Plasterers. Should they take their waste / rubbish?

[rosebunched]

Thinking offcuts of plasterboard, half used bags of plaster etc. Whose responsibility is it to dispose of? (This is for domestic not business.).

Its your responsibility but the plasterer should tell you that & leave it neat/ bagged up so easy for you.

Did they quote for removal of rubbish? If not it's your responsibility.

I think they should take it away and leave 'the site' clean.

Surely they can use the plaster on another job?

I think it’s all relative on the price
is it a business or cash in hand 1 Man set up

With some tradespeople you often have the words "leave site clean and tidy on completion" at the bottom of the quotation. If you don't have this then it's your responsibility. If they take it away and tip it as a business they will be charged, whereas you won't. Also, if they do take away waste make sure they are tipping legally.

Unless they have the licence required to be able to transport waste, they have to leave it on site. For big jobs, it is not unusual for a skip to be included in a quote, so waste can be removed that way. But plasterboard can't go in a skip so has to be disposed of separately anyway.

You'll need to take it to the tip and put it in a plasterboard skip.

Also if the materials were part of the quote, any leftovers bought as part of that quote are technically yours. You paid for eg: 6 bags of plaster and 12 sheets of plasterboard, and only 5.5 and 11 were used. The rest belongs to you.

Interesting. So are they the only trades who don’t have to take their waste? Certainly in my experience every other trade has taken their leftover waste.

Trades will never take it for free, but others might have charged you for it in the past by including the extra costs in their quotes.

With our plasterers, we have done all the stripping-out so we disposed of that. Small bits they removed themselves, they took away with them. If there had been a lot to get rid of, I'd have asked who was doing it.
Most local tips have a special place for plasterboard, I find if you ask the staff they are very helpful re where to put different types of waste.

What does your contract say?

I’m afraid the only trades I’ve found that take their waste are plumbers (who take any copper pipes they can lay their hands on) and gardeners (although they charge a fair bit to do it). I guess the others might if they charge you for it but I suspect it’ll be a lot more than a trip to the tip is worth to me.

Some do, some don’t. It probably depends what you pay them. But in my experience, tradesmen, at this time of year, are worse than usual, rushing off to be pub, finishing early etc. We had a joiner do a rushed job on Xmas Eve once. I’ve never seen such a mess. We’d previously used him before and he was much better.

It’s yours. You paid for it. Some tradesmen will take the leftovers if offered, but technically it’s yours so they shouldn’t just be running off with it. Eg, we had some large sheets of polycarbonate for a project that the builder left but took away once we made it clear we didn’t want it. But if they don’t want it/have a need then you can’t make them.

I agree re: plumbers. I have never been left with excess copper pipe!

Regardless of trade, you need a waste carriers licence to remove waste from site and tip it commercially. Some trades will have it, most smaller outfits won't. And some will just not care. It's easier for some trades than others, bits of leftover wood and brick are less difficult to get rid of/use elsewhere. But plasterboard is a restricted item, you can't just chuck it in a bin, so plasterers are more likely than some others to leave waste for the client to manage.