Standards when decorating

[R D S]

I don't often decorate. We live in an old house, the plaster is piss poor, the skirtings and architraves are battered and worn with layer upon layer of drippy paint on them. Where I *have* bothered to decorate I have paid for skimming and replaced woodwork.

I currently have someone in doing some decorating and he is quite happy to paper over lousy walls and slap gloss almost straight on top of the crappy woodwork without batting an eyelid.

It's all looking cleaner and brighter but it's like polishing turd to me and a waste of paint and labour time.

Is this normal? Do people usually put more effort in?

I can't decide if my disappointment is valid or if i'm being a bit fancy.

[Owain]

What did you specify - slap on the gloss or rub down to smooth and then repaint 2 coats, rubbing down between coats?

Took me 5 coats on my front door and I'm still not terribly impressed with it.

Owain

[Mike P the 1st]

On 2 Jul 2010 18:42:50 GMT, R D S gently dipped his quill in the best Quink that money could buy:

It depends what sort of finish YOU want.

It does seem a bit slap and dash what he is doing..

Are you paying him by the hour or is he working from an estimate ?

Mike P the 1st

[The Medway Handyman]

I don't do much decorating, but in that scenario I would always ask what standard the customer wanted before pricing the job. In other words; do you want the woodwork taken back to dead smooth or just painted over?

Same with the walls..

Some people want quality above price, some want price above quality. I'm a handyman, not a decorator

If someone wants a top quality finish I turn down the job & suggest a decorator. If it's "slap a coat of emulsion on, its going to be rented" I'll do it.

What did you specify?

[R D S]

Well I did say I wasn't ready as I was going to replace the architrave around the doors and he said there was no need as he'd fill and sand.

It's not costing much, it's being done at mate's rates but he used to do this for a living!

[geoff]

In message , R D S writes

Its your house

YOU are employing HIM to do a job

it's up to you to what you want, you'll have to live with it

[Weatherlawyer]

What a load of cobblers these replies are.

He's content to live with a lipstuck pig and now wants to blame the servants. You'll get nothing in return for helping him see how to not pay his man.

[stuart noble]

Beginning to sound like an extract from "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist"

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember R D S saying something like:

And you're getting mate's rates quality.

Ah, but was he any good?

[geoff]

In message , Grimly Curmudgeon writes

Prolly can't see 6" in front of his face as RDS made his glasses for him at mates rates