Lesson 7. The Purpose and Role of the Q1–Q4 System

In this lesson, we will examine the role of the Q1–Q4 system in the decorator’s work. You will learn why it is important not only when choosing decorative material, but also in the process of interacting with the client and with the craftsmen who prepare the walls.

In practice, situations often arise where craftsmen responsible for preparing surfaces for finishing materials do not have sufficient knowledge about decorative coatings or the requirements for base quality needed for their application. Even more often, work is carried out without a clear understanding of the final result and without relying on a generally accepted system of surface preparation classification.

Instead of clear standards, abstract formulations are used, such as “for tile,” “for wallpaper,” or “for decorative plaster.” On the one hand, such expressions are easier to explain to the client; on the other hand, they do not provide an objective understanding of surface quality. The result: what one craftsman considers “for painting,” another may interpret as “for wallpaper.”

Example dialogue: Wall preparation craftsman: “What do you plan for the walls?” Client: “Decorative plaster.” Wall preparation craftsman: “Then we’ll prepare it ‘for decorative plaster’! We’ll do it as if for ourselves!”

Such designations have a serious drawback — their interpretation depends entirely on the personal experience and subjective opinion of the craftsman. They lack clear and measurable criteria of flatness and smoothness, so the final quality of preparation can vary greatly.

This vagueness of concepts and the client’s lack of clear understanding of how preparation quality affects the appearance of the final coating often benefits inexperienced or unscrupulous craftsmen. For them, it is advantageous to work under conditions without clear standards and transparent requirements. Theoretically, decorative material can be applied even to a surface prepared “for tile,” but all the problems that appear later will no longer concern those who did the preparation.

Working under such “blurred” requirements, craftsmen gain the ability to freely interpret the level of preparation, convincing the client that “decorative plaster will cover everything.” For them, this is convenient: the client usually has no tools or knowledge to objectively assess quality or control the process. As a result, responsibility for the consequences is shifted to the decorator or even to the client, while the wall preparation craftsman effectively avoids accountability.

In this situation, the client is left only to hope for luck. For them, the choice of decorative plaster most often comes down to visual preferences — an impressive example from the internet or a beautiful sample from a store. The requirements for surface preparation for the chosen decorative material remain unclear. And none of the participants in the process rush to explain these important nuances.

Sellers, interested in selling as many decorative materials as possible, prefer to remain silent about potential difficulties related to base quality. Craftsmen preparing the surface also rarely emphasize the classification of base quality and its impact on the final result. Moreover, they often do not possess this knowledge themselves.

Additional difficulties arise when surface preparation is initially carried out for one type of finish, but later the client or designer changes the decision. In such cases, without considering the specifics of the base, a thin‑layer decorative coating may be chosen, without realizing that it will highlight even the smallest defects that would have been invisible under another material.

In this chain, high‑quality preparation is most important for the decorator. It directly determines the convenience of working with the material and the final result, for which the craftsman is responsible to the client.

Therefore, it is crucial not only to know the requirements for surface preparation but also to be able to explain them to the client. They must understand that proper wall preparation is the key to a successful result. Not everything depends on the decorator, and mistakes made during preparation always affect the aesthetic appeal of the final wall finish.

Clear criteria for surface defects and their classification allow the decorator to explain to the client what level of wall preparation they currently have, which decorative materials can be applied at this stage, and what level of preparation is necessary for the décor the client wants. Thus, the client can consciously decide: either to use the available material options for the existing level, or to hire craftsmen for additional preparation to bring the surface to the required quality.

The Q‑level system gives the decorator a tool to explain requirements, and gives the client the ability to set specific demands for the craftsmen doing the preparation and to control the quality of the work performed.

In the next lesson, we will examine in detail the specific surface defects corresponding to Q1–Q4 levels, so that you can easily identify them in practice and correctly choose materials for your work.