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u/Tangeleno

Image 1 — Sanity check on interior paint and trim finish work
Image 2 — Sanity check on interior paint and trim finish work
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Image 10 — Sanity check on interior paint and trim finish work
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Sanity check on interior paint and trim finish work

I recently had interior painting, baseboards, casing, shoe molding, and some door jamb repairs done. I’m not fully satisfied with the finish work, but I’m trying to figure out whether these are legitimate workmanship issues or whether I’m being too picky about normal imperfections.

The total invoice was about $9,225. This is in Northeast Ohio. The scope was roughly 5 rooms and a hallway, the house is ~1000 sqft and the linear feet ~316ft. The main line items were painting, baseboard/casing installation, shoe molding, minor wall repair, and door jamb repair. I provided all paint, as well as the baseboard and casing material.

Some of the issues I’m seeing:

  • Visible seams at baseboard and shoe molding joints
  • Nail holes still visible in trim/casing
  • Door jamb damage/repair still obvious from across the room
  • Some areas where caulk appears to be missing
  • Other areas where caulk looks smeared onto the wall or trim
  • Rough-looking finish around repaired jambs and trim transitions
  • Paint/caulk cleanup along floors and edges

I understand old houses have uneven walls/floors and I’m not expecting perfection. I’m mostly trying to understand what is reasonable for this scope/price, and what should be considered normal punch-list work versus poor finish quality.

Also, minor question: when shoe molding terminates against door casing, is it normally supposed to be angled/returned/cut differently so it dies into the casing more cleanly, or is a square butt joint acceptable?

ETA:

Thank you everyone for your comments and feedback. I'm going to push to either get the final invoice reduced or have them come back out and correct the job. At this point I honestly hope they'll just work with me on reducing the bill and then I can spend some time trying to learn how to fix it myself. Of course after I started looking I spotted more and more spots where nail holes aren't filled in (seems like most of the base/shoe isn't filled in)

Any tips would be appreciated on how to remedy these issues myself!

u/Tangeleno — 2 days ago