Decorators - What To Do About Bad Decorators Bad Decorating Jobs : Recommended Decorators : Top Tradespeople

Problems With Bad Decorators?

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

Problems with decorating jobs can range from your house being left a bit messy right the way up to atrocious decorating work, damaged wallpaper which needs to be replaced, damaged furniture and floor, wallpaper not hung straight, overlapping wallpaper, gaps between wallpaper, the possibilities of bad decorating jobs are endless.

Complaints About Decorators - Speak To Your Decorator

The first course of action if you are unhappy with your decorating work is to speak directly to decorators who carried out the work.  If the decorator 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 decorators about complaints 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 decorating job and your complaint might lead to them making an even bigger mess of your decorating work the second time around.  Still, it is important that you give them an opportunity to put the decorating job right.   Ensure that if there are damaged materials involved, they agree to replace them out of their own pocket.

If the decorators who carried out your decorating job work 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.

Complaints About Decorators - Gather Evidence That Your Decorating Job Is Bad

It might be difficult to get opinions from independent decorators as often other decorators 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 decorators to court you could try to reclaim this in your costs.  Maybe try to get some independent decorators 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.

Decorating Complaints - Put Your Complaint In Writing To The Decorators

Undoubtedly you should put your complaint in writing to the tiler.  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.

Decorators Complaints - Contact Trades Organisations / Trades Guilds About Decorators

When you get decorators quotes 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 decorators to sort out your issue as often it is a condition of their membership that they deal with complaints in an effective manner.

Tiling Complaints - Contact Trading Standards

Trading Standards can write to your decorators 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.

Decorating Jobs 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 decorators is no exception.  Use Moneyclaim (the online court filing site) to find out about taking decorators to court and small claims generally.

Avoid Getting Bad Decorators In The First Place

Check Decorators Reviews On Decorating Jobs - Find Local Decorators Where You Can Give Reviews On Decorators You Use

One tip.  To avoid getting bad decorators in the first place it is always wise to get three quotes for all home improvement jobs (including decorators).  Check decorators reviews on past decorating jobs.  Use Top Tradespeople Recommended Decorators Website to get free quotes from local decorators.

Using Top Tradespeople means that if your decorators do bad decorating jobs you can say so.  Future customers will then see that this is a bad decorator and should be avoided.  Likewise, you can reward good decorators by giving them good decorators reviews and consequently good decorators should get more work from decorating quotes they give for jobs based on the fact that they are recommended decorators.