Which decorator to go for?

[freefriday]

2 bed flat with lots of drill holes and a couple of cracks that need filling. Getting quotes for painting lounge, bedrooms and hall. Down to a short list of 2 but not sure which one. Price is the same for both.
Decorator 1: 1 person company. Lots of good reviews on my builder.com. Very friendly and polite and seemed like the kind of guy I could work with. Has some decorating qualifications from years ago.
Decorator 2: 2 person company. Also has good reviews on my builder. When he came round to do the quote he spent more time than decorator 1 identifying bits that needed fixing, including spotting a small bit of blown plaster. A nice guy but didn't seem as easy to get on with as builder 1 (less willing to listen to what I wanted although did make suggestions which would reduce cost).
Which should I choose? I think the crux of it is: I think decorator 1 would do a good job and would listen to what I wanted, decorator 2 might pick up any underlying issues that I haven't noticed but I would need to be more assertive (which I'm not) with him. Need to make a decision today.

Sorry: extra bit: my gut says decorator 1 but my sensible head says i might, and only might, get a better job from decorator 2

Which of them will let you speak to a recent local customer and see a sample of their work?

If you are still around PigletJohn, what's your view on plastering over woodchip? When I spoke to both decorators today about adjusting the quote to take into account removing woodchip from one bedroom and then painting after possible plastering work (done by a plaster not the decorator), decorator 1 said I could just get the woodchip plastered over. The internet!! suggests that this is a no no, particularly as my walls are pretty ropey anyway, so decorator 1 may be out of the running.

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No.

Excuse thread hijack - that's interesting PigletJohn. Most of our ceilings are woodchip (1920s house) and tbh i think it was done to hold up the dodgy plaster, as obvious 'tectonic plates' are visible in the plaster above tghe woodchip. So if we were to get them replastered, we'd have to strip off the woodchip, accept that the ceiling would fall down, then replaster from scratch? I had wondered whether it would be better to leave the semi-structural woodchip in place and plaster over it... but that sounds like the Wrong Thing to Do.

(This is a minor consideration given that the roof needs to be replaced, which will likely bring the ceilings down anyway (strange design whereby some of the roof slope is in the ceilings). Just another item to add to the budget...)

Thanks PigletJohn. Today has been a big lesson in not being influenced by the niceness of the person giving the quote.