Plastering quotes, Essex

TheCyclingProgrammer

We are looking to get a lot of our new home re-skimmed and we have had a couple of quotes and I really have no idea if they are good or not.

I can imagine us redoing probably 80% of the house over time but we can't afford to do it all so need to prioritise.

First quote: downstairs lounge/diner (approx. 8x4m through lounge, one square arch which needs straightening one on side), kitchen, hallway (one arch) including stairwell, upstairs landing, three bedrooms (2 about 4x4m, 1 3x3m) including skimming Artex ceilings upstairs in each room. Downstairs walls only.

Total £3500. I'm waiting for a breakdown of individual rooms.

Second quote:
Lounge/dining room as above. £960
Hall, stairs and skim Artex ceiling in stairwell and on landing: £1140
My daughters bedroom (4x4) including Artex ceiling: £600

On the landing, the ceiling slopes on one side (steep pitched roof) and is uneven - it dips above one of the doors, as if some of the laths have slipped out of place. It's not quite clear. The first plasterer seemed to think he could fix it, the second said if we wanted it perfect we would need to rip out the entire existing lath and plaster ceiling in the landing and stairwell and re board it before skimming. He gave us an alternative quote for this option, to be done with the hall and stairs walls, of £1800.

The second quote seems a bit dear to me, the first seems reasonable but we can't afford to spend £3500 on plastering right now so await quotes for just the lounge/dining room, hall, stairs and our daughters room as these are the priority.

Are these quotes good? In my head I was expecting around £400-500 for an average sized bedroom including Artex ceiling and about £700-800 for the lounge/dining room walls.

martinsurrey

I had similar work done in Surrey recently,lath and plaster taken down in a 4x4 bedroom (with double sloping sides and complex window reveals), Celotex insulation installed, re boarded, and plastered,walls patched up and re skimmed in that room.

Also had the landing, hallway and stairs re skimmed.

I supplied the plaster boards, and the Celotex, plasterer charged £1,400.

First quote isn’t too bad, but I would want the laths taken down. Second one is far too steep

I agree with the second plasterer, if the laths are going, remove them. The added weight of plaster board on the thin joists the Victorians liked to use could bow the ceiling more. Leading to problems down the line.

get a few more quotes (but a good plasterer is worth the extra)

TheCyclingProgrammer

Thanks, we've just had another guy quote (I've got 2 more coming later). Good price but not sure about his suggestion to fix the landing ceiling. He said the proper job is to remove the ceiling but he suggested he could over-board at a slightly different angle and skim over.

I'm not sure this is a good idea - like you say, the extra weight of plasterboard and skim could bring it all down and the angle in the landing would be different from the angle in the stairwell and look odd. I'd rather keep it wonky and just skim over it so its at least smooth.

His quote was much cheaper overall though - £550 for lounge/dining room, £600 for hall and landing ceiling, £350 for bedroom.