I recently gave a price to paint a smallish kitchen. Walls 1 coat of the same colour that's on (they were clean anyway) and two coats to all woodowork. The price was reasonable (£200.00/$400.00). H/o said she would get back to me after talking to her hubby but didn't - That is until a couple of days ago. She asked if "I could help her out". She said unknowing to her, the hubby had some painters in at his workplace and had asked them to do the job. She had put them off the job because they were making a mess of it. Would I go look and see if I can sort it out.
I said I would have a look but wouldn't promise anything (what they heck, I was curious to see what the mess was anyway). The walls were okay but most of the woodwork wasn't up to standard. Returns on doorways (return checks we call them here) were only half painted. Wood had only one coat and looked washy. They had used a white acrylic satin on top of oil gloss without sanding it so it could be scraped off with a fingernail. They had also painted over plaster that had been on some of the wood and a few runs here and there. I didn't have to look very hard to find the faults - There was post-its with arrows on all over the place lol.
I told her that I couldn't give her a price because there was no way I could tell how long it was going to take to scrape off the loose stuff and prepare to an acceptable standard. It would have to be done on time and material. Not too happy at that, she suggested that she would scrape off the acrylic satin and all I would have to do is rub it down and repaint properly. I gave her a higher price than originally for 3 reasons:
1* We've all seen h/o's prep work (rarely what is required).
2* I'm not happy about following/sorting somebody else's mess
3* I think she had a cheek asking me to come sort it after giving it to somebody cheaper (they were £50.00/$100.00 lower) then coming to me to sort it.
She wasn't happy about it being more than I originally told her. I explained that It isn't as easy to sort somebody else's mess as it would have been in the first place and she kind of came around. She says she hasn't paid the other guys anyway and won't be doing so.
It isn't the first time I've been asked to sort somebody else's work out and I've never really been happy about doing it. It is, however, the first time I've been asked to sort a job out where I've been one of the bidders for the job and go back to sort out the work of the person they chose to do it.
It's only a small job and one of those that can fill a day and a bit in when you've got a small gap but it's been niggling away at me for a few days. On hindsight I should have told her I'm too busy and can't do it (which I'm going to do now anyway).
When I'm going in to put a bad job right, I always tell them that I will do the best I can to make a good job out of it. Those types of jobs aren't actually too bad for business, even if they are a pain in the butt. Word of mouth travels that the h/o had to get you in to correct the work which is, in a way, a compliment to your standards.
In this case though, after thinking about the circumstances, I'm going to pass. From now on, if I price a job and somebody else gets it then I aint going back to sort their mess out.
I just wondered if you guys had any similar experiences? Have you got a policy on it or do you look at each case on its merits?
I said I would have a look but wouldn't promise anything (what they heck, I was curious to see what the mess was anyway). The walls were okay but most of the woodwork wasn't up to standard. Returns on doorways (return checks we call them here) were only half painted. Wood had only one coat and looked washy. They had used a white acrylic satin on top of oil gloss without sanding it so it could be scraped off with a fingernail. They had also painted over plaster that had been on some of the wood and a few runs here and there. I didn't have to look very hard to find the faults - There was post-its with arrows on all over the place lol.
I told her that I couldn't give her a price because there was no way I could tell how long it was going to take to scrape off the loose stuff and prepare to an acceptable standard. It would have to be done on time and material. Not too happy at that, she suggested that she would scrape off the acrylic satin and all I would have to do is rub it down and repaint properly. I gave her a higher price than originally for 3 reasons:
1* We've all seen h/o's prep work (rarely what is required).
2* I'm not happy about following/sorting somebody else's mess
3* I think she had a cheek asking me to come sort it after giving it to somebody cheaper (they were £50.00/$100.00 lower) then coming to me to sort it.
She wasn't happy about it being more than I originally told her. I explained that It isn't as easy to sort somebody else's mess as it would have been in the first place and she kind of came around. She says she hasn't paid the other guys anyway and won't be doing so.
It isn't the first time I've been asked to sort somebody else's work out and I've never really been happy about doing it. It is, however, the first time I've been asked to sort a job out where I've been one of the bidders for the job and go back to sort out the work of the person they chose to do it.
It's only a small job and one of those that can fill a day and a bit in when you've got a small gap but it's been niggling away at me for a few days. On hindsight I should have told her I'm too busy and can't do it (which I'm going to do now anyway).
When I'm going in to put a bad job right, I always tell them that I will do the best I can to make a good job out of it. Those types of jobs aren't actually too bad for business, even if they are a pain in the butt. Word of mouth travels that the h/o had to get you in to correct the work which is, in a way, a compliment to your standards.
In this case though, after thinking about the circumstances, I'm going to pass. From now on, if I price a job and somebody else gets it then I aint going back to sort their mess out.
I just wondered if you guys had any similar experiences? Have you got a policy on it or do you look at each case on its merits?
