Plastering quote...

bradleigh1977

Im a plasterer and i gave someone a quote yesterday, and i think they thought i was winding them up...

They are ripping down the old lathe and plaster ceiling and de nailing it.

My quote for a 6m x 5.5m ceiling, 20 odd plasterboards, screws ( which are the most expensive things in the world!! ), insulation, tape, plaster, and coving. 2 plasterers for 2 days £725.

I think they though it was going to cost them about £150.

Materials were £225, and £500 labour.

I think that people don't understand how much materials cost nowadays.... i spent £90 just on screws re building a small box room in my house, studwork, ceiling and drywall screws...

will-he-payitoff

Where are you buying your materials? I can get 8 x 4 boards for £5 and screws at £5 per 1000

bradleigh1977

£5 per board is expensive...you may want to go somewhere else.....

ormus

i think your quote is pretty fair.
id budget for 500-1000 without seeing the job.

screws are dirt cheap when bought in bulk.
try screwfix or toolstation.

Plasterer

Hi Bradleigh - not picking a fight but couldt you drill the price down for the client by doing the following and you personally could make more money.

As it stands your paying yourself and another spread £125 a day each, I think (personally) a job of this size can be done as follows:

Instead of 2 spreads why not you and a labourer for the fisrt day Lets say £150 for you and £80 MAX for the tea boy.

Start at 7.30 in the morning you (the experienced spread) and the boy (who has the strengh to hold one end of a plasterboard) should ping a ceiling up and scrim it ready for skim no later than 11 am. Cup of tea, mix up start spreading at say 12 noon. Get the boy to clean your buckets while you start spreading. Flatten in mix up and lay it down while the boy is cleaning the buckets and packing what he can back on the van. All trowled up by 3.30.

Day 2 - You on your own £150 for the day to do the coving. start at 8.30 if you like, all coved and finished by 12 noon latest. Invoice to client £605 - theyre happy(er) and youve earned more money. 6x 5.5 is a fair size ceiling but not huge.

Also - unless your double boarding I think you may have calculated your boards incorrectly - should be 13 MAX to allow for wastage.

Even if the ceiling was to be double boarded its doable.

All the best
P

*ADDED* Also screws (colated) cost £12 per 1000. Use approx 24 screws per board (6 on the 2400 by 4 along the 1200) so 24 x 12 boards fixed = 288 screws lets say 333 for drops, misses etc and for ease of maths - screws no more than £4.

bradleigh1977

Well...cant use 8x4 boards because of the way the joist are...ita an old weird house...so need 6 x 3 boards, or we will be paying for wood to make it up....The insulation he wants is VERY expensive compared to the stuff you can buy. Labourer, dont use one, i can do it all myself ( normally ) or me and another spread share jobs, if they are quite big. Ceiling is 13ft high as well. Insulation is going to be awkward and a bit time consuming on this one. Everything will be done bar skimming on the first day, and we'll skim in the next day.

The point of this post was to show that a few people dont realise how much things cost. Maybe i should have explained more about the heights and the reason i cant use 8ft boards etc.

Any way they rung this morning and were doing it next weekend.

Radsteral

I don't think you ll get away with telling clients the crews are dead expensive...unless you buying golden screws:j The price doesn't seem expensive at all ,and if they are asking for sound insulation bats they are some 35 quid and don't get you far, so the materials I would say will cost more If you got other jobs lined up,then say sorry and you won't regret it