Painter - site contamination

I engaged a registered Master Painter to strip and repaint an area of my 1950s weatherboard house. They started work on the house yesterday morning, and I came home at lunchtime to find them spreading paint flakes around and dry sanding. This was in contradiction to their documented paint removal process on their website which included up-front lead testing, chemical stripping, encapsulated sanding, drop cloths on all nearby surfaces, full PPE for their team, which was not the service we got.

I instructed them to stop, called the owner and asked them to verify they’d tested for lead. They hadn’t. The owner then showed up with a test kit, which was positive, but they tried to say it wasn’t a problem as the test strip was “only pink, not bright red”. So I purchased my own test kit, which proved the base coat they’d been stripping was beyond a doubt lead paint.

Since stopping work, they have removed all scaffolding and vacuumed up the site, and removed topsoil from the affected area. But I can still see paint chips.

I suspect that they subcontracted this job to another business - the van parked outside when I got home was from a different painting company. And the painters seemed to be taking their instructions from someone else on the phone, rather than the owner.

I’ve notified WorkSafe and my Council.

While I know it’s standard to give the company a chance to put things right, I have zero faith in their hazard management. And still have a mess on my property to clean up. A very helpful person on the phone from the CAB said it’s likely a Substantial Failure under the CGA and we should have grounds to cancel the contract, but that it could wind up in Disputes if the company disagrees.

What is our best course of action? I have no capacity and time to manage this headache, I just wanted my wall painted.