For All Those Who Think Uk Tradesmen Are Cowboys
Jan 13th 2004, 2:57 pm
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 92
For All Those Who Think Uk Tradesmen Are Cowboys
We are getting ready to sell our apartment (in the Former Soviet Union), ready to move home and we had arranged for a (Professional?) Painter to come today and freshen up the walls.
He originally told us one week maximum to finish the whole apartment.
He eventually arrived two hours late (no explanation) and immediately had a tea break.
He worked for ten minutes and then announced that the Paint rollers I had bought were rubbish.
When I checked his work it turned out that he had watered down the emulsion to the consistency of clear soup and when I asked why, he told me proudly that he wanted to save me money.
After much discussion he resumed work using undiluted paint, and after 3 hours despite numerous smoke breaks he finished two walls. He then started swearing loudly and told me that the walls were "not in condition to receive paint" and to prove his point he scraped off 3 huge chunks leaving deep scars in the wall.
When I had calmed down I asked him what he proposed to do to remedy the situation. He told me that he could bring along a friend and scrape down the walls, replaster them and then paint from fresh all of which would take 4 days(only for the toilet), and incidentally he can't start tomorrow as he needs a day off to rest as "he was stressed out working for us demanding foreigners"
It's not surprising the Ex-Pats here soon adopt the local custom of high vodka intake........
He originally told us one week maximum to finish the whole apartment.
He eventually arrived two hours late (no explanation) and immediately had a tea break.
He worked for ten minutes and then announced that the Paint rollers I had bought were rubbish.
When I checked his work it turned out that he had watered down the emulsion to the consistency of clear soup and when I asked why, he told me proudly that he wanted to save me money.
After much discussion he resumed work using undiluted paint, and after 3 hours despite numerous smoke breaks he finished two walls. He then started swearing loudly and told me that the walls were "not in condition to receive paint" and to prove his point he scraped off 3 huge chunks leaving deep scars in the wall.
When I had calmed down I asked him what he proposed to do to remedy the situation. He told me that he could bring along a friend and scrape down the walls, replaster them and then paint from fresh all of which would take 4 days(only for the toilet), and incidentally he can't start tomorrow as he needs a day off to rest as "he was stressed out working for us demanding foreigners"
It's not surprising the Ex-Pats here soon adopt the local custom of high vodka intake........
Jan 13th 2004, 5:02 pm
#2
Ping-ponger
Joined: Jul 2002
Location: Dreich Alba
Posts: 12,006
Re: For All Those Who Think Uk Tradesmen Are Cowboys
Originally posted by JayJay
We are getting ready to sell our apartment (in the Former Soviet Union), ready to move home and we had arranged for a (Professional?) Painter to come today and freshen up the walls.
He originally told us one week maximum to finish the whole apartment.
He eventually arrived two hours late (no explanation) and immediately had a tea break.
He worked for ten minutes and then announced that the Paint rollers I had bought were rubbish.
When I checked his work it turned out that he had watered down the emulsion to the consistency of clear soup and when I asked why, he told me proudly that he wanted to save me money.
After much discussion he resumed work using undiluted paint, and after 3 hours despite numerous smoke breaks he finished two walls. He then started swearing loudly and told me that the walls were "not in condition to receive paint" and to prove his point he scraped off 3 huge chunks leaving deep scars in the wall.
When I had calmed down I asked him what he proposed to do to remedy the situation. He told me that he could bring along a friend and scrape down the walls, replaster them and then paint from fresh all of which would take 4 days(only for the toilet), and incidentally he can't start tomorrow as he needs a day off to rest as "he was stressed out working for us demanding foreigners"
It's not surprising the Ex-Pats here soon adopt the local custom of high vodka intake........
We are getting ready to sell our apartment (in the Former Soviet Union), ready to move home and we had arranged for a (Professional?) Painter to come today and freshen up the walls.
He originally told us one week maximum to finish the whole apartment.
He eventually arrived two hours late (no explanation) and immediately had a tea break.
He worked for ten minutes and then announced that the Paint rollers I had bought were rubbish.
When I checked his work it turned out that he had watered down the emulsion to the consistency of clear soup and when I asked why, he told me proudly that he wanted to save me money.
