Painter problems
Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but my partner and I are currently having decent issues with our painter. Any opinions where we stand in this situation would be appreciated 🥲
Long read ahead.
My partner and I purchased our first home at the end of last year. A near new townhouse. We had a fridge delivered and the drivers damaged the walls taking it upstairs into the kitchen. It’s a very high ceiling stairway with a window on each end. The delivery company had no complaints covering the cost of repair and required us to get 3 quotes to do it. No dramas, shit happens.
We picked the 3 highest rated painters in the area and the company chose the cheapest of the 3 to go ahead with which is expected. It took around 4 months to get it over the line with all the red tape, but we’re in no hurry so it was no problem. The quote that was accepted required us to specify what paint was used or the painter would pick a low sheen white for us. Our neighbour still had their paint tins, so we took a photo of the tin with the “white on white matte sheen” Cleary stated and written on the lid in large letters.
No questions were asked so the job went ahead and my mum offered to spend the day there when the walls were painted. She called me at the end of the day saying the painter had told her that he used a low sheen as it would be easier to clean. An odd thing to bring up?
When I arrived home, I noticed the difference straight away, and being on a double window hallway, the roller marks were super obvious in the light and it even showed imperfections we didn’t even know were there. I also noticed a concerning amount of damage to the walls leading to the hallway and the wall/roof at the top of the stairs. These were all caused by the feet of the ladders and had also dented/gauged the walls in some areas. Impossible to miss and disappointing that they weren’t brought up. The section under the hand rail also hadn’t been painted and you could see the original matte paint for the entire length of the stairs. I had also offered the painter a 6 pack of beer if he could give the window that is unreachable without a ladder wipe down as there were a couple of bits of something on the glass from when it was built and he was happy with that. The window ended up being in a far worse state than before with a couple of drops of white paint on it to boot, and he still took the beers from the fridge…
After a tennis match of communication the painter accepted responsibility for the damage, but had every excuse under the sun for not using matte paint. First it was the quote we accepted, even though we supplied him with the correct information, then he just wasn’t looking for the sheen, only colour, even though it was literally the 4th word in the description in large bold letters, then it was “matte is terrible and low sheen is easier to clean” and then ended up blaming the access into the stairway. He was also the only painter to not do an inspection beforehand which should have been a red flag. We did provide photos and details of the area and access.
When he eventually came back to fix the damage, I needed to waste an annual leave day for the fixes. He then proceeded to lose his cool and try and walk away from the job, leaving us in a much worse situation than before he even started. I talked him back into at least fixing the damage to start and basically told me to suck eggs he won’t be re doing the walls.
After completing the fixes, he said to let the paint dry and it would look good. When it dried, I noticed he did not fill the gauges, just painted over them, there were missed spots and some of the darker marks showed through. Not to mention the patches were super noticeable, especially on the roof. I also let him off on some of the easier ones that I would just do myself as to not push the tension any further, as he was hostile throughout.
This is pretty much where we are at now. He has re sent the invoice for payment and will not accept responsibility for an incorrect job or make any effort to find a solution. He’s been super hard to deal with throughout, which has been making this whole ordeal very draining considering it’s in issue he has to keep coming back to in my home. Am I wrong expecting that the point of the whole exercise was to have the walls brought back to the condition they were in pre damage and not have to deal with extra damage and some poorly fixed attempts? Money was not the issue so corners did not need to be cut. He could have charged more for the job to get it done as it was through insurance and that was known to him.