i hired a painter then decided to put him on hold what do i tell him how do i handle this pleas

i hired a painter who came and did 2 days preparation, moving things, filling gaps, and then he got genuinely sick so is taking a few days off
meanwhile i'm thinking i want to delay the painting entirely and treat the dampness problem first which different companies take different periods of time right up to around 6 months to treat dampness..

how do i best handle this, what do i tell painter, how do i pay him for 2 days preparation without the actual painting. what can i do to handle this situation in the best possible way to cause least stress to the painter and to our relationship and i definitely want to use this painter in the future and this is stressing me. thank you

 

I think it's a fair reason to treat dampness first he should understand that. Kay tell him you'll do that they let him know when it's done

If you got a quoted price offer to pay a % to cover the 2 days.he may be happy to wait till the end

 

pay him the contracted amount upfront.

 

Then he has your money, may never come back, or may never finish the job properly.

Most painters work on an hourly or day rate, offer to pay for that as work to date and u will rebook him for when damp is treated

 

Yes but he has probably set aside time to finish the job and he will suffer a loss if the home owner breaches their contract.

 

Agree with DaveM and bob_shovel on this one. Offer to pay a certain amount (a little over what you think is fair) and negotiate from there. Tradies often put clients on hold to return to jobs they previously started or to bring in new business. He has put you on hold now. As long as you are pleasant and clear I would say he'll be fine with this. Alternatively, he could paint everywhere that doesn't have rising damp and come back after the rising damp has been dealt with. He will understand.

 

I deal with painters on an almost daily basis and they are almost always flexible and move jobs around based on weather and renovation overruns. I dont see any issue with arranging a new start date, 99% of painters will be fine and the 1% that turn nasty arent the sort of trade you want you want to deal with anyway.

@Terry_w as a solicitor I am surprised you say to just pay them their full job payment upfront as compensation for a job not yet really started let alone finished based on a possible loss which has not even occured yet... very unlike you.

 

Not everything I say is legal advice!

If I was advising, as a lawyer, the home owner I would tell them to just pay for work done and postpone the painting. Rethink if you are sued. If I was advising the painter I would say demand payment for breach of contract. If not consider suing.

I am just painting a house right now, so my sympathies lie with the painter...

 

Having an open discussion with the painter might work.

Been able to delay painting your place may not be inconvenient for him as he has taken time off sick and might have to delay other jobs due to this due to lost days. Hopefully that will all add up to you just paying for the prep work twice.

 

The owner may have set aside time to have the painter come in and have suffered a loss due to the sickness.

I'd be inclined to offer pro rata for the 2 days + a little extra as an act of good faith that you will be bringing the painter back in to complete the job.

 

I would explain the situation to the painter immediately and see what he suggests. Be prepared to counter with your own requirements.

(I wonder if this is the painter who Justine mentioned in relation to painting on waterproofing in another thread?)

 

Yes best to just have an open discussion - it may be no problem at all in delaying.

 

gotta be commercial sometimes.

 

How many times has a contractor started a job and then disappeared for a few weeks before coming back to finish? You don't ask for a discount.

You might just have a few choice words with them on their return.

Justine, just pay them for what they have done. Explain the situation of course. There's plenty of work out there. He won't go hungry.

 

That sounds reasonable.
Would probably need to pay for any materials they've already got for the job too.