A single mum claims a 'cheeky' painter left her home in a 'shocking' state - but had the audacity to post selfies bragging about 'sitting down on the job' and 'doing **** all all day'. Jessica Burton had saved to have her home renovated last month when she decided to hire painter Paul Trythall, but says he turned up to work for just two days before leaving the job 'unfinished'.
The 37-year-old claims the tradesman made several excuses and failed to show up for work for three days, before she spotted he'd posted a picture from his bed on Facebook claiming he'd done 'absolutely **** all all day today' - after failing to return her calls or texts. Paul even uploaded selfies while relaxing on her black leather sofa and boasting he was 'sitting down on the job ffs' while covered in splatters of paint.
Now Jessica says her house was left 'a mess' and she was forced to pay out a further £200 for another painter to finish off Paul's work. However Paul claims he 'works quick' so is 'entitled to sit down whenever' he feels - and claims he'd have had the work done in two or three days but had been 'hit off balance' by Jessica not feeling comfortable leaving him in her house on his own.
Jessica, from Merthyr Tydfil, said: "It's horrendous and so upsetting. It's been really stressful for me and it's costing me more money now to try and put it right. Basically, he came, turned up on the Wednesday and Thursday at 10.30 and he left by 4pm. It wasn't a full day's work.
"While he was there, he was uploading selfies while I was in the next room saying 'sitting down on the job'. He was sat on my sofa covered in paint - I thought it was really cheeky. He was one of those guys who didn't give a monkeys. He had that attitude of 'I do what I want'. He was a very cocky 'I'll do as I please' sort of guy.
"I saved really hard for it and I just thought I'd be done like he said in those couple of days. Over a week later, me and my children couldn't sit down. It was a mess. I saved really hard for this work. I haven't done my house out for a while now.
"The photos I have of the work are absolutely shocking. You would never leave someone's home like that even if you weren't a professional."
The mum-of-four arranged for Paul to start work on Wednesday, April 27, but claims she was disappointed when the trader left the following day at 4pm. She claims he then didn't show up and made his excuses on Friday and Saturday, before being completely unreachable the next day.
Jessica said: "Friday came, no sign of him. I gave it a while then rang and text but no answer. He wasn't professional at all. I spoke to him then and he said 'so sorry about today, I'll be there 8am. I'll explain then'.
"On the Saturday, I got up at the crack of dawn. I eventually got hold of him and he said 'something's come up with [a family member] but I'll be there this afternoon'. We sat and waited. There was no sign of him. He then promised he'd be there on the Sunday.
"I got up Sunday, waited, rang and text. I couldn't get anything out of him but he had the cheek to put a post on Facebook of him in bed saying 'I've done **** all all day'."
Jessica claims she was so upset at her home being left in a mess that she broke down in tears in front of a carpet fitter who had popped over with samples. Jessica said: "Me and the kids couldn't keep living like that. The carpet fitter came with samples and I burst into tears. I said 'come in, take a look. This painter has left me and the children in this state'.
"He felt sorry for me and got in touch with a mate of his. Fair play to this guy, he only had one day off and came on Bank Holiday Monday and did quite a bit of work in the house."
The following day, she claims Paul then arrived to work but was annoyed that the other tradesman had used his gear and eventually left before she believes the job was completed. Jessica said: "All of a sudden he started wrapping his trays up. I said 'you're going now, are you?' He said 'yeah, the job's finished'.
"It wasn't. The doors were still yellow. I went to check the ceiling upstairs and I said 'you can't leave it looking like that?' He hadn't painted any of the ceilings up the stairs like we agreed, my banister was half painted. The photos are shocking.
"He sanded the ceiling over a freshly glossed bannister so there was all bits stuck to it. He told me I needed three tins of paint, he only used one. He'd barely given it a coat. There were parts of the walls that had the old colour on. There wasn't a single wall there that was finished - nothing. I said 'you can't leave my home looking like this'."
She claims Paul hadn't finished what he started and she has since had to pay another tradesman to finish up the work. When approached for comment, Paul bemoaned he was made to 'feel terrible' after Jessica refused to leave him alone in the house.
He also claims he was only paid £200 and after finishing the job, waited around outside Jessica's home for 15 minutes before leaving, realising he wouldn't be paid the rest of the money. Paul said: "She didn't [fully] pay me for the job. She paid £200 of it the week before even after paying what she was happy with as she checked the standard of work up to that point. If she wasn't happy she wouldn't have paid half.
"I then said I'd work the Friday or the Saturday I think it was, but I genuinely couldn't make that day if I wanted to as something came up. With that she had someone else to paint the rest (even using all my own tools and materials without confirming it with me first). Then she wants me back as that other person only did so much for her because of the price.
"I then went back and noticed the other person, which she even agreed wasn't a trained painter, had left all run on the bottom bannister which I had to sort.
"I completed the work. The only reason she wasn't happy [was because] she thought the parts I filled and sanded on the ceiling were still noticeable but they weren't. It was that the paint was still wet and I can assure you when it dried it would have been pure brilliant white like the rest of the ceilings.
"I have pictures of the finished job from me. I know she didn't have the money, this is what all this is over. On my first hour of the very beginning of this job I was made to feel really uncomfortable after me saying 'what's your plans today are you going anywhere' for her to reply saying 'no I won't dare let you alone in my house'.
"It made me feel terrible if I'm honest as [if] I was untrustworthy. Maybe she worded it wrong, I don't know. On my last day there she was great I did say in the morning that I wasn't happy with the other person using my materials but five minutes after that everything was great. She even came back, we were speaking as you do and she was making coffee etc and was happy as far as I thought.
"It was when I finished and said I'm done then she walked to the bottom of the stairs, looked up at the wet parts I mentioned earlier and said it weren't done. I replied to say when it dries she will see it's complete and she then started acting different.
"I'm good at my job, I work quick, so I'm entitled to sit down whenever I feel. Anyone else would have taken about six or seven days to do that work. I would have completed in two to three days but when she said about not leaving me in hers alone it hit me right off balance."
