Feeling cheated by my painter and decorator

[Toloveandtowork]

I'm moving to a new place and wanted it painted beforehand. A friend who does handyman work said he would do it. I agreed. He asked me to get two quotes from other painters and he would undercut them. It seemed like he was doing me a favour.

I enquired and found out the going rate is around £200 per day for a professional painter. Friend said it would take him three to four days - so £700. Friend said he'd do it for £600. Ok, great, I said. I provided all materials and paint.

So yesterday evening, he asked me to pop around to see what he'd done. When I got there he was finishing the prep for the third room and said he would have all three rooms finished in one day. So one day of work. One coat of paint.

When he saw I wasn't happy, he said, 'you know what, I was actually going to charge you only £500 as you're a friend.'

He didn't do any woodwork and I wanted the skirting boards done. When I asked him if he was doing them he said he was trying to save me money and that I could do them myself anytime after I move in. 'A painter would charge for woodwork separately and it would cost much more,' he said.

I was hopping mad, left in a huff and slammed the door on him. He texted later saying I obviously didn't want him there, so he left and didn't complete the third room.

I feel cheated and like he was manipulative. I think I would be in my rights to pay him just £200 for one day (he did around 6.5 hours I think).

In his mind, the £500 or £600 was for the job, not for the day. I'm also puzzled as to why he thought this would be okay. What should I do?

How long did he spend on prep? That can take longer than painting. You should have been more clear that it was skirtings etc too.

To clarify further, he said one coat should be ok - I agreed assuming that he would make it one good coat. The rooms he had done looked patchy in places, but paint was probably still wet.

Yeah he’s taking the piss if he thinks 3 rooms in one day is going to be to a high standard and then expect £500 for a days work.

on the the woodwork front though I wouldn’t have expected that to have been manageable within the three days. I would have said 7 days minimum for 3 rooms including all woodwork. I would never agree to just one coat of paint either on the walls that won’t give good coverage at all

In my mind the room is not decorated without 2 coats and the skirting and doors redone.

But it depends if either of you bothered to mention it.

I would say I'm not prepared to pay £500 for one day's work and the rooms are not finished, but on ly you know what was said beforehand

If the quotes from other decorators included the woodwork then that's what you expect done, seeing as he was going to do the same job for less. If you aren't happy with the standard of work give him the opportunity to fix it, be it another coat, the woodwork etc and pay what you agreed, if not pay him one day's work and use the rest to get someone else to finish

Two of the rooms needed very minimal prep, the other one maybe he spent a couple of hours doing it.

You are not paying a day rate, you agreed a sum for the job, what exactly was asked to be done, skirting boards, one or two coats of paint.

Absolutely two coats minimum. It will look awful without the second coat

And woodwork does usually take longer but it sounds like he did sort of know you expected the woodwork to be done by saying he was 'saving you money as you could do it yourself'. Woodwork is arguably the hardest bit so no idea why he would assume that's the bit you could do yourself!

I agree I should have been clearer about the woodwork. I didn't realise it is quoted separately. My gripe is mainly that he wants £500 for one day when we agreed on £200 (less discount) per day.

Pay him £200 and get the professionals in. Hopefully they will reduce the cost to do the extra coats and woodwork.

He's then getting a professional rate for his day of work for an unprofessional job. Fair enough.

He's not your painter and decorator though it's he? He's a handyman friend who was trying to do you a favour.
You get what you pay for and all that.
You should have been crystal clear about what he was doing for you by setting it out in an email or text so you both knew what was happening.
Regardless, your door slamming episode has probably put paid to any further work being done by him, and likely ended your friendship too.

Never do business with friends.

Never use friends for this.

For what it's worth and I know you don't want to do it, I've painted rooms myself (with either online or boyfriend/brother guidance). Not that hard, even skirting boards.

He's taking the piss but you should have been clear about your requirements and what you were paying for, the same conversation you would have with a proper decorator. People aren't psychic and allows less room for piss takers.

If he is doing prep properly then it’s a longish job. I can’t prep a room in less than 5 hours. Walls need to be filled where nail holes, bumps etc. then sanded once dried. All walls hovered and then washed in sugar soap. Then masking tape, dust sheets etc. it takes longer than actually painting he main walls
if he was doing woodwork then even longer as needs sanding, and primer
no decent decorator though would do one coat. Ever
Fwiw I don’t think £500 is bad for 3 sets of walls. I don’t know where you are but £200 a day is unusually cheap in todays world.

I agree. Whilst I think the arrangement was messy and unclear, actually three rooms coated for £500 isn’t that bad (although it is by no means a bargain) One average sized room say about 4x4 is about 500 - £600 here painted including woodwork. So total job for three rooms would be about £1500 - £1800 and you’ve had about a third of the work done

My painter has never quoted separately for woodwork! Maybe it's because we have an old house, but prep work here has always been about 80% of the time. We had our kitchen and spare room painted last year. The job took seven working days with our painter working his socks off. Woodwork, three coats of paint and him supplying paint and materials came to just over £2k which is standard here. Rooms look great too.

Most paint and decorators charge separately for painting woodwork, unless if it’s a naice house then they charge accordingly as a whole package including paint.

I think you are being very unfair to your handyman.
He worked his ass off to prep 3 rooms and most probably first coat on 2 rooms in one day.
You then come in half way through the job and throw a tantrum like a child.
He’s right to be demanding the whole money because the bulk of the job is done.

Its both your fault for not communicating that woodwork is not included.

But no painter & decorator ever charges a day rate of £500! £200 is the standard. So if he did one day's work and wants 2.5 day's pay for it he's clearly having a laugh.

Looks like you were pretty clear the professionals quoted £200 per day. HE was the one who said it would take 3-4 days and then rounded it down to £600. IF he had done a complete job over 3 days then fair enough. 1 day is taking the piss.

He did 1 days work and you pay him £200 and should feel pissed off at that tbh.

Tell him to do one and in future use professionals who detail their quote properly.

When I'm having decorating done (can't do it myself for health reasons) I walk the decorator through what needs doing and get a price for the job, I always use the same man because I know his day rate is very reasonable. The price includes any prep and whatever is needed, wallpaper, paint, woodwork etc.

I wouldn't pay £500 for a days work unless he brought at least one more decorator and everything we'd agreed was completed, but two days would usually be the minimum to do a room because coats of paint need to dry.