Dilemma. What would you do?
We are remodeling kitchen, bathroom and office and we had these rooms painted. When the floor guy pulled the toilet to put floor down, the back of it was covered in paint (see picture). My husband offered to pull the tank before they started, but was told it wasn't necessary. I called the painter and told them we need this cleaned up. They also need to come back and do touch up work. I told them they could do this all at once. They are coming out Friday to give me bid for trim, but want payment for the original job. I do think they will come back to do what they can to clean toilet and do touch up but if I pay them, I have no recourse if they don't come back. Any suggestions? Also, they broke a sprinkler head which my husband just fixed and they painted one room the wrong color, but did repainted it.
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I wouldn't even bother with the toilet issue. If you can't see it from two feet away in normal lighting, don't make a fuss about it. You said they have touch up work to do so concentrate on the visible issues and make sure they are taken care of. Sometimes we tell people to walk around with a pencil or a roll of blue tape and mark everything when you see it. Otherwise, you'll miss something and you can't expect them to do a second round of touchup unless they are already there painting.
Do yourself and the painters a favor and have them do your punch list and finish it all to your satisfaction before the trim bid. Then, they will know what level of work you expect and should be prepared to bid the trim work to the same standard. You probably don't want to hear this, but if you were a customer of ours, that trim bid would be high and if you went with someone cheaper, we wouldn't mind.
I agree with you completely.
Your even husband offered to pull the tank before they started, but was told it wasn't necessary.
I would not want to hear sorry excuses.
As an example of what I consider inappropriate nitpicking, consider the customer who just wanted a bid for ordinary painting and didn't want to pay for anything more than a single round of wall prep. Well, after the painting was done, she fussed about seeing brushmarks around a light switch. Those brushmarks were preexisting and she had specifically not wanted to pay for extensive prep work but then got upset because we hadn't eliminated those marks. What she requested and what we quoted was basic wall prep, prime as needed and two finish coats of product. We did not promise to redo the walls, we promised to paint the existing walls.
This particular customer was also upset because she could see shadows in her two story foyer when the sun shone at exactly the right angle. There again, that is basic construction quality and existed from the original drywalling and taping many years before. At the time of the quote, we always talk about issues we see and ask how far the customer wishes to take the project. This person could have had three coats of mud and floated that wall out two feet and that shadow would disappear. But that type of fixing is expensive, especially when it is 12 to 16 feet above the floor and has to be done from extension ladders, planks or scaffolds. That was at least a $400 problem to fix correctly and she didn't want to pay and we aren't just going to throw that in on a basic repaint job.
A different customer wanted her old double hung kitchen window repainted. She understood that the work would be expensive but she wanted it done right. We did it right and we had more than 12 hours in a 24x40 window and the trimwork to restore that historic window to original condition. Neither of us felt like we had been taken since the expectations were set before work ever started.
I think you need to review the facts.
Under normal circumstances, removing a toilet for painting is a very bad idea. It's a pain, messy, and any time you work with something like that, you have a potential for creating water problems. Painters aren't plumbers and while many of them probably know how to set a toilet, they aren't experts. Around my area, plumbers typically charge about $150 for resetting a toilet. If we were bidding the floor work, that bid would include $75 - $100 for resetting the toilet at the end. If you have ever had an old valve start dripping when you turned it or a corroded pipe break when you touched it, you will understand why we avoid plumbing. Don't think such problems don't occur in newer homes - the extremely corroded pipe was in a house about 10 years old and probably caused by a copper pipe touching electrical conduit elsewhere in the house.
If we were asked to remove a toilet for painting - or even told that the toilet would be removed specifically and only for painting - we wouldn't bid on the job because that is not a project we want to be involved with. I'm not being a bad contractor or lazy, just a reasonable one who knows that not all work is good work and not all customers are profitable and I am in business to make money. We're in the business to make a home look good. If you can't see it and it doesn't cause safety issues or potential harm to other systems, it is not a problem.
For this specific problem,if the painter was unwilling to correct it, I would remove the paint myself and never rehire or suggest this painter to a friend or neighbor.
If the problem was of a different nature, I would consider holding money back.
sometimes, it's just faster to move on and get the project completed.
The original post indicated that the painter has fixed the issue of painting the wrong color with no problem and no fight. The homeowner has stated that the painter has indicated that he/she will remove the paint from the toilet and fix the issue if paid. Nothing here seems unreasonable. Somehow this is getting blown way out of proportion. If people work together to get to a desired outcome that is win-win instead of trying to point fingers and fight, the world would be a better place.
It's a porcelain glazed finish. The paint will come off in 5 seconds with a wipe of denatured alcohol.
We should accept mediocrity and shoddy workmanship as the norm !
It is a contractor's responsibility to state clearly
what will be done,
how it will be done,
what it will look like when it is finished,
who will do it
what materials will be used and
what amount of money is required.
It is a customer's responsibility to accept, reject or negotiate each of the above items and then decide if the resulting agreement is a yes or a no.
For best results, conduct those discussions before any papers are signed or any money is paid