Plastering costs - reasonable?

[Loop_26]

Good morning,

I am looking to have some rooms in my house replastered with insulating plaster. This would be 5 rooms (9 walls total), which I would bring back to brick, done in two goes (as we have to live in the house as it is done). I've sought a quote from a respected firm and they've quoted £7500 labour (ex vat and materials). Is this reasonable? I've no idea what the going rate is but this feels rather high. Appreciate any feedback!

 

[skierhughes]

15 years ago we were paying £100 per sqm inc vat and materials.
Not knowing the area, but, to be honest 9 walls for that price sounds quite good.

 

[lizziecupcakes]

It's about £700-1000 per room where I am in London (depending on the room size).

I personally think it's unreasonable, but that's what they're charging. They're making more than NHS surgeons saving lives. That's why I think it's unreasonable.
Apparently there's ongoing price hiking but inflation is coming down. It's all made up at this point. Tradespeople are taking the mick.

Outside of that rant, it depends on how badly you want to do it, if you need to do this, if you have the money, if you can or cannot do it yourself, if it will be good for your house (breathability etc). That's what I factor in.

 

[larry]

I'd want to know what they're charging for materials first as that could be quite a factor.in what you end up paying! Also how do you compare like for like without it? Certainly get more quotes. The ideal sweet spot is a capable one person band who isn't turning over enough to need registering for VAT. But that may be an unrralistic dream.

£7500 plus vat is, what £1500, per room. So 30 hours labour at £50 an hour, 60 hours at £25 and 120 at minimum wage..per room. I did mine myself (with low expectations) and certainly for me a week of solid work sounds about right. But I work at snails pace! So how much do you value their time and skill?

And how much do you care about a perfect finish? If I can do it then frankly anybody can, provided you don't mind a slightly grainy look... do you know any unemployed twenty something's who you know and trust well enough to pay for a lime plastering course and then let them loose on your house??? But if you care about a perfect finish, you need somebody who can plaster.

If you've got the chance, and you're taking back to brick then strongly recommend getting some wood fibre on there. Even 20 or 40mm will help and will also make a nice flat finish to plaster onto. And would probably be cheaper than proprietary insulating plaster.

 

[Loop_26]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your replies this afternoon. I've reached out to another firm for a second quote and I'll perhaps reach out to a third I know of (though they have a quotation fee). In my area, options for plasterers that advertise working with lime is limited.

I'm not sure quite how much I value the perfect finish over my £9000 at this point. The key thing for me is that this doesn't even include materials. I'm leaning towards the opinion that this is a "go away" quote.

The one thing that keeps me from wood fibre is that I would quite like to open out the fireplaces in each room. If I attach boards to the walls, if might be difficult to keep those as 'nooks' whereas insulated plaster would make that possible.

 

[larry]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your replies this afternoon. I've reached out to another firm for a second quote and I'll perhaps reach out to a third I know of (though they have a quotation fee). In my area, options for plasterers that advertise working with lime is limited.

I'm not sure quite how much I value the perfect finish over my £9000 at this point. The key thing for me is that this doesn't even include materials. I'm leaning towards the opinion that this is a "go away" quote.

The one thing that keeps me from wood fibre is that I would quite like to open out the fireplaces in each room. If I attach boards to the walls, if might be difficult to keep those as 'nooks' whereas insulated plaster would make that possible.

Yes, detailing for wood fibre can be tricky... And of course no good around your fireplace if you plan to use them. We did a mixture of wood fibre on most of the walls and then insulated plaster, perhaps 8-10cm, behind the fire. It's great.

I suspect that firms luck out even with 'go away' quotes.. given the laws of supply and demand, it becomes a highest bidder race to the top. It's a hassle getting new quotes and they know that.

I've sometimes had more joy going to tradespeople living in towns where I know the cost of living is less.

There's no magic to plastering in lime though. But it seems to have a bit of a mystique quality within the mainstream plastering tradesfolk. If I was a decent 'normal' plasterer I can't imagine why you wouldn't learn how to do lime given the price premium it seems to attract.

Weirdly I really enjoy plastering. It's a great workout. Though the bathroom ceiling I did yesterday has given me a headache!!!

 

[Alex_]

Good morning,

I am looking to have some rooms in my house replastered with insulating plaster. This would be 5 rooms (9 walls total), which I would bring back to brick, done in two goes (as we have to live in the house as it is done). I've sought a quote from a respected firm and they've quoted £7500 labour (ex vat and materials). Is this reasonable? I've no idea what the going rate is but this feels rather high. Appreciate any feedback!

Two goes is two jobs, so that's presumably a factor in the pricing. If you want to know if it's reasonable or not you need to know how long it's going to take. £7500 for a weeks work for one guy is obviously too much, three weeks work for two people, and it's looking reasonable. Just get additional quotes.
Last time we got lime plastering done it was close to £4k inc materials to take a single room back to the lathes, do any repairs and replaster. Had three quotes all coming in within 10% of each other, so just assumed that that was the local going rate for such a job.
There'll be people saying do it yourself, but you have to work out what that's going to cost you if you're working. I'm a contractor on a day rate, so I know if I'm working on the house instead of working for a client I'm effectively charging myself my day rate so I can calculate if it's going to cost me more to do it, or pay someone to do it for me.

 

[Lacan07]

Good morning,

I am looking to have some rooms in my house replastered with insulating plaster. This would be 5 rooms (9 walls total), which I would bring back to brick, done in two goes (as we have to live in the house as it is done). I've sought a quote from a respected firm and they've quoted £7500 labour (ex vat and materials). Is this reasonable? I've no idea what the going rate is but this feels rather high. Appreciate any feedback!

Bear in mind regardless of whether they use NHL or non hydraulic lime they'll be multiple visits to site as they'll have to be a 'drying' gap between coats. NHL will allow them to work quicker though as drying times are less and you can often double up on the coats.

The work flow is much quicker with modern gypsum plaster.