After much discussion he resumed work using undiluted paint, and after 3 hours despite numerous smoke breaks he finished two walls. He then started swearing loudly and told me that the walls were "not in condition to receive paint" and to prove his point he scraped off 3 huge chunks leaving deep scars in the wall.
When I had calmed down I asked him what he proposed to do to remedy the situation. He told me that he could bring along a friend and scrape down the walls, replaster them and then paint from fresh all of which would take 4 days(only for the toilet), and incidentally he can't start tomorrow as he needs a day off to rest as "he was stressed out working for us demanding foreigners"
It's not surprising the Ex-Pats here soon adopt the local custom of high vodka intake........
Jan 14th 2004, 2:58 am
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: For All Those Who Think Uk Tradesmen Are Cowboys
Originally posted by JayJay
We are getting ready to sell our apartment (in the Former Soviet Union), ready to move home and we had arranged for a (Professional?) Painter to come today and freshen up the walls.
He originally told us one week maximum to finish the whole apartment.
He eventually arrived two hours late (no explanation) and immediately had a tea break.
He worked for ten minutes and then announced that the Paint rollers I had bought were rubbish.
When I checked his work it turned out that he had watered down the emulsion to the consistency of clear soup and when I asked why, he told me proudly that he wanted to save me money.
After much discussion he resumed work using undiluted paint, and after 3 hours despite numerous smoke breaks he finished two walls. He then started swearing loudly and told me that the walls were "not in condition to receive paint" and to prove his point he scraped off 3 huge chunks leaving deep scars in the wall.
When I had calmed down I asked him what he proposed to do to remedy the situation. He told me that he could bring along a friend and scrape down the walls, replaster them and then paint from fresh all of which would take 4 days(only for the toilet), and incidentally he can't start tomorrow as he needs a day off to rest as "he was stressed out working for us demanding foreigners"
It's not surprising the Ex-Pats here soon adopt the local custom of high vodka intake........
We are getting ready to sell our apartment (in the Former Soviet Union), ready to move home and we had arranged for a (Professional?) Painter to come today and freshen up the walls.
He originally told us one week maximum to finish the whole apartment.
He eventually arrived two hours late (no explanation) and immediately had a tea break.
He worked for ten minutes and then announced that the Paint rollers I had bought were rubbish.
When I checked his work it turned out that he had watered down the emulsion to the consistency of clear soup and when I asked why, he told me proudly that he wanted to save me money.
After much discussion he resumed work using undiluted paint, and after 3 hours despite numerous smoke breaks he finished two walls. He then started swearing loudly and told me that the walls were "not in condition to receive paint" and to prove his point he scraped off 3 huge chunks leaving deep scars in the wall.
When I had calmed down I asked him what he proposed to do to remedy the situation. He told me that he could bring along a friend and scrape down the walls, replaster them and then paint from fresh all of which would take 4 days(only for the toilet), and incidentally he can't start tomorrow as he needs a day off to rest as "he was stressed out working for us demanding foreigners"
It's not surprising the Ex-Pats here soon adopt the local custom of high vodka intake........
Hope you get sorted soon, sounds a right pain.
Good luck
Merlot
Jan 17th 2004, 7:21 am
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Hiring tradesmen is the same in any country - you have to ask around to find out who is any good.
I have ended up doing many jobs myself simply because I did not want to go through all the hassle of engaging a tradesman. Some jobs are suprisingly easy, like I re-tiled a bathroom, fixed a blocked up toilet etc. I only call a tradesman if all else fails.
Painting is also a thing that is very easy to do and does not need a tradesman. Just look up how to do it and then do it yourself. If you want more fun out the situation, telephone your original Painter and then tell him that you did it yourself and how easy it was.
I have ended up doing many jobs myself simply because I did not want to go through all the hassle of engaging a tradesman. Some jobs are suprisingly easy, like I re-tiled a bathroom, fixed a blocked up toilet etc. I only call a tradesman if all else fails.
Painting is also a thing that is very easy to do and does not need a tradesman. Just look up how to do it and then do it yourself. If you want more fun out the situation, telephone your original Painter and then tell him that you did it yourself and how easy it was.
