Painters work. Acceptable??

I'm painting a sitting room I'm renovating at the moment. It's the first time I've ever kinda taken my time and made a small effort (previous efforts were fire it on begrudgingly and pray for it to end soon).

Painter should have applied a mist coat (ie; a watered down coat) but I know a few painters and a couple of builders who say they never bother with a mist coat, and they do painting at the very end of the project, when the plaster will have dried out a bit, and wont necessarily need it.

2 minutes with some fine sandpaper will remove most blobs and blemishes, and a sharp blade with take the paint off the fixtures (although most painters I know have a pack of baby wipes or a rag or such, so if they get paint on something it shouldn't be on, they simply wipe it off whilst it's still fresh and wet, and it avoids the headaches of dealing with dried-on paint).


Your painter was a cowboy, however, his mistakes can be fixed. If the builder hired him, I'd withhold final payment until you're happy. Builder likely paid a relation of his feck all to fire through it in an attempt to save some money. I wouldn't lose the head with the builder, as has been previously suggested. Chances are the builder will be just as annoyed at the painter as you are (builder is busting his hump on a project for weeks, and then a painter takes the shine off it by cutting corners at the last hurdle, won't make the builder look too good).

Explain to the builder, in a reasonable manner, why you're not going to pay yet, and highlight the issues you want addressed. (don't do this just with the poor painting, but also with anything else that may be wrong that has to do with the builder). Unless you know the builder, chances are once he gets final payment you'll never see him again to address complaints. Literally (in the literal sense of the word) withholding payment is the only power you have over him at the moment. Don't be sweet-talked into 'sure you can pay me now, and I'll get the painter over tomorrow to fix it' because you'll never see the painter again.


But again, don't assume the worst - builder might be just as peeved as you are. Give him a chance to have a look and go from there. Also, if he's coming over on monday, for example, just to collect cash and head off into the sunset, be polite and give him a quick text saying you've a few issues, and would like them addressed before final payment. At least that way he's not being taken off-guard and will be going to meet you with a fairer stance on things. If you catch him off-guard, and word it wrongly, you could end up in a big argument telling each other to feck off, and that will never end well. Calm and polite all the way. And make sure you don't have the money in the house (at least that way you can't actually give it to him or be talked around).

Do subtly remind him that a poor finish makes his work look bad, too, though.