Decorator painted whole house wrong colour

[Whoatealltheminieggs]

I’ve just come to check on a rental property to find that the whole house has been painted dulux jasmine white rather than almond white which is what I specified. I have almond white in my own house and like it which is why I asked for it. I don’t know if it’s just a different house and different light but this looks so different. Is it? Has anyone swatched both? Would you say something ?

My rental is done in Jasmin white - looks really nice

totally misses point

But yes, that’s super annoying. Tradesmen can be real pains in the arse, I have found you have to be PEDANTIC, like to the point of almost offensive or else shit like this happens. Next time use photos of what you want - that’s a good way of doing it if you’re not able to provide the paint / material yourself. I will usually send a screen shot of the stuff I want or I just go and get it myself and leave it ready for use.

It's a bit annoying. But really? they look virtually the same.

😂😂😂

I prefer the Jasmin White. I would.memtion it to decorator but really you are not going to live there. Your tenants might like it.

Surely the main issue is that there are paint splatters? Take pictures, complain, get a discount. That is justified. You should have maybe got the paint colour in writing, but if it was over the phone then they might have misheard. But stressing about what colour of white/beigey white/cream/magnolia is on the walls of a rental property you don't even live in is silly. It's not black or flamingo pink!

@Oblomov22 it makes a difference because OP isn't living there, so it doesn't matter that they like one shade slightly more than the other shade. The tenants who move in will have no idea which neutral tone it was supposed to be, they will just appreciate that it is freshly decorated in something vaguely beige. Why get worked up over something so minor?

No chip 😂 I absolutely wouldn’t care if someone painted one of my assets a slightly different shade of white when I’d barely ever see it.

‘ok ta’ and move on

It is annoying but:

• you don't have it in writing so you have no proof that you specified that colour
• it is not a major difference and the tenants won't know any better. As long as the rooms are clean and bright that's what will matter to them.

I am not sure it is worth the battle. Just don't use that tradesman again and next time make sure you have all the agreements/instructions in writing.

No prospective tenant is going to view it and say "oh no I couldn't possibly live with jasmine white walls, I much prefer almond white", it will have zero effect on how rentable it is, so push hard for a decent discount for the wrong colour and mess left behind rather than fanny around trying to get him to repaint and delay further.

Those saying about the splashes, it's not unusual. I remember doing a builders clean for a house refurb, really high end finish, grand designs type stuff. Probably half my time and the clients money they paid me was spent carefully scraping paint off surfaces. Tradesmen are often lazy and sloppy, they quote a job rate and when they get near the end they rush the finish and it really takes the shine off that lovely "brand new" feeling just because they wanted to knock off a bit early.

I prefer the Jasmine white as it is paler than the almond white, which just seems to me to be a darker shade of beige - although I can see that the bright white ceilings would have 'lifted' the darker beige more than the paler one.

However, what I or the tenants might prefer is not the point here is it. The point is that you asked for one thing and got a different product to the one you asked for. So I would speak to the painter - preferably face to face to see his reaction - but if he was hoping to dupe you why did he leave the pots there?

I would then leave it to him to suggest what he thinks is a fair recompense for this, what he would expect the professional to do if he himself was the client. I think the expectation could rightly be that he buys and applies the correct colour paint. However, as the shade is not too different from the one you chose, and as he didn't appear to cover the floor with a protective cloth when applying the paint the first time, I don't think I would want to trust him with the job of rectifying the problem.

So, all things considered, I think that asking for a partial refund or getting him to agree to your bill being reduced, is probably the best outcome here. Personally I would ask for a breakdown in the cost of the job (both the materials used, and the cost of the paint - ask to see the receipt). I think it would be fair to take the cost of the paint off the final bill, and a little extra for the mess he left behind. If you have paid employment yourself you could consider the extra charge to be 3 hours worth of your paid employment. However, if as I suspect, you are on quite a high salary, that could leave him owing you 'a lot' of money. So maybe instead you could be generous, and take off your bill the additional amount of 3 hours of his labour, on top of the cost of the paint.

