Pay him nothing if the work is sub-standard. The type of things he has done wrong suggests he had no idea what he is doing.
Sack him. Get someone else in to re-do.

Why would you even consider giving him anything?

Instatwat · 22/12/2019 09:56

Do you really need MN to tell you the answer to this?! Why are you considering letting him back into your home to do more (bad) work? Tell him he is no longer required and can take it up with a solicitor if he wants his cash. In the meantime, take lots of photos and get an actual decorator in to fix his mistakes, and document where the first guy went wrong.

Moondancer73 · 22/12/2019 13:33

That is awful! I'd be displeased if I'd done that let alone if I was paying someone so you certainly shouldn't be paying him

DrManhattan · 22/12/2019 13:41

Pay nothing. Text him and say you dont need him to come back. Get someone else to sort it.

YappityYapYap · 22/12/2019 13:48

Don't pay anything until the job is done right. If he wants paid, he will have to correct the work so far and finish the job. £300 actually isn't that low. It works out at about £20 an hour. Most self employed painters and decorators will charge around £20-£30 an hour. It's not quite the skill or qualification level of an electrician or plumber for example that will charge a lot more

20viona · 22/12/2019 13:55

That is shocking do not pay a penny.

Minky35 · 22/12/2019 14:05

Really poor for a professional- I wouldn’t want to pay anything for that. He should cover the cost of putting it right in my opinion.

WaggleWiggle · 22/12/2019 17:14

That really is a crap job. I’d pay him nothing until it’s rectified.

Original poster

PleaseLetItBeNapTime · 23/12/2019 00:07

Thanks everyone. Guess who I bumped into in Asda doing Christmas food shopping? The shoddy decorator! I hid down the veg aisle!

@Instatwat - yes I did want some advice as I've never been in this predicament before - this is our first house and my husband is the most chilled man in the world and acted as though I was over reacting as we're planning on selling soon anyway.

OP posts:

Grumpelstilskin · 23/12/2019 00:18

Don't pay anything. This is unacceptable and will cost you more to put right. Depending on his attitude, I might give him one more chance to put things right but deduct money for extra wallpaper. If not, not a penny. Keep all messages etc and sit tight.

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