I have a question; Is it a decorator’s job to fix bad work caused by other trades? If a homeowner gets a plasterer in to get their walls nice and smooth, is it a decorator’s responsibility to make those walls look nice and smooth? Of if a joiner is paid to tidy-up the woodwork in a house, is it down to the decorator to fix it to the wall before they can paint?
A builder said I had it in for him after I told my customer that his work was no good. His excuses were-
“It’s the decorators’ job to fill the door frames where the wood is bowed.”
“It’s the decorators’ job to use half a 20kg bag of filler on new plastered walls.
“It’s the decorators’ job to silicone around the sink, toilet, shower and tiles.
Is it also the decorators’ job to fix the leak in the shower and fix the kitchen ceiling?
It can be an uphill battle when dealing with builders, but it’s even worse when we’re working for a homeowner. If Joe Blogs, for example, gets his hallway plastered, and it’s a mess. How is he supposed to know a good job from a bad one? If he then pays the plasterer, who then rides off into the sunset on his horse, how are we supposed to deal with it as the decorator?
We need to explain that the job will take longer and cost more money because we need to fill, sand, fill, sand, and then coat. Even then, we won’t get the same finish as we could if the plaster was flat. Who foots that bill?
It’s the same with joinery. If a joiner comes in and fits woodwork badly, what are we supposed to do? Do we refuse the work until the homeowner gets the woodwork completed to a high standard? Do we just paint it as normal, knowing full well it will look atrocious? Do we charge the customer extra for the extra work we do to get it looking half decant? Put yourself in the homeowner’s situation.
What’s the answer?
Trades are always leaving work for the “decorators to sort”, it’s out of order really. The homeowner doesn’t know which trade is supposed to do which tasks. Nor does the homeowner know the difference between good and bad plastering.
All the builder wants to do is come in, do the bare minimum, get paid and get out, leaving us to make their work look something like finished.
Well one thing is for sure, I don’t think he’s going to be able to blag his way out of this one!! It’s certainly not a decorators’ job to re-board and skim a ceiling after a leak. I just hope Daniel hasn’t lost any money with all the faffing around that came with this job.
It sounds like the client has had a nightmare with the builder too!! I hope it all gets resolved and the room can be used again soon.
Great article, I actually think this is on the increase. As more and more unqualified people set up “handyman” businesses, the standard of plastering, basic Carpentry, tiling and plumbing has dropped off the edge of a cliff. I’m consistently now going to price jobs that require far more prep after the “tradesmen” have been in yet I don’t seem to earn any more for the extra time and effort taken. Very often the customer doesn’t even see the holidays in the plastered wall that need filling or the open external mitres on the skirts that need building out and the pipe or cable chases the trades have filled with bloody silicone. All this and we’re still the poorest paid trade. Makes my blood boil.