If he doesn't offer, or accept any agreeable terms, then maybe you shouldn't try pursuing it, instead just leave him a bad review. If I was employed in a trade like this, I think that I would prefer to 'take the hit' rather than risk getting a damning review.

I prefer the Jasmine white as it is paler than the almond white, which just seems to me to be a darker shade of beige - although I can see that the bright white ceilings would have 'lifted' the darker beige more than the paler one.

However, what I or the tenants might prefer is not the point here is it. The point is that you asked for one thing and got a different product to the one you asked for. So I would speak to the painter - preferably face to face to see his reaction - but if he was hoping to dupe you why did he leave the pots there?

I would then leave it to him to suggest what he thinks is a fair recompense for this, what he would expect the professional to do if he himself was the client. I think the expectation could rightly be that he buys and applies the correct colour paint. However, as the shade is not too different from the one you chose, and as he didn't appear to cover the floor with a protective cloth when applying the paint the first time, I don't think I would want to trust him with the job of rectifying the problem.

So, all things considered, I think that asking for a partial refund or getting him to agree to your bill being reduced, is probably the best outcome here. Personally I would ask for a breakdown in the cost of the job (both the materials used, and the cost of the paint - ask to see the receipt). I think it would be fair to take the cost of the paint off the final bill, and a little extra for the mess he left behind. If you have paid employment yourself you could consider the extra charge to be 3 hours worth of your paid employment. However, if as I suspect, you are on quite a high salary, that could leave him owing you 'a lot' of money. So maybe instead you could be generous, and take off your bill the additional amount of 3 hours of his labour, on top of the cost of the paint.

If he doesn't offer, or accept any agreeable terms, then maybe you shouldn't try pursuing it, instead just leave him a bad review. If I was employed in a trade like this, I think that I would prefer to 'take the hit' rather than risk getting a damning review.

I agree with the pp who said that it does not matter that it's a rental property. You booked a tradesman to paint your house white with a hint of beige. He painted it white with a hint of yellow. If it was the house you were living in would you accept that? Of course not.
How annoying!

It's all white, for goodness sake! I thought you were going to say they'd painted it blue instead of pink!

Green instead of white would be a radical difference. One shade of off white v another shade of off white really isn't.

If you have paid employment yourself you could consider the extra charge to be 3 hours worth of your paid employment. However, if as I suspect, you are on quite a high salary, that could leave him owing you 'a lot' of money. So maybe instead you could be generous, and take off your bill the additional amount of 3 hours of his labour, on top of the cost of the paint.
🙄
No way did it take op three hours to clean up paint splashes. It wouldn't have taken her three hours to paint the room.

I’ve yet to meet a painter that doesn’t flick paint around. Fecking annoying.

as to the colour, sounds like human error, don’t penalise him for that, get him to come an fix the spills, but god, pay him what he’s due

How bad is the spills? I'd be cross at having to scrape off floors and surfaces. We've had painting done before, at our home. They left it spotless.
So Your'll be texting him Monday anyway?
Bil is a builder and I know 4 or 5 painters through him. No one leaves a mess, ever. I've been to 10 of bils rental properties post painting. Never any mess. So I don't agree with nz that every painter flicks paint.

I know it's easy to miss the details of a thread, but in this case the words "whole house" are right there in the title as well as in the opening post.

Eh?!😂🤔

Almond white isn’t very nice. The Jasmine White looks much more modern.

paint on the floor isn’t good though!

they are very similar, and frankly i wouldnt worry about it. look nice either way

I would be really irritated, but only raise it if I had the paint that I had specified in writing eg on an email, txt or messenger otherwise it could be his word against yours. If it is wrong I would raise it and see what he says.

As to see the receipts of the paint.

Could it be a misunderstanding? How do you pronounce almond? Some people say are-mund, and others al-mund, which could sound a bit like jasmine? Maybe? Probably straw-clutching
It’s just that if he was trying to pull a fast one, surely he wouldn’t have left the tins behind. If you hadn’t seen the evidence, would you have know it was wrong, do you think?

On top of the rent they're having to find?
With landlords that won't want that? (hence the OP having decorators in)
No!