It looks like he used a broom instead of a paint brush and a roller.

Nothing you've said is unreasonable.

I wouldn't hire him for anything, now someone is going to have to sand down those walls and paint it correctly, he ruined your walls.

Thank you for your comments. I guess it is possible that the brush marks/drips were there from a prior owners' paint job (although I didn't notice them before). IF they were already there, should that have been sanded prior to painting (when all of the other repairs were done)?

Here comes a vent: I have had so much bad luck with so many so-called professional painters, I don't even think of it as "bad luck" anymore but rather, that's the way most of them are. I suppose there are much better painters out there, but I have yet to find one. I have such low expectations at this point, that I would rather do the job myself, sloppy and slow as I am, than pay someone to do a half-youknowwhat job. I think your painter did not do a great job, but based on my experience, it's average. And I wouldn't trust him to fix the job.

Maybe you can get some of your money back. He was obviously lazy and decided to cut-in by moving his brush back and forth horizontally, instead of doing it the proper way. I doubt he will be able to fix anything to your satisfaction, since he has already demonstrated either his lack of care or skill.

I would suggest getting some money back and fixing the walls that really bug you. Just a word of advice. I would find out exactly the type of paint and color he used. Color matching is not an exact science, and it will look bad if you only repaint part of the wall, after spending a great amount of time sanding and spackling. Painting is good skill to have anyways.

I'm just gonna go ahead & say this.

Whether your expectations have been met...depends on how much you paid him. If he was the cheapest & most readily available...then yes, you may have gotten your money's worth.

Good painters are hard to come by, much like good contractors. Too often people choose home "professionals" by price & a quick timeline.

@oasis, none of the bad painters I have used have been cheap. You can't assume that the price is going to be an indicator of quality.

My decorator actually put me in touch with him. I had two estimates which were similar amounts and she said he would do the better job. I don't feel like it was cheap. Since I have never hired a painter before, I do not have any idea of what is cheap/expensive. I trusted my decorator to steer me in the right direction. She doesn't seemed to be as concerned as I am about the things I'm pointing out, which is why I came to this forum. I truly do not want to be unreasonable.

I don't think you are being unreasonable and I'm pretty sure you could do a better job than this guy, even with no painting experience.
It looks like he was just in a hurry or didn't care. Sounds like, unless you pay the big bucks, you probably won't get a consist professional looking job. I've never had the funds to hire someone, and I'm glad even though it can be a real pain sometimes.

Patchwork. Did you specifically tell him you wanted things patched, pointing out some issues and discussing them? Did anyone write that down, maybe as part of a contract?

Drips and brush marks. I do a walkthrough with the customer, pointing out problems like these, before I start work. It's human nature to inspect new work, but few notice existing problems.

Paint on fan, cabinets and banister. These things should have been covered well enough that paint could not get to them.

Roller fuzz. Any painter knows better than to use a roller that has not been defuzzed.

If those areas were not there before he painted then I would be unhappy as well. Chances are good that some of it may have already been there if the house isn't new. I've even seen new houses with areas like this. When things start to get freshened up, all the flaws start to show up more. Meaning, you may have never paid attention to these details when the needing of paint was the main concern but, now that needing paint isn't a concern, it's on to the next thing that grabs your attention and so on. Guys that have been doing this a while usually know this and either include it in the prep or point these issues out before starting and let the client make the call on what's the desired outcome. But, yes these things are issues and if he had a cheap roller that sheds and a thick paint that needed an extender to level brush marks,etc....he should address these areas.

I don't agree about getting always getting what you pay for. Some painters that charge less are just starting up and building a customer base. Some of them are very careful and attentive to detail and all about making sure the customer is satisfied. As with any contractor, it is all about taking pride in your work regardless of whether the customer notices or not. I have painted most of the exterior and interior of my house and none of it looks as bad as those photos you posted. I don't think you're being unreasonable at all.

The most time consuming part of painting is prep. Either way he isn't professional if he didn't point these issues out as he saw them or if he caused them himself. I would take the issue up directly with the guy, if your designer is not concerned or doesn't care.

