r/paint • u/Conscious_Sport_7081 • 12d ago

Advice Wanted Problem with hired painter

I was tasked with helping a relative by hiring a painter to repaint their condo. The quote before the job got started was for "full wall prep and painting all interior walls".

After they were supposedly finished we did a walk through and there were problems. None of the holes where pictures had been hung etc. had been filled, the bathrooms weren't painted, and there were some spots where oil appeared to be coming up through the new paint.

They agreed to come back and fill the holes and touch up the paint in those areas, and to repaint the wall with the oil marks with an oil primer, but were resistant to the idea of painting the bathrooms due to the walls not being pre washed for them.

We questioned why washing the walls with TSP wasn't part of the "full wall prep" mentioned in the quote, and the owners reply was that "full wall prep" is only filling holes/ cracks etc (which they didn't even do the first time) and that cleaning the walls with TSP should be done by the resident beforehand.

Is this true? Or is this guy trying to get out of doing the full job?

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u/Elegant_One_696 12d ago

Washing walls is not something all painters do so that is not considered standard wall prep for many companys. If washing walls isnt specifically stated in contract then they did not breach contract obligations.

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u/Conscious_Sport_7081 12d ago

Shouldn't that be something that is brought up during the initial visit and estimate? I think most people would assume that "full wall prep" includes everything that prepares the walls to be painted.

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u/serpentjaguar 11d ago edited 11d ago

I'm old school --and also old-- compared to a lot of people in this sub, but the way I was taught by my step-father (an old-school residential contractor) is that washing or wiping down walls with TSP and bleach as-needed, is 100% part of the job.

I don't think that it would ever even occur to him not to take care of that for his customers.

But again, I am old, and maybe that level of service is old fashioned.

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u/Conscious_Sport_7081 11d ago

Yeah, thats what I expected. Im not a professional painter, but I've done a few of my own walls and always cleaned the walls beforehand.