Plastering - Bad Plasterer? What To Do?

Plastering Advice Tips - What Should You Do If You Get A Bad Plasterer?

All too often home improvement jobs (including plastering), go wrong.  But what should you do about it?

Problems with plastering jobs can range from your house being left a bit dusty right the way up to atrocious plastering work which is rough or even hanging off your work because it has not been keyed properly to the surface that the plaster was supposed to be adhered to during your plastering job.

Plastering Complaints - Speak Directly To The Offending Plasterer

The first course of action if you are unhappy with your plastering work is to speak directly to the plasterer who carried out the work.  If the plasterer is a sole trader then speak directly to them and express your concerns.  Certainly, it is wise to avoid going in all guns blazing as shouting and screaming does not tend to ever obtain a positive result.  Aggressive tactics tend to produce aggressive results.  Be professional when speaking to the plasterer and explain that your are not happy about certain aspects of the work and show them the defects.  If the defects are minor, maybe they just missed something.  If the work is appalling then you might have a problem on your hands because if they have carried out appalling work in the first  place chances are that they simply are not up to the plastering job in hand and your complaint might lead to them making an even bigger mess of your plastering the second time around.  Still, it is important that you give them an opportunity to put the plastering job right.

If the plasterer who carried out your plastering job works for an organisation it might be wise to contact their office directly and ask for a supervisor or foreman to visit to check out the complaint.  Ask them to give you details of their findings in writing and make a note of the date of the complaint visit and what date they came back to you with their findings.  If they disagree with you and you are still unhappy with their decision about whether to remedy your works or not then you should obtain evidence from independent parties.

 

Plastering Complaints - Gather Evidence That Your Plasterer Did A Bad Plastering Job

It might be difficult to get opinions from other plasterers as often plasterers do not want to get involved with disputes outside their own organisation.  There are many bodies available who can give impartial expert witness statements about construction, building and home improvement work.  Google 'expert witness building construction' and you will no doubt find some organisations that can come out to provide you with a statement which will often stand up in court.   You might have to spend some money here, however if you do take your plasterer to court you could try to reclaim this in your costs.  Maybe try to get some plasterers to take a look first before spending money and if you don't get anywhere (because they don't want to get involved), look at this course of action.

Plastering Complaints - Put Your Complaint In Writing To The Plasterer

Undoubtedly you should put your complaint in writing to the plasterer.  Telephone calls are not evidence.  Use emails and letters to express your concerns / complaints and give them opportunity to remedy it.  If they do nothing send them another letter saying that if you do not hear anything back by (deadline) you will be forced to take the matter further.  Wait for the deadline to pass and then take other courses of action.

Plastering Complaints - Contact Trades Organisations / Trades Guilds About The Plasterer

When you get quotes from plasterers you should ask them whether they are members of trade bodies, for example  : Guild of Master Craftsmen or Federation of Master Builders or Trust Mark Scheme.  This way, if you do have reason for complaint you can go directly to these organisations and ask them to investigate for you.  They can then put pressure on the plasterer or plastering company to sort out your issue as often it is a condition of their membership that they deal with complaints in an effective manner.

Plastering Complaints - Contact Trading Standards

Trading Standards can write to your plasterer on your behalf.  Remember, to keep all correspondence with all parties whom the complaint issues have been sent to.  You might need to bring this evidence to court with you if it gets that far.

Plastering Complaints - Take It To Court

One of the last resorts - Go to the small claims court.  This is less expensive than you think and if you are successful in your claim you should be able to recover any court fees.  You can do most things online now and taking action against bad plasterers is no exception.  Use Moneyclaim (the online court filing site) to find out about taking plasterers to court and small claims generally.

Avoid Getting Bad Plasterers

Check Plasterers Reviews On Plastering Jobs - Find Local Plasterers Where You Can Give Reviews On Plasterers You Use

One tip.  To avoid getting bad plasterers in the first place it is always wise to get three quotes for all home improvement jobs (including plasterers).  Check plasterers reviews on past plastering jobs.  Use Top Tradespeople Recommended Plasterers Website to get free quotes from local plasterers.  Using Top Tradespeople means that if your plasterer does a bad job you can say so.  Future customers will then see that this is a bad plasterer and should be avoided.