It's your house, your money and although there is no absolute perfection in building, you should expect professional, quality results. There is always touch ups in painting, maybe they haven't got to that point, or did they blantantly state that they are done?

Bear in mind that other sub contractors are going to nick, scratch and bump your paint until after you're totally moved in. We had the painters re-do one whole room that didn't look right and then had them back after we were totally moved in for touch up work. We even have an arrangement with the owner of the company that they will come back in the spring to do some touch up work on the exterior.

Now we're satisfied. You should do the same.

HI Teach

Well we solved this issue - we are doing most of the painting ourselves. Our GC did some spray primer but we are doing all of the other painting. I would be a little more picky if I was paying someone to do it. Still - I expect it to look pretty good - and I let DH know about it!

You are going to notice things a painter might not.... I think you can certainly tell them any place you think needs a touch up or a second coat.
On the other hand if it's something small- I know sometimes you will notice a place that you didn't notice before, long after the fact- at least painting is something you can do yourself. Especially a little touch up.

I would do a walk through with the painters before you give them their check and discuss any issues you have.

PD

It really depends on your contract.

My husband is a Paint Contractor.

Repainting and touchups are two different things.

Touch-ups are part of the contract.

Repainting is not. Would you expect to be paid once for doing a job twice?

Repainting due to others mistakes and damage is extra.

Small touch-ups due to the odd scratch etc. are expected but again are dependant on the contract.

I totally understand where you are coming from. I asked myself the same thing. When we were ready to move in (and even after) I went around with blue painters tape and marked ALL the spots I could find for them to touch-up.

In the end, I will have some touch-up to do to get it to my liking.

Depends, i.e., did they apply the paint correctly using primer and the correct tools, did they use cheap paint? If it's something they failed to do then they should absolutely be responsible at making it "perfect."

I spoke to the head painter this morning and tried to rattle off some things that I knew had to be done before I pay them. He said he will go through the house today. One thing that really bothers me is the way the door frames look. When they puttied the nail holes, they must not have sanded it down well enough because there are globs of something all over them. They just painted right over them. It looks really bad.

"When they puttied the nail holes, they must not have sanded it down well enough because there are globs of something all over them. They just painted right over them. It looks really bad."

Those are the signs of a job not well done. Puttying and caulking are the first things I look at to judge what kind of quality you will get from a painter.

You know, I think in the beginning, I expected perfection. I have found myself very upset that such-and-such is not exactly the way it should be. Some things can be fixed, some really cannot(without a ridiculous amount of effort), so I've found myself realizing that for the most part, most of the things that bother me are things that NO ONE else will ever even notice. Including my DH! I've resigned myself to the fact that my home IS NOT perfect, there are several things that will probably bug me for a long time, but like I said, no one else will ever notice them (and if they do, they're looking too close! Haha!)

If it's something that will bug you for the rest of your life and/or something that they didn't do right (which sounds like your situation), then by all means, make them fix it. Believe me, there will be lots more subs that will try to get by with not doing the job exactly right. Pick your battles and let them know that you're watching!

teach

We had the same issue. The problem is that the painters used portable lights when they first started painting.

My builder makes the painters do one final coat and then stop. Then the lights go in so eveyone can see - then the drywallers come back and point up - then the final coat of paint goes on. The painters ignored what my builder told them and tried to do eveything in one shot - 2 final coats right away since they had other jobs scheduled. So guess what - some of my rooms got 3 coats of paint because the builder told them they needed to come back after the final point up. Painters were not happy - too bad.

If you are not happy with the painting, make them fix it. Once you give them the money - good luck getting them to come back.

i think you should act like you expect perfection so that the builder and subs don't slack off. But in reality, there will be spots that are missed, it just happens. As long as that is kept to a minimum - it shouldn't hurt your head to have to touch up here and there after you move in and live in the house for a while (when you will find all of those spots!).

We have lived in our house for 4 years and I have retouched each year. I am amazed that I seem to find more spots that I had never noticed before. Differences in the time of day, year and lighting change what you see.

Assuming you are not dealing with major items (e.g. missed sanded areas of textured wall or missed second coats or staining problems), you may want to simply do the touch up on your own. If you have a problem with their work and unless your contract says something to the contrary, you should probably pay them something with a receipt/note indicating that the balance will be paid upon completion of the work which is expected to occur within 30 days. Try to get them to acknowledge that some additional work is owed and agree to an amount to be paid now and the amount that will be owed. For example, if you think the work will take half a day, you might retain $100-200. If the contractor receives a sizeable check, they often will not return for the small amount. You want to be reasonable yet not overpay them. If they return, make sure you are ready to tell them exactly what needs to be done and to pay them that day in full. It has been my experience that if the contractor receives a substantial payment, they often don't want to come back to earn the rest of the payment and you never hear from them again. At the end of thirty days, simply write a short letter stating that since the contrctor has not returned, you intend to perform the work or have it done and that no further payment should be expected. Keep a copy of the letter just in case.

Regardless of whether yoy do the work on your own, make sure you know the color, manufacturer, and store where the paint was purchased. If you have a larger house and paint was purchased of the same color on more than one occassion, try to make sure you know which bucket goes with which room. There may be slight variations that are not noticeable from room to room, but will show up when you use one batch color to touch up a room painted with another batch color. We bought one pint storage containers for each paint color and/or color batch. The containers have a screw on lid with a small flip cap. We labeled and filled them about half full. You can shake the bottle to remix the paint and small craft brushes fit easily through the top for touchup. You don't have to open a large rusty paint can and worry as much about spills and drips.

I checked my painters work daily and put blue tape or pointed things out to them.

They should have no problem fixing because you hired them to do a professional job. It could be that they did not notice the imperfections too, not that they are unwilling to fix it.

At the end of my job, the head guy and I did a walk through together to ensure my satisfaction, and then I paid him his last check.