[R D S[_4_]]

I don't often decorate. We live in an old house, the plaster is ****
poor, the skirtings and architraves are battered and worn with layer upon
layer of drippy paint on them. Where I *have* bothered to decorate I have
paid for skimming and replaced woodwork.

I currently have someone in doing some decorating and he is quite happy
to paper over lousy walls and slap gloss almost straight on top of the
crappy woodwork without batting an eyelid.

It's all looking cleaner and brighter but it's like polishing turd to me
and a waste of paint and labour time.

Is this normal? Do people usually put more effort in?

I can't decide if my disappointment is valid or if i'm being a bit fancy.

[Mike P the 1st[_2_]]

On 2 Jul 2010 18:42:50 GMT, R D S gently
dipped his quill in the best Quink that money could buy:

I don't often decorate. We live in an old house, the plaster is ****
poor, the skirtings and architraves are battered and worn with layer upon
layer of drippy paint on them. Where I *have* bothered to decorate I have
paid for skimming and replaced woodwork.

I currently have someone in doing some decorating and he is quite happy
to paper over lousy walls and slap gloss almost straight on top of the
crappy woodwork without batting an eyelid.

It's all looking cleaner and brighter but it's like polishing turd to me
and a waste of paint and labour time.

Is this normal? Do people usually put more effort in?

I can't decide if my disappointment is valid or if i'm being a bit fancy.

It depends what sort of finish YOU want.

It does seem a bit slap and dash what he is doing..

Are you paying him by the hour or is he working from an estimate ?

Mike P the 1st

[The Medway Handyman[_2_]]

R D S wrote:
I don't often decorate. We live in an old house, the plaster is ****
poor, the skirtings and architraves are battered and worn with layer
upon layer of drippy paint on them. Where I *have* bothered to
decorate I have paid for skimming and replaced woodwork.

I currently have someone in doing some decorating and he is quite
happy to paper over lousy walls and slap gloss almost straight on top
of the crappy woodwork without batting an eyelid.

It's all looking cleaner and brighter but it's like polishing turd to
me and a waste of paint and labour time.

Is this normal? Do people usually put more effort in?

I can't decide if my disappointment is valid or if i'm being a bit
fancy.

I don't do much decorating, but in that scenario I would always ask what
standard the customer wanted before pricing the job. In other words; do you
want the woodwork taken back to dead smooth or just painted over?

Same with the walls..

Some people want quality above price, some want price above quality. I'm a
handyman, not a decorator

If someone wants a top quality finish I turn down the job & suggest a
decorator. If it's "slap a coat of emulsion on, its going to be rented"
I'll do it.

What did you specify?

[R D S[_4_]]

On Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:44:35 +0100, The Medway Handyman wrote:

What did you specify?

Well I did say I wasn't ready as I was going to replace the architrave
around the doors and he said there was no need as he'd fill and sand.

It's not costing much, it's being done at mate's rates but he used to do
this for a living!

[geoff]

In message , R D S
writes
I don't often decorate. We live in an old house, the plaster is ****
poor, the skirtings and architraves are battered and worn with layer upon
layer of drippy paint on them. Where I *have* bothered to decorate I have
paid for skimming and replaced woodwork.

I currently have someone in doing some decorating and he is quite happy
to paper over lousy walls and slap gloss almost straight on top of the
crappy woodwork without batting an eyelid.

It's all looking cleaner and brighter but it's like polishing turd to me
and a waste of paint and labour time.

Is this normal? Do people usually put more effort in?

I can't decide if my disappointment is valid or if i'm being a bit fancy.

Its your house

YOU are employing HIM to do a job

it's up to you to what you want, you'll have to live with it




--
geoff

[Weatherlawyer]

On Jul 3, 2:54*am, geoff wrote:
In message , R D S
writes



I don't often decorate. We live in an old house, the plaster is ****
poor, the skirtings and architraves are battered and worn with layer upon
layer of drippy paint on them. Where I *have* bothered to decorate I have
paid for skimming and replaced woodwork.

I currently have someone in doing some decorating and he is quite happy
to paper over lousy walls and slap gloss almost straight on top of the
crappy woodwork without batting an eyelid.

It's all looking cleaner and brighter but it's like polishing turd to me
and a waste of paint and labour time.

Is this normal? Do people usually put more effort in?

I can't decide if my disappointment is valid or if i'm being a bit fancy..

Its your house

YOU are employing HIM to do a job

it's up to you to what you want, you'll have to live with it

What a load of cobblers these replies are.

He's content to live with a lipstuck pig and now wants to blame the
servants. You'll get nothing in return for helping him see how to not
pay his man.

[Stuart Noble]

Weatherlawyer wrote:
On Jul 3, 2:54 am, geoff wrote:
In message , R D S
writes



I don't often decorate. We live in an old house, the plaster is ****
poor, the skirtings and architraves are battered and worn with layer upon
layer of drippy paint on them. Where I *have* bothered to decorate I have
paid for skimming and replaced woodwork.
I currently have someone in doing some decorating and he is quite happy
to paper over lousy walls and slap gloss almost straight on top of the
crappy woodwork without batting an eyelid.
It's all looking cleaner and brighter but it's like polishing turd to me
and a waste of paint and labour time.
Is this normal? Do people usually put more effort in?
I can't decide if my disappointment is valid or if i'm being a bit fancy.
Its your house

YOU are employing HIM to do a job

it's up to you to what you want, you'll have to live with it

What a load of cobblers these replies are.

He's content to live with a lipstuck pig and now wants to blame the
servants. You'll get nothing in return for helping him see how to not
pay his man.


Beginning to sound like an extract from "The Ragged Trousered
Philanthropist"

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember R D S
saying something like:

It's not costing much, it's being done at mate's rates

And you're getting mate's rates quality.

but he used to do this for a living!

Ah, but was he any good?

[geoff]

In message , Grimly
Curmudgeon writes
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember R D S
saying something like:

It's not costing much, it's being done at mate's rates

And you're getting mate's rates quality.

but he used to do this for a living!

Ah, but was he any good?

Prolly can't see 6" in front of his face as RDS made his glasses for him
at mates rates

--
geoff