Right ok, I rocked up to quote the decorating in this tiny room. The plasterer had charged £2,000 to skim it!! It doesn’t just look an absolute shambles, but its crumbling away and very powdery. I don’t think he’s mixed the plaster properly or put bonding on anything before skimming!! Have a look through the pictures below, it’s a right mess! The worst I’ve ever seen!
The client “didn’t notice any problems” and “thought it looked normal”. I pointed out everything that was wrong with it then told her there was no way I could paint it in the state its in. I’m good, but even I can’t make this look alright, not even with 10 bags of EasiFill. It all needs chipping off and skimming properly. That just isn’t a decorators’ job!
So, she gives the plasterer a ring while I’m there. As bold as you like, he advises her it’s fine. He said something like “just thicken the paint with PVA you won’t notice a thing. “ I’m absolutely gobsmacked by this point!
£2k for this standard of plastering and she was saying I’m dear at painting it (walls and ceiling only 1.5×2 m room at £350 including prep and materials )👌😆 It is worse than anything I’ve seen on the Decorators Forum UK
What really annoys me is how other trades seem to be able to get away with shoddy work and we’re expected to put it right!! What am I supposed to do in this situation? Luckily, I hadn’t agreed to do the work at this point, so I can advise, then either agree or disagree to work for the lady. In my opinion, the lot needs to be re-skimmed. I’m not going to touch this one, but I feel sorry for the client.
The client never did phone me back and I’m absolutely gutted for them. I take pride in my work. I couldn’t sleep at night if I’d just done the job and moved on without saying anything. I can’t believe there are people out there who actively rip people off like this. Was it even a plasterer, or just someone pretending? Maybe they thought they could do the job and just ended up completing it to a disgraceful standard.
But then, they still took my client’s money didn’t they. This so-called “plasterer” still put the bill in after making all this mess. I just hope the homeowner got it sorted in the end.
Blog written by Steve Cutbill – Professional Painter and Decorator
The Woman’s husband wouldn’t Confront the plasterer. The lady asked me to do anything I could with it.
At least the ridges and trowel lines were so dry they scraped away easily with a scraper. I regret not getting a picture of the ceiling of which a .5 metre square section had been left plain chipboard. Several hours of scraping, sanding and filling, 1.5kg filler and it looked 1000 times better, 2 mist coats at 50/50 first one and 70/30 second had to be so careful as it dried so quick, within 60-90 seconds it was sucked dry so roller lines had to be zero. I didn’t get’after ‘ pictures but will be returning there soon to fix in place skirting and some other work in thier house, the skirting had been nail gunned and cracks ran up the walls. Some he had attempted to glue.
I know most would walk but I couldn’t.
Absolutely awful plastering
It is very easy to slate a tradesman‘S workmanship.
You ought to have been able to have pointed this out to the client on your initial visit !
As you are a postman, not a qualified decorator, as you put yourself forward to being, this is where issues arise for qualified tradesmen !
I am gobsmacked that a plasterer would charge two grand for a four hundred pound job 😂
What is wrong with people agreeing to pay that much in the first place and then actually paying it after seeing the job ? Surely they must have realised it was dreadful . Sometimes us painters need a magic wand in the tool box ( painter will make good) .
It’s disgraceful maybe she was scared of the man who she found intimidating 😔 I’ve had this before, some men are scary and nasty.