...to complain to our plasterer for this work? *pics included*

[Olivia789]

Spent £600 getting our hall, stairs and landing replastered.
1 week in and there were many cracks, even he agreed they were not typical drying cracks and the plaster had actually blown (could hear it).
This weekend he returned and spent all day cutting out the blown bits, filling, taping and reskimming.
I am so unhappy, the overall finish initially was good except the cracks which appeared. Lovely smooth plaster. Now there's just imperfections everywhere. I am also worried that patches of the wall seem really shiny making me wonder if the paint will ever take?
Dh is a huge avoider of confrontation and thinks he should just give up his weekend and sand it all. I think we should complain again.
Any opinions please?

It’s like he’s been icing a cake. 😬

@AppleDolphin

I'd send him the pics you've posted here and just ask him to fix it. Message a shit sandwich.

You could start by saying how lovely the rest of the plastering is but this bit isn't right. Thanks again for the great job and when will he be able to come and to sort it.

Job done!

Love a shit sandwich 🤣 I think I will go down this route! Thank you

@AppleDolphin

I'd send him the pics you've posted here and just ask him to fix it. Message a shit sandwich.

You could start by saying how lovely the rest of the plastering is but this bit isn't right. Thanks again for the great job and when will he be able to come and to sort it.

Job done!

That is an excellent trick. Shit sandwich. 👍🏻

@Incywincyspinsters

It’s like he’s been icing a cake. 😬

Insulting to many cake makers haha

Another who thinks it is incredibly cheap. I have just had my kitchen replastered and it was over £700, but very professional finish. Did plasterer do your job “on the side”?

I am also worried that patches of the wall seem really shiny making me wonder if the paint will ever take?

I'd expect that from a good finish! A light sand, then seal with watered down emulsion and you're good to go.

As far as the messy bits go - a decent sheet sander would sort them out VERY quickly and easily.

I seem to remember someone saying that their plasterer OH was the one who iced the cakes. Makes sense.

Just saw that you paid cash, no invoice. This is always a risk you take when you get work done “on the side,” less comeback than when job going through the books! Probably not a lot you can do in this case.

I don't think £600 is very cheap, landing and stairs and tiny hall, 1-2 days work, it's only skimming and it's shocking!

Another who doesn’t think it’s that cheap, also north of England and we paid £180 for a double bedroom and ceiling with a very good finish.
But yes complain because that isn’t well done

You really must complain, that is horrific. You should not have to sand post plastering!

We employed a mate’s partner to tile. He put tiles on at an angle, literally sticking out. Then he blamed us for not plastering over the uneven surface first. Yeah, all my fault, mate. Sacked him after telling him we weren’t paying him a penny. Thank god he’d only done half, which we had to prise off.

I don't care how cheap it is, you don't pay any money for an awful job like that. It looks like my 4 year old did it with her eyes closed. Definitely get him back to sort it out.

You really need to complain that's horrendous.

Our good friend has recently plastered our stairs & landing and only asked for £600 when normally he'd charge double - his work is fantastic so that shows you the real cost of it.

You can't even blame the person who boarded it because it looks like he's applied it with his bare hands.

I think you need to take this further if they don't rectify it.

You’ve paid cash and had no invoice or receipt = that job ain’t going through his books, it’s totally off the records.

If plaster is super shiny it’s been over polished and needs sanding back or even with a mist coat, paint isn’t going to adhere correctly. Shiny plaster is not good plaster if you’re wanting to paint it.

He definitely needs to come back to correct but as I said earlier, it’s not a proper through the books job by the sound of it, so he has no reason to need to return as officially you don’t exist so to speak. A really good decorator will be able to fix this as long as they have a dustless sanding set up as that’s what those walls need. You will pay for it but they will make it look amazing.

We sanded some rough plaster once and it was a complete mistake, it would have looked less of a mess if we'd not done it, I can still see the rough marks where we rubbed it down, couldn't see them until we painted then they just kind of swelled into almost artex swirls. You need this to be rectified by plasterers, don't try and fix it with sandpaper

Disgraceful work sounds like a cowboy builder! Complain but if you've paid I doubt they'll come and correct it inless bothered by their reputation

Having said that I'd agree that £600 is v cheap we paid nearly £2000 for the hallyway, stairs and landing including the ceilings but it was solid wet plaster from brick.

Complaint sent 😬 wish me luck! And thank you for all of the advice.

Shit sandwich?

@AppleDolphin yes!
Along the lines of..
We are really grateful he came back to fix the cracks on his weekend off, however we are unimpressed now with the finish and want him to fix it. And then we will happily use him for all our other work as we have always been happy with his work prior to this.

That last bit will not be true though!

Keep calling him back to fix it. If he tells you to sand it, tell him to come and do it. He's been paid to complete the job

Shocking! My DH (not a plasterer by any stretch!) is plastering our walls atm and has done much better work than that!

It's crap. Husband and various of his family members are plasterers. You don't need to sand shiny plaster - my husband leaves walls like glass and there's no problem with paint adhering. If a good job has been done you really shouldn't have to sand it at all. What you've got is rubbish.

You say he's done good work before but - and I don't mean to be rude or patronising - do you really know what good plastering looks like? I say this because, knowing he's a plasterer, we've often had people tell my husband and I what a good job their plasterer has done and when they smugly show it off we're slack jawed with horror because quite often it's rubbish but people can't see it because they don't have any better experience with which to compare.

My husband would never leave work that looks like that. No self-respecting plasterer would.