Plastering

bradleigh1977

Hi my names Bradleigh and I am a plasterer from huddersfield. But originally from essex. I have read this thread with great interest. The one thing that gets up my nose is the line you get form people, when you give them a quote--

i say --- that will be £xxxxxx for that

they say -- oh my freind said he would do it for £xxxxx ?

Now my reply is always--well get them to do it then!!!

I charge a particular price, and this doesn't change. I work hard, do a perfect job, and have worked my behind off for years learning the trade. I look at a job and decide how long its going to take. Me and my labourer--whom i pay £70 per day--cost you £200 per day. Now if thats for 8 hours work or 5. If they want me to get the materials thats fine, or the customer can get them. I would give a written quote while i was there which breaks down into labour, matrerials etc. So the customer can see everything. I have never had anyone say anything bad, i am always being called back to past customers, so my prices cant be that high!

If someone has quoted four walls in four hours, run a mile. It will be terrible. This isn't an advert, but if you need a good plasterer in yorkshire or manchester you can rely on me. If anyone wants help on quotes a plasterer has given them, just send me a PM and i will let you know if its reasonable or not

Bradleigh

allen-the-plasterer

FOUR HOURS I`m still laughing..
all you guys that call yourself spreads
HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME......
You all know that muliti have a two hour max set time so dont try the "it takes two hours to puit it on and lay it down trick. maybe you should get some new batterys for your trowels.
I hate so called spreads that take the P come down to suffolk and I WILL put you through your paces. a 12x12 room ONE LIFT try it then come back and tell me you cant then come along and watch and learn.
After so many years in the trade io can beat most spreads hands down, and thats using my old faithful tyzack trowel (9" long now by just over 2 3/4 " wide so you can keep your 22" marshalltowns they are only fit for scraping floors stainless is CRAP for finishing its too hard and you shine up too much (talk to you painters they probably hate you).
As for skimming artex easy.
Scrape the high spots off and unibond it (no dry time)
Bang your gear up to a thick craem cheese cosistency. wack it on and get it as flat as you can covering as much of the pattern as you can.
have a fag and a coffee knock up half as much gear as you first used to a slightly thinner consistency
starting at 90 degrees to the first coat lay it down getting it as flat as you can BUT DONT PLAY WITH IT
leave it 10-15 minutes then go over in the same way as the first coat. NO WATER
leave it until firm to touch BUT NOT BROWN then trowel it with minimul water. using a bit of pressure filling in any low spots (you`ll see em dont worry)
wait until you get a few "brown spots" appear then let fun commence.
REALLY jack the pressure onto the trowel (sling most of you weight behind it) then using water troewl it the same way as you laid it down

All you spreads notice NO DRY TROWEL ceiling will be optically flat (if you put a leval on it it will undulate dont worry its the looks that matter.

and as for all you spreads that say you get a perfect finish Bol['s do you its a hand finished hand trade there is no such thing as perfection (ask the paddy spreads they will just laugh at you and tell you our game is optical !!!!!!!!e..
yup i might upset a few people but like was said earlier I love you diy`ers and so called (book/dvd taught) spreads you earn my bread and butter

oh yeah a 12x12 with the ceiling 200 quid all in

barnyboot

reddyman wrote: »

its difficult to do but if you are a competant diyer it in possible.

Best thing to do though is to watch a pro doing it. I saw them doing it while they were doing my extension.

You will pick up the different stages. Consistancy of 1st and 2nd coats. I did a few 4m by 2m+ room walls and I achieved a smooth level finnish.

Try small section 1st. Its really not that hard to get a smooth finnish.

Imo, you wouldnt know if a pro had done it or a complete amateur had done it.

I made a few mistakes in a few places. Ie had it on too thinly in one area. When it can to smoothing it, there wasnt enough there. So had to re-do section. But you learn from your mistakes.

I would never pay someone £400 per room! Thats ridicolous! But thats just me I guess. Cos I know I can do it.

It may have taken me a while extra to do my rooms, but aleast im a lot better off financially now!

I am a plasterer and find it quite amusing how people who know nothing about the trade say I would not pay that …it’s not hard to do … and then find they have to apply wall paper to hide their poor workmanship... they also think nothing of paying a plumber £100 to plumb in a washing machine which would take about 20 minutes or an electrician £80 to wire up a new socket which again takes 20 minuets. But for a plasterer to scrape a ceiling and walls apply a few coats of P.V.A, fit quoin beads apply over surface a minimum of 2 coats of plaster which on average has a 2 to 3 hour set... So a room could take all day.

barnyboot

jblack wrote: »

Why drag a three and a half year old thread up?

Because it annoys plasterers...And why are you reading a 3.5 year old post…

phill99

barnyboot wrote: »

Because it annoys plasterers...And why are you reading a 3.5 year old post…

No you are wrong. Its a 5 year old post.

What is the point?