You can try to sand the brush strokes down, but it might be awfully difficult to get a even surface again. Spackle and float coating maybe.

I've had success with light sanding and then floating with a glazing putty on areas like this. Usually on stair stringers, it's really bad.Drives me crazy. Anyhow, the glazing putty is used for fine tuning sanding scratches and pinholes in bodywork before priming and painting. It can be applied real thin and sanded out to almost nothing without flaking off...

Sanding, cleaning, patching, sanding, cleaning, priming, and then paint. You will like the results.

PPF - He did patchwork throughout the house (nail holes, other nicks and such in walls, even covered up some unsightly holes for phone lines). He told me not to worry about things and that he would take care of everything. I did not have a contract. My decorator advised that most painters don't do contracts when I asked about one. I was surprised to hear that since there was so much money involved. But again, I'm new to this and relied on her expertise.

Just watch the brush strokes....

Beth I feel your pain! My contractor hired a so called professional and he ruined half of my house. I finished the other half myself and I'm not a painter! I have brand new wood work that he didn't sand or putty holes. He just painted them and and drips everywhere. Paint on hinges, did sand or clean off outside doors before painted. Just painted over dirt. I can peel the paint off if I tried. He painted the window slides on my doors! I could go on and on!!! My contractor said he could have him come fix it, but I said obviously he has no clue what he's doing or it wouldn't be like that. I said he better never show back up here. I was livid as you can see I still am lol! I'm going to have to fix it all myself:(

@ poshky....we're all here for you...You're not by yourself....As Abraham Lincoln said "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." Just sharpen your axe :)

Beth, unfortunately your " decorator" steered you in the wrong direction. Do you know a decorator is not licensed and does not have much schooling? A designer has at least 4 yrs college degree and is a member of a professional organization. A designer has good relationships with all the trades and stands behind her referrals. Try contacting your decorator and insist on a refund. If she works with the painter she may have some pull. Good luck.

Wow - I would not be happy with this. My husband and I used to do many DIY projects and we are picky. I've learned to be present while crafts/landscape people are doing work at our home and personally check on the progress frequently.

So important to have someone checking progress. I couldn't believe when I walked into a home and a tile installer had completed two and a half bathrooms. He destroyed the beautiful materials she had bought with his horrible installation and the homeowner didn't even know what was going on. She told me she wouldn't even know what to look for, but knew something wasn't right. I felt so horrible for her.

Part of a professional's role in these situations is to manage customer expectations. Many of the issues that arise in construction and remodeling projects are expectations not being met. Sometimes those are quality issues, other times it is scheduling, communication, product selection or additional charges.

The professional should have discussed with you what you would and would not receive for the quoted price. Then, if you were not happy with either the scope of the work or the price, changes could be negotiated before the contract is signed and the work started. An experienced painter will know what issues typically bug clients and will be certain to discuss those areas before work is started.

There's no excuse for leaving paint drips. Any such items should be carefully cleaned up as part of a final walk through. Roller fuzz or junk in the paint should be sanded off the wall and covered with another coat of paint - after straining the paint to make sure no more get added to the surface. Brush marks can be difficult to remove and may have already been there. My partner leaves a roll of blue tape and asks the homeowner to stick a piece of tape every place they see an issue so he can fix the problem or explain why fixing it is beyond the scope of an ordinary paint job.

No contract usually means they are working off the books. It's a bad sign when there's no contract. There's no liability or paper trail to hold them accountable. This should always be a homeowners first red flag. They should have some kind of web presence, resume, examples of their work. You should always know up front what their estimate includes, what brand/type paint they use, etc. I am so sorry you had this experience. We have had MANY issues with painters in our 30 yr experience. Never take a recommendation at face value. We don't even make paint contractor recommendations anymore. We don't want the liability. We leave the hiring of that up to the homeowner, with our caveats.

I had one who refused to use Behr brand paint. Not good enough for his high standards. Didn't hire him.

