Cost of skim Plasterering in Surrey - AIBU?!

[callinggloriaaa]

I've recently moved into a 3 bed semi in Surrey and need the whole house skim plastered and a few of the ceilings over boarded.

It's not in bad condition and I've already stripped all of the wallpaper.

I've been quoted almost £6k for the job- this seems steep (and a lot more than the estimates I found on websites like checkatrade) but I'm new to this- can anyone share how much they spent on a similar job, how much is reasonable and any plasterer recommendations in the area?

I'd probably say that's quite expensive but equally if he's a good plasterer he can pick and chose his jobs and will be worth his weight in gold.
My DH (a builder) can plaster but isn't the best so when we did our house he paid someone he regularly works with and you can tell the difference.
I think we paid £150 a day and he was here about a week which involved one big open plan lounge/dinner (boarding, skimming) and utility room.

That sounds very expensive. We paid £600 for a very small bathroom, living room & 2 hallways a few years ago in zone 3 London. Good quality work too! Took just over 3 days.

I had mine done (sorry/Hampshire) border but about 5 years ago. It's difficult to compare (in different houses/over 5 years) but I'd say that's expensive.

@arthurdaly

I'd probably say that's quite expensive but equally if he's a good plasterer he can pick and chose his jobs and will be worth his weight in gold. My DH (a builder) can plaster but isn't the best so when we did our house he paid someone he regularly works with and you can tell the difference. I think we paid £150 a day and he was here about a week which involved one big open plan lounge/dinner (boarding, skimming) and utility room.

Thank you! Totally agree I want a good finish but it sounds like £800-900 per (not particularly big) room is too much...that's a relief!

We paid £750 for a 4 bed semi Edwardian, skimmed throughout.
11 rooms, including bathroom and two toilets.
Some were really large rooms, high ceilings.
If you can vacate and give them the empty house can be done by two of them in a day.
How much per hour do they want to earn

Hertfordshire here, we had an artex bedroom ceiling plastered and it was £350 - 1 day.

I think most tradesmen are earning £200+ a day now, plus if they have an apprentice on £75 a day minimum, then materials, I suppose you are looking at £300+ a day. I'm thinking minimum a day per room, plus hallway, stairs and landing (2 days) so maybe 8 days for a 3 bed semi? 8 x £300 = £2400 minimum, then there could be 20% VAT, which brings it to nearly £3000 - so I think £6k is definitely a bit steep. Do you have that next door neighbour site, we have lots of people posting on there for various trades, always lots of replies with recommendations.

Always get 3 quotes

@Kamma89

That sounds very expensive. We paid £600 for a very small bathroom, living room & 2 hallways a few years ago in zone 3 London. Good quality work too! Took just over 3 days.

That sounds very cheap.

London. It was actually mates rates and we paid him more but he charged £150 a day. That is more in line with regional rates. I'd expect £175 a day really.

He is an excellent plasterer.

@Rina66

Hertfordshire here, we had an artex bedroom ceiling plastered and it was £350 - 1 day.

I think most tradesmen are earning £200+ a day now, plus if they have an apprentice on £75 a day minimum, then materials, I suppose you are looking at £300+ a day. I'm thinking minimum a day per room, plus hallway, stairs and landing (2 days) so maybe 8 days for a 3 bed semi? 8 x £300 = £2400 minimum, then there could be 20% VAT, which brings it to nearly £3000 - so I think £6k is definitely a bit steep. Do you have that next door neighbour site, we have lots of people posting on there for various trades, always lots of replies with recommendations.

Thank you- this is super helpful! Will get another couple of quotes and see where we end up!

I've just paid £780 for a 1 day job for 3 men, so 260/day each

I would expect a bigger job to cost eg £200-240/day for a plasterer, 120/day for a labourer (this is London)

Agree with PP that trades expect £200 a day at least, or £30 an hour for smaller jobs, but say £45/50 for a v small (less than 1 hr) job

@Devlesko I am amazed you could get 11 rooms plus done in one day. Did they take the skirting and rads off?
But OP i think your quote is high. I have smallish 2-3 bed houses done for about £1200. Plus joiner to refix skirting and rads.

A whole house for 6k including some overboarding sounds reasonable

good tradesman will be looking to earn £ 250 + per day on a price

get another 2 quotes

[quote Changingwiththetimes]@Devlesko I am amazed you could get 11 rooms plus done in one day. Did they take the skirting and rads off?
But OP i think your quote is high. I have smallish 2-3 bed houses done for about £1200. Plus joiner to refix skirting and rads.[/quote]
Yes, a real good job too.
We were regular customers though, not for plastering but other things we couldn't quite manage.
We are GTR Manachester/ Lancs so a lot cheaper here too.
We refit and took off our own rads and skirting boards.
We have those walls that arch round the window, sort of rounded, no idea what they are called though.

Oh another perspective it's worth about 200k as well, it's bloody enormous, no idea how much it would be in the south frighteningly.

Always get a plasterer on recommendation. You can tell the difference. We paid £150 per day for ours.

We’ve had hallway/ stairs/ landing, downstairs toilet, main bathroom, dining room and two chimney breasts skimmed, spare room completely replastered, all ceilings boarded and skimmed. It has cost around 5k. Much more than I expected. We are in SE London/ Kent border.