Plastering costs. Can anyone in the know help?

[Laiste]

A new 4m x 4m room.
Walls + ceiling freshly plaster boarded and ready.
How much for a plaster skim on the walls and ceiling would you think?

We've been quoted £310.
Guy seems nice. DH texting saying it seems too much.
I'm being told to decide!

Help MN please?

How many workers? How long will it take?
Is he / are they on a price or are they estimating based on a day rate?
Sounds about there right figure though, dp owns a building company, the money earners are plasterers and bricklayers - think there must be a lot of shit ones doing it for cheap because generally you either want a job doing properly or a job doing cheap but you can’t have both. Brickies and plasterers round our way are very in demand and get booked up far in advance.

that's about right

Thank you.

One guy working alone.
He says one days work - the £310 is day rate.
That price includes materials.
And VAT (I think) - i've just texted him to double check that!

The ceiling is curved down 2 sides so not dead simple.
There's a window with a deep reveal to get around as well.

We just our living room done with is a similar size. Make good the walls (some rendering too) and skim a curved artex ceiling. It was £400 and although we live in the south east it's a slightly cheaper area than most. Sounds correct to me. A decent plasterer is worth keeping sweet as well!

I always think plasterers more than earn what they charge-it’s such a physical job as well as being very skilled. Sounds a good price!

I'd say too much - my husband is a plasterer and charges £160 a day (I think he's too cheap!) This probably doesn't include materials but a bag or two of plaster doesn't cost the earth! I would get a couple more quotes. Sometimes it's better to get a price for the whole job rather than working in day rates as it gets confusing.

Plastering ceilings isn't a pleasant job to do, it's such hard work! I think £310 sounds about right

This is all very very helpful, thank you.

@CakeNinja ... generally you either want a job doing properly or a job doing cheap but you can’t have both

I completely agree.

We can't really get a quote for the whole job as we're adding 6 rooms to a house while we live in it and need the plastering done one room at a time as we finish it and move into them. (we're building it ourselves)(it's a bloody nightmare)

@stephn88 - agreed! I can't even put up curtains without getting achey arms!

@CakeNinja ... generally you either want a job doing properly or a job doing cheap but you can’t have both

I completely agree.

Sometimes you get neither. And some of the cheaper ones are actually good.

I feel your pain as I have just had a new house built and took over the project management after the roof was on.

My plasterer charged £150 a day and was excellent (in Yorkshire)
The first of my crap plumbers charged £300 a half day and was absolutely crap. Other plumbers charged £150 a day and were slightly better.

As plastering is so critical, and you have lots more rooms to do I would make sure that you get someone with a personal recommendation if you can - but definitely get 3 or 4 quotes.

The quotes for my small house varied from £2000 to £8000

I'm so grateful for all this insight.

@Hecateh - i had to ask on our village community page for a plasterer recommendation. We've had plumbers, electricians, roofers and renderers though here in the last 18 months and all were happy to recommend various trades but none of them would commit to recommending a local plasterer. I don't know anyone personally who's had any done. We are trying hard to keep all our tradespeople local ones.

2 plastering names kept cropping up on my FB recommendation query and this guy is one of them. 2 or 3 villages away. He answered straight away on Wednesday eve. and was able to pop in and look at the job this morning. The other just isn't answering his phone and has no other method of contact.

It's quite stressful choosing someone when you know it's going to cost big bucks and you're not 100% of what to expect price wise.

You're suspicious of too cheap and outraged at £££

Snatch his handoff.
I think that’s a bargain...and I live somewhere where labour is cheap
That’s a big room

I paid £1200 14 years ago and that was to remove large brick fire place and brick arch, replace some timber behind fireplace and square off arch, make good and replaster. Room is 24 by 13 feet

Fabulous job, but omg..the mess. I went to Florida while it was done.
My daughter came round burst into tears and booked me into a hotel for two nights.

There was brown plaster dust everywhere..over every window and door. I cried when I saw it.
Now it’s all painted white and that will never change.
I still have a couple of artexed ceilings..and the answer is no. Never

I'm in Staffordshire and most trades people including plasterers charge £200 per day.

He's hired!

Told DH i've been googling plastering prices and what to expect. I said the price seems good. He wasn't totally convinced.

Told DH i've been on Mumsnet and people are saying it's not a bad price. He rolled his eyes (i could tell down the phone) and said book him in then ...

I feel your pain op
I’ve had 2 extensions on this house and one huge makeover, a rewire , and two total house repaints all in one go.
The smell of the paint lasted for months and my three aloe Vera plants nearly died as they coped with the fumes.

I’ve been here 43 years and after chucking more money at it again two years ago new paths, new fence, that white stuff on outside, new garage door, new fascia boards and guttering...I’m doing nothing else.

Well apart from sorting out the bit of garden I have left

I was charged just over £300 for two days (although slightly smaller job in each room)

That’s pretty cheap to be honest. I’ve had several rooms done over the last few years and even a student was £250

Thank you for the continued replies. You can never have enough info.

@Dowser - ''that white stuff''
It's like a hellish merry-go-round. You can't stop once you get on. You have to get to the end otherwise it would all be a waste of money. DON'T start me about the white stuff. The old advice is 'think of a figure and then double it, then you wont be disappointed' when it comes to house renovation. When it was time to source renderers I thought of a figure. DH thought of a figure. We were both about 4 grand out - 6K we paid for the rendering in the end!! That was a pretty good price for the amount we needed as well.

Been clearing the room to be plastered. Getting done mid week. First bit of plaster! Yay!

We paid £200 for a reboard and skim of our bedroom ceiling and £580 for the same for our living room which is roughly double the size. We got 3 quotes for each job and they were all very close in price.

Posted too soon. I think your quite is a bargain for a full room!

Quote even 🙄

Absolute bargain. I would pay £450 for that - and that's cheap round here (London). It's something I know a lot about - have had four houses replastered gradually (ie one or two rooms at a time) over the last 4 years.