No contract would be a huge red flag for me. Not sure what the job cost, but we just hired a painter to paint much of the interior of our home and the cost is rather high, I cannot imagine writing that check without a contract! And I would have serious reservations about a decorator who suggests that is the norm. We got multiple estimates and they were all in the same range. Can't comment on the quality of the work as it isn't starting until tomorrow, but we got recommendations from people we know so crossing our fingers that it will come out well but still worried. Our painter did discuss with us that different finishes will show more or less of the wall's (and painter's) imperfections, so the higher gloss your finish is the more obvious the flaws will be. Of all the problems you cited, spilling paint onto other surfaces seems the most egregious and obviously subpar, there might be wiggle room in discussing things like brush strokes, oh and the roller fuzz is pretty unforgivable as well. Good luck resolving this!

You are definitely not wrong in expecting your painter to prep, clean and finish touch up for the job, as any professional should do. I would advise a contract next time listing your expectations, then your painter can let you know what is included in his/her bid. Very often the original wall texture and sheen that you chose to paint will also highlight some of your wall imperfections.

I know it's off topic but I Couldn't resist.....

@ obrien no truer words have been spoken than your last paragraph. The sad part of this situation is most painters do not have the knowledge to prep correctly and most individuals have no concept of what excellent prep work costs.

A contract is a must. And yes the highest bid isn't always the best choice and at that rate middle or least expensive isn't the best choice. You need to take things as a whole. How you feel about the person you are going to hire, references are always good and you need more than one. Look at there previous work. Also knowing expectations by both parties is going to lead to a good working relationship. Unfortunately the work looks bad but I don't know what the walls looked like before. Just take into consideration not all contractors are created equal.

In my area, many painters including my partner don't use contracts. For his existing customers, it is a verbal discussion and a handshake. For new customers, he usually does a written proposal with basic scope and price for their signature. That is as formal as he gets with contracts; no lengthy fine print or preprinted forms. His terms are half down, half on completion - customer doesn't make final payment until they're satisfied with the job.

In all the years of doing this type of work, he's never been completely stiffed by a customer. I remember one occasion where someone asked him to leave after doing all the prep work but that wasn't because they didn't like him or the work, just decided they could save some money by completing the job themselves at that stage. Most customers don't realize they can ask him for a quote on only doing prep work but the ones who do quickly realize that the actual painting is only a small portion of the labor cost.

I greatly appreciate everyone's input. The painter came back and fixed everything I asked him to fix. He was apologetic and wanted me to be happy. He said that the brush marks were there before and put on another coat of paint, which helped.

I believe several things led to my dissatisfaction. First, since we did not have a contract and for the most part using my decorator as a "middle man", there were some miscommunications. Second, we were not in town when he finished up the job therefore he did not show us / discuss existing problems with the walls with us. Third, I'm gathering that his crew finished the job on the final day and he was not here to see the end product. Finally, communication is not his strength. He is great in person, but seems to prefer texting over phone conversations. As we all know, meaning/tone get lost over texting. A phone call and/or in-person visit is so much more effective.

In the end, the painter came back with one of his crew to fix everything. I can truly say now that I am a satisfied customer. Everyone makes mistakes. What's important is how they handle their mistakes. In this case, he handled the situation with professionalism and righted the wrong. Based on this, I would not hesitate to hire him again (with a written contract of course :-) ) I definitely learned a lot with my first home improvement contractor experience. And going forward I will be checking with the wonderful Houzz community before doing anything major!

Thank you again!

My husband hates my practice, but when I hire someone to do work at my home I am there and I am watching everything that is being done. If it is an 8 hour job I may not be in the room with them all 8 hours, but I am there at least 2 times per hour to check progress and to make sure that what has been done meets my expectations.

beth446 - that's great news. Yes, projects can go wrong (they often have "wrong" moments) but your painter's willingness to hear and rectify suggests he is going to build his business on the right lines. Good for you for communicating your concerns (so often people take the easier route of saying nothing or pretend it is fine and simply move on--that is irresponsible in civic terms). Kudos for demonstrating the power of partnership in a job well done!

I'm glad there's happiness in the end!!! We pros on houzz genuinely like to help people navigate this little think we call home renovation. We help the homeowner, & we help each other!!! Sometimes it takes a houzz village!!!