Plastering - feeling a bit ripped off!

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Got a quote from a plasterer.

Room 14ft x 12ft
skim ceiling flat over old artex
board over chimney breast and refit coving around the breast. Skim 3 walls and around large window.

Quoted 4 days to do the job, said it would be tricky due to artex.

Cost £1300

They came and did 5 hours work yesterday and 6 hours today. Have finished and yes, it’s a nice job and they admit it went a bit easier than they expected.

Even though it’s taken 2 whole days less they won’t budge on the price. And they want cash. Well I can’t get cash out so bank transfer it is.

Why do trades lie and make out the job is bigger than it is. I feel pretty mugged off!

How many people did the work?

If two, they might have costed at four-man days?

Yes, two men.

You were given a price
they did it more quickly and you’re happy with it
it wasn’t a price per day

I need to learn how to plaster then! What an hourly rate

Did you get more than 1 quote? It sounds like they are a bit inexperienced and overestimated how long it would take. Unfortunately you agreed to the price. Presumably if it had taken longer than they expected you wouldn't have paid more?

Plasterers do earn good money, but it's a difficult skill and bloody hard graft.

Thats less than 60 quid an hour per person for the hours they worked- seems pretty reasonable to me.

was That quote including materials?

I think you’re being a bit disingenuous talking about an hourly rate. Trades people do a lot more work than just the time physically spent in your home, and you’re paying for the skills.

Yes that includes materials.

i actually want to be told this is normal! I feel so ripped off! I was very naive in trusting this guy - he’s the father of a guy I use regularly for painting and I was assured he won’t rip me off

2 men two days Inc materials? That's a bargain

They've charged you for the job and given you an indication of the number of days (probably so you would have an idea of how much disruption would be involved.) DP is a plasterer - his day rate is £225 a day plus materials. If a big job he'll employ a labourer for approx £100 a day as well. Plastering is all about timing. Sometimes they can lay up quickly, other times they need to leave longer between sets. Most times he just quotes for the job regardless of number of days because he knows roughly how long it will take. If it goes over he loses out but that's life.

Regarding paying cash/transfer - this should have been agreed at the quote stage. Don't assume all trades who ask for cash are avoiding tax. Cash is a legitimate way of paying, just get an invoice if you're concerned.

They did the work in time and to budget (and well!)- not sure how that would equate to feeling 'ripped off'.

A rip off would be the other way surely, ie they say they can do it in 2 days but it ends up taking 4 and charging twice as much

So 2 men were thet for 2 days? That is 4 days!

If that's two men for the best part of two days it's not an unreasonable price.

He's done a great job, he proved to be trustworthy/reliable/skilled, which is not always a given!

Re: cash, yes, he should have warned you as it takes a few days to amass that sort of cash.

I think it a case of live and learn. I had this happen to me with a blind fitting company, gave a quote saying he'll need 4 guys and itll take him all day. Turned up just him and he was here 90 mins, charged £500 for that 90 mins.

In future make sure you get multiple qoutes, in my case i've ordered blinds since online and fitted them myself!

As @gano said.

They may have be overly cautious giving you 4 days so you didn’t complain it took longer than originally planned.

Plastering is not an easy skill and it’s very physically challenging.

My DF could turn his hand to most things but would never take on a big plastering job. Same with my DBs, both tilers but again, unless it was a small diy job or doing it for family they’d never claim they could do it for a customer. They’d always tell a customer to get a professional plaster in. One of my dbs helped me with some renovations on my house but wouldn’t touch the plastering, he got a professional in to make sure it was done properly.

This

That's 4 man days

You haven't been ripped off.

Agree with this. My ex-husband is a plasterer and for all his (many, many, many) faults in other areas of life, he was very skilled at his job and it's hard hard graft.

He once did a job for family and I had a go at holding the loaded hawk (that he would hold for multiple hours a day). I lasted about 5 minutes before my arm was shaking.

Plastering is bloody hard work and takes a lot of training and a long time to get good at it. Ceilings are back breaking and artex is a pain in the arse. That's what you're paying for. This is about £60 an hour but they won't be squeezing multiple jobs into a day, so really you're paying a day rate of £325 each, and out of that has to come the cost of plaster/plasterboard/PVA/coving/other materials (which like everything else has shot up), tax, NI, contribution to tool replacement, van upkeep, fuel etc etc.

I've done a bit of plastering and would tackle a small job but would happily throw £1,300 at a job like this.

Two days for two men is 4 days work.

£325 a day including all the materials? I think that's a good deal actually!!

4 man days plus materials. Sounds bang on to me.

Yeah this sounds great to me.

If it took 6 days would you have expected to pay more?

This is why my DH never used to give actual amount of days/time that it would take to finish a job. Good plasterers are really hard to find that can fit you in.

But they priced for the job, and not per day. So surely its better for you that they finished quickly so you can get your house back to normal. You didn't actually ask them to knock some money off for doing it quicker?

Plastering is a skilled trade, and there were two of them. If you're going to get so het up on how long it takes maybe get quotes for day work.....and then you can stress for how long it is taking. I wouldnt say they've lied - they just didn't know exactly what was involved until they start. Sometimes its easier and they end up quids in, sometimes the job is a right nightmare and they have to take it on the chin.