[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

Went to a job today and the decorator was still there. The job was a 3 bedroomed flat that had just been purchased (£300,000 plus). To my anoyance the decorator had got paint on every carpet and not just alittle... it was everywhere. Ofcourse I bought this to the owners attention and added to the price accordingly. My question is this... If we damage the carpet or even scuff the paint we are liable and have an insurance claim on our hands. How does the customer stand with a decorator getting paint on the carpets and we charge extra for the removal... is the decorator liable and should he pay for the removal?

[wynne jones]

Yep, life ain't fair and we a bottom of the poopile.

I used to come in after sloppy decorators and try my utmost and if anything didn't come out you got that very dissapointed in you look.

The answer is quite simple. Tell them to make sure they put down drop sheets as most paint will not come out or will cost a lot more to remove. When you turn up either way you are covered.

[petermaybury]

With a lot of the letting agent contracts and council contracts we charge extra for paint removal and list ti seperately to our normal charges the letting agents then charge this back to the painters it is not long before the painters bring out their dustsheets. With on contract we have we are not able to charge above the negotiated rates and therefore do not do a lot of paint removal.
Although people on this forum very wrongly think that paint is a big problem it is not. If you just spray any emulsion with meths and put a dab of paint stripper on any gloss it come off quite easily. It is only when it is on a big scale that it takes a little more time.
http://I love it when somebody says that that wont come out several other have tried................ It is just annoying that a so called tradesman like a painter has so little respect for other people's property that they can even do a job like that without taking any precautions..

Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

[Bob McWilliam]

I ask my clients not to tell their decorator we are going to clean the carpets as they seem to take less care if they know.

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

This so called tradesman had used dust sheets but it was predominantly where he had painted the skirting boards. It looked like he had actually masked the skirting boards and it was where he had removed the tape. Scruffy little bugger had not even bothered to hoover the dust or paint flakes up and had obviously walked in the paint at some stage as there was marks down the hallway in the middle. The paint was all sucessfully removed at an extra charge.

It was so annoying, took me an extra hour all because of somebodies lack of care. I told the customer to point it out to him and deduct some money off his invoice - you never know it might just make him think twice in the future.

[homenclean]

Turned up to do a job today much to our suprise the decorater had not finnished dust sheets and ladders paint cans every where but no decorater. Should have been done, but told customer he`d been called to another job and would be back at 4.30 waist of my time and an unhappy customer. who was eager to get the property relet.

They are as you say inconsiderate pains in the ass.

John

[Steve_Knight]

Monty
What product did you find best to remove the paint?

Cheers

Steve

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

Usually give it a blast with "HOT" pre spray to soften it... then rinse with hand tool then if not removed spot with solvex (remembering not to rub it)... another rinse and hay presto... its gone. Some spots of paint can simply be hot rinsed with hand tool and are gone.

I cleaned a flat last night with paint spots everywhere. Bedroom, hall and lounge. The paint was red emulsion and white emulsion. They had splilt the red paint in the bedroom and tried ro remove it themself. Cream carpet and red paint. What a messs they created. This was a chalange due to them rubbing it in but using the above method it was completly removed. In total there was about 50 to 75 paint slodges/spots /spilages but I managed to remove them all. The customer was amazed and also now has learnt that when a spillade of any kind happens not to rub it as i shown him how it effects the removal process when done by a professional. The whole job took less than 2 hours and a very happy customer.

[james roffey]

I ask my clients not to tell their decorator we are going to clean the carpets as they seem to take less care if they know.

Spot on thats what i said on a job last friday, "dont tell them the carpets are being cleaned they will think they can be as messy as they like" :

[Steve_Knight]

Usually give it a blast with "HOT" pre spray to soften it... then rinse with hand tool then if not removed spot with solvex (remembering not to rub it)... another rinse and hay presto... its gone. Some spots of paint can simply be hot rinsed with hand tool and are gone.

I cleaned a flat last night with paint spots everywhere. Bedroom, hall and lounge. The paint was red emulsion and white emulsion. They had splilt the red paint in the bedroom and tried ro remove it themself. Cream carpet and red paint. What a messs they created. This was a chalange due to them rubbing it in but using the above method it was completly removed. In total there was about 50 to 75 paint slodges/spots /spilages but I managed to remove them all. The customer was amazed and also now has learnt that when a spillade of any kind happens not to rub it as i shown him how it effects the removal process when done by a professional. The whole job took less than 2 hours and a very happy customer.

Cheers Monty
We also find that heat can remove paint spots with great effect.

[creighton foyle]

i think you guys are being a bit unfair on painters, i have been a decorator for most of my working life and am very careful about not getting paint on carpets as are most painters i know because just as if a cc'r shrinks a carpet he ends up owning it so does a painter end up owning the carpet if he gets paint on it. are you really saying that people allow painters to spill paint on their carpets without asking for recompense ?. there are cowboys in all walks of life but do'nt go tarring all painters with the same brush.