ᐅ Dissatisfied with plastering and painting work. How to proceed with defect correction?
Created on: 25 Oct 2025 09:02
R
Robo987
Hello everyone,
Since we are currently still abroad and our house is empty, we have been fully renovating it since the beginning of the year. Because I trained as an electrician, I am doing some of the work myself.
The house was completed in eastern Germany in 1980. The walls are covered with a very sandy plaster, which was applied rather unevenly, resulting in visible waves and irregularities at first glance.
In January, I contacted a well-known painter/plasterer master and convinced him to take on the project. He is a master craftsman and currently a one-person company; he has completed several jobs for us in the past when he still had two employees. We did not sign any contract with him. It was agreed that he would smooth out the wavy walls, then wallpaper them with glass fleece and paint them white. Installation of drywall (GKD) was also agreed upon. The planned move-in date is early November 2025. Pricing was based on time and materials.
He started the work in January and covered the wooden floors, which we want to keep. In May, he plastered over the open electrical channels and finished plastering where radiators were to be installed later, as well as the door and window reveals. Nothing happened in June and July. In August, he installed, filled, and sanded the drywall. He also began filling the remaining walls and made good progress.
At the beginning of September, we spoke on the phone. I expressed my concerns about the slow pace and worries that we might not be able to move in on time in early November, since additional work (floor sanding and lacquer) also needs to be done. I asked if I should hire someone else. He said no, he could complete everything, so I let him continue. He then worked hard for three days and finished one room where I could finally sleep when I was on site.
By September, the other trades as well as I had completed our respective work.
By the end of September, the painter had managed to do quite a bit of filling and wallpapering and came to the site whenever it suited him—usually only one day per week up to now.
The rooms are mostly finished. The hallway is still missing; I don’t know if he will manage it by November, but it’s possible.
Another well-known painter/master was on site two days ago. From his point of view, the work was not done professionally. These are the defects he noticed:
My idea is to do an inspection with the contractor when he says he is finished or sends me the invoice and point out the defects. I would give him four weeks to fix them, and if he cannot manage it, I would hire the other company to complete the remaining work and send the invoice to the first painter.
Is this approach okay, or how would you proceed?
Best regards,
Robo
Since we are currently still abroad and our house is empty, we have been fully renovating it since the beginning of the year. Because I trained as an electrician, I am doing some of the work myself.
The house was completed in eastern Germany in 1980. The walls are covered with a very sandy plaster, which was applied rather unevenly, resulting in visible waves and irregularities at first glance.
In January, I contacted a well-known painter/plasterer master and convinced him to take on the project. He is a master craftsman and currently a one-person company; he has completed several jobs for us in the past when he still had two employees. We did not sign any contract with him. It was agreed that he would smooth out the wavy walls, then wallpaper them with glass fleece and paint them white. Installation of drywall (GKD) was also agreed upon. The planned move-in date is early November 2025. Pricing was based on time and materials.
He started the work in January and covered the wooden floors, which we want to keep. In May, he plastered over the open electrical channels and finished plastering where radiators were to be installed later, as well as the door and window reveals. Nothing happened in June and July. In August, he installed, filled, and sanded the drywall. He also began filling the remaining walls and made good progress.
At the beginning of September, we spoke on the phone. I expressed my concerns about the slow pace and worries that we might not be able to move in on time in early November, since additional work (floor sanding and lacquer) also needs to be done. I asked if I should hire someone else. He said no, he could complete everything, so I let him continue. He then worked hard for three days and finished one room where I could finally sleep when I was on site.
By September, the other trades as well as I had completed our respective work.
By the end of September, the painter had managed to do quite a bit of filling and wallpapering and came to the site whenever it suited him—usually only one day per week up to now.
The rooms are mostly finished. The hallway is still missing; I don’t know if he will manage it by November, but it’s possible.
Another well-known painter/master was on site two days ago. From his point of view, the work was not done professionally. These are the defects he noticed:
- Walls are still partially wavy (visible at first glance)
- Plaster is partly hollow
- Walls inadequately prepared/sanded (imperfections show through the glass fleece)
- Wallpaper poorly glued in some places (peeling at corners and in small sections on the surface – according to him, wallpaper strips are missing)
- Switch panels cut poorly
- Unpainted areas/poorly painted spots
My idea is to do an inspection with the contractor when he says he is finished or sends me the invoice and point out the defects. I would give him four weeks to fix them, and if he cannot manage it, I would hire the other company to complete the remaining work and send the invoice to the first painter.
Is this approach okay, or how would you proceed?
Best regards,
Robo
ypg schrieb:
You’re not in a legal advice forum here, nor is there a lawyer present. He wouldn’t be able to give legal advice anyway. That’s not the point here, it’s about exchanging experience on the topic.
ypg schrieb:
And we could talk forever without knowing whether it is according to the VOB (German Construction Contract Procedures) or the Building Code (I just read that there is no contract at all), whether Q2 is sufficient for fleece or not (usually Q3 is used), your duty of care as the client, his duty of care as the craftsman, and so on. In the end, you can’t avoid learning the hard way. Good that you finally realize that. I’ll save myself from having to repeat it over and over. It’s primarily not about Q2 and fleece, etc., but about the fact that the walls are uneven — a blind person with a cane could see it. That can’t be considered state-of-the-art technology, neither at Q1 nor at Q4.
If I pointed that out during the construction phase, I have fulfilled my obligation anyway. The fact that a master painter then still wallpapered it and had to be told, “Hey, the walls are so uneven that any layperson can see it,” is simply ridiculous.
ypg schrieb:
That reminds me: the 9500€, there was an invoice for that. And you paid it without complaining? Yep.
And precisely because of the uneven plaster, professional expertise is needed. I just reread post 1... the plaster was already uneven.
My landlord, who has renovated many, especially older houses, would probably always remove the old plaster completely first... so the question is, what was agreed upon—perhaps the scope was reduced due to costs. Because I find it hard to imagine really smooth plaster if it’s quite sandy and uneven (according to your description). These are, for example, questions that need to be clarified. And they fall into the areas
My landlord, who has renovated many, especially older houses, would probably always remove the old plaster completely first... so the question is, what was agreed upon—perhaps the scope was reduced due to costs. Because I find it hard to imagine really smooth plaster if it’s quite sandy and uneven (according to your description). These are, for example, questions that need to be clarified. And they fall into the areas
ypg schrieb:
And we can debate here as long as we want without knowing whether this is under VOB or the Building Code (I’m just reading that there is no contract at all), whether Q2 is sufficient for fleece or not (usually Q3 is used), your duty of care as the client, his duty of care as the tradesman, and so on and so forth—in the end, you’ll have to learn the hard way. My expertise lies in the legal system—having the right and getting the right are not the same, nor is fault always clearly divided between zero and 100%.
wiltshire schrieb:
1. Distinguish between responsibility and blame.
2. Create a clear vision and project plan with delegated responsibilities, a schedule with milestones, and criteria…
3. Regularly discuss progress, challenges, and interim results with everyone involved.
4. Communicate immediately when you notice anything—praise, criticism, questions, offers of help…
5. Show interest in the people working for you and contribute to their well-being without overstepping boundaries. All of this was done. It worked well with all other trades. So, what now?
wiltshire schrieb:
There is no reliable way to force someone to perform well, but there are methods to recognize in time when you need to intervene and, if necessary, replace a person for the sake of the project.
This is the responsibility for results, which can be fulfilled even without specialized knowledge. From a project management perspective, that may sound straightforward, but the reality is different—especially since this involves people, trust, and the fact that we have already completed two projects with this master painter successfully, with his advice to wait until the work is finished. We have discussed this many times, I have spoken often and was frequently on-site to point out issues, so I fulfilled my duty as a client.
kbt09 schrieb:
And precisely because of the uneven plaster, professional expertise is needed. I just reread the first post... the plaster was already uneven.
My landlord, who has renovated many especially older houses, would always completely remove the old plaster first... so the question is, what was agreed upon? Perhaps, due to costs, the scope was reduced. Because uneven plaster that is quite sandy (according to your description) is hard for me to imagine being smoothed properly. These are, for example, questions that need clarifying. And they fall into the areas We never wanted cheap and never expressed that. At the beginning of the year, I openly asked the master painter/plasterer whether I should remove the plaster and how best to proceed; I mentioned the existing plaster and clearly told him that I am bothered by these waves and want the surface to be neat/smooth—call it what you like. He said I didn’t need to remove the plaster and that he could level it using bonding plaster and filling compounds.
On the walls where the windows were replaced, he did everything perfectly.
Only the stairwell looks like this, and in my opinion, that was only because he was under a lot of stress and didn’t take enough time.
The best approach would be:
Hire a lawyer and have them send a few letters to the painter. If there is still no agreement after one year, you can file a lawsuit in court. It is very likely that a settlement will be reached because it becomes difficult to determine who said what or how things originally looked. The painter should have informed you, and you should have inspected the work. Above all, you probably should not have paid the invoices in full, as this is often interpreted as acceptance of satisfactory work.
In the meantime, you can have another professional redo the walls and pay that invoice yourself. Alternatively, if you decide to live with it, one could argue that it is only a cosmetic flaw.
Hire a lawyer and have them send a few letters to the painter. If there is still no agreement after one year, you can file a lawsuit in court. It is very likely that a settlement will be reached because it becomes difficult to determine who said what or how things originally looked. The painter should have informed you, and you should have inspected the work. Above all, you probably should not have paid the invoices in full, as this is often interpreted as acceptance of satisfactory work.
In the meantime, you can have another professional redo the walls and pay that invoice yourself. Alternatively, if you decide to live with it, one could argue that it is only a cosmetic flaw.
ypg schrieb:
The best approach would be:
Get a lawyer and have them send some letters to the painter. If after a year there’s still no agreement, then you file a lawsuit. Most likely, there will be a settlement because it becomes difficult to prove who said what or how things looked before. The painter should have informed you, and you should have inspected the work. Above all, you probably shouldn’t have paid the invoices in full, as that is often interpreted as acceptance of the work.
In the meantime, have another contractor redo the walls and pay that invoice yourself. Or you accept the situation, in which case it could be argued that it’s merely a cosmetic defect. Sorry to ask again, but do you read my answers carefully or just skim and write whatever comes to mind?
It was a partial payment; the final invoice is still pending.
Why a lawyer? First and foremost, I have to report the defects to the tradesperson in writing and give them the opportunity to fix them. I have already mentioned this several times. Also, I inspected and pointed out issues during the work.
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