Woods
Active Member
wdym screeds? You didn't rule it off freehanded?
How to calculate your sq/m price?
- Thread starter Woods
- Start date
essexandy
The Lake Governor
Personally I'd rather carry a hod upstairs or a ladder than buckets any day of the week.
Loading a hod is only ever a one man job.
I actually weighed how much muck I was carrying in the hod, the lady from HSE was interested. 51kg, I think she nearly had a heart attack.
Woods
Active Member
51kg should be manageable. My record is 4 bags of sand (25kg), 2 on each shoulder but I need someone to help me put them on. Can only do one run tho. 51kg of plaster is 51/1.6=32L of plaster approx. That's enough for a patch of 2.13 sqm. So for 70sqm, that should be around 33 hods each day. That's hard work tho, 5 days a week, moving 1.7 tonnes upstairs each day. For 20 sqm per day (my current goal) that's about 10 hods. That seems manageable to me.
I'll give it a try on the next job and see how I feel after. Cheers for the info
edit:
actually, I mix indoors. I bought an Imer concrete mixer just for that. It has a geared wheel for turning and I can completely dismantle it so I can move it upstairs easy. That saves me having to carry the weight of the water upstairs.
So in my case, I would just fill the hod with sand, carry it upstairs and dump it into the mixer straight away.
essexandy
The Lake Governor
That's a lot of f**k**g about to only do 20sqm.
Carrying a hod is easy on the first day. Second day is quite often painful. Third day I've seen people quit.
Woods
Active Member
yeah and... your point? If I do more than 20sqm, there'll be even more f**k**g about..
On site, a 3/4 bedroom house with plasterboard internal walls you'd only use the hod one day a week. Downstairs you'd use a barrow.
I'll be honest and blunt
Don't take offence but you're nowhere near 'it', and you haven't got a clue what 'it' is.
Everyone has been where you currently are.
The start line.
Most disbelieve the stories of graft at the beginning.
Until you work with/for proper grafters, most of us have been through it.
As Essexandy says - all is achievable - and even passable aswell.
(Quality can vary too though.)
I've worked with some animals, and none of it is good for long term health.
Stick to day rate, it's all you're worth right now.
Woods
Active Member
You all seem to misunderstand some things. I never claimed to be 'it'. It's not my goal to be 'it'. I'm not in this game to rake in a fuckton of money by achieving levels of output far beyond what everyone seems to think is possible or sustainable.
Of course I stick to day rate. But you haven't take the time to properly understand how I want to price my jobs. Nor do you seem to be fully aware of the market right now, especially not in Belgium.
Indeed I don't take offense, because you're right: It's not my goal to dish out 70sqm every day. The short term gain (money) is not worth it to me. And this is perhaps where there might be a little schism between you lot and me: I actually enjoy this job and doing it at a rate that is comfortable is what keeps it enjoyable. A fair wage at the end of the gig is just the cherry on top.
Everyone is different though and everyone has different desires and that's fair.
Like I've said a million times by now in this thread: if I consistently output 15sqm per day of quality work, I get a wage that is more than good for me and I can offer my customers a price that is market compliant.
I showed you the calculations in this thread. Read them over if you don't believe it.
I have no interest in making 10K a month and see most of it go up in smoke (taxes) and end up chronically injured and feeling chronically fatigued and miserable. Everyone has their limits.
Will I be able to achieve more than 15sqm/day within my personal tolerance over time? Maybe. And if I do, I'll just be earning a little more.
There's really nothing else to it. These are different times and everyone has different goals in life. Cheers and thanks for your input.
1
You miss the point
I think at that speed, in the UK you'd probably only really get just above minimum wage. Pricing up against proper spreads you'd get battered. Best of luck over there.
2
'it' being a spread.
Worth their salt.
I know your not and didn't claim, that's fine.
3
Also, as for waking up fresh in the morning, this game is the most brutal on your body. Yes bricklayers and scaffolders also suffer, but this game kills them all. Even your modern skim monkeys will suffer.
To give yourself a chance of waking up fresh you'd have to prepare and look after yourself as an athlete would. Properly stretch and maintain yourself.
The problem with charging a metre price is every job is different, background, height, access, to name a few, even travelling has to be taken into account. it's virtually impossible to have a one size fits all metre price
Stick to what you know and charge a good day rate and you won't go far wrong.
We used to get a price per unit working for a plastering contractor so the quicker you worked obviously the more money.
My goal when I started on my own was to improve my money every week. I was like a dog with 2 dicks the first week I earned a grand, good money 20 yrs ago. There was plenty earning a lot more though!
Stick to what you know and charge a good day rate and you won't go far wrong.
We used to get a price per unit working for a plastering contractor so the quicker you worked obviously the more money.
My goal when I started on my own was to improve my money every week. I was like a dog with 2 dicks the first week I earned a grand, good money 20 yrs ago. There was plenty earning a lot more though!
Last edited:
One of the problems with this thread is both sides are talking about different systems.
Woods is using a plasterer very much like Thistle Universal. A one coat plaster that is applied, ruled and troweled up, finished.
The UK plasterers are talking about a sand and cement base coat that still needs a to have a finish plaster applied.
Woods is using a plasterer very much like Thistle Universal. A one coat plaster that is applied, ruled and troweled up, finished.
The UK plasterers are talking about a sand and cement base coat that still needs a to have a finish plaster applied.
Woods
Active Member
customers here insist on meter price. If they wouldn't, this thread wouldn't exist
Like I said before: solid plastering in Belgium ranges from 15 to 35€ per m2. If I pay myself a wage slightly above the official median wage in Belgium, my price is 18€ per m2. Not only am I competitive, I also offer a higher quality product because I do lime/earth base coats with a lime/chaulk skim. My plaster is vapour open and hyper capillary active which are just fancy words for saying: they dry out your walls super fast (keeping water out of your wall < designing your walls so they can dry hyper efficiently). And I'll let you in on a secret: the future of wall assemblies is this. High performance builders and designers are tapping into this at quick speed.
I agree: proper nutrition, no alcohol/drugs, sleep at 9PM and massages/stretches. But let me tell you... you can't do s**t for your joints. The muscles are not the problem, they get used to whatever you throw at them in 99% of the cases. But it's the joints that have to recover. And there's very little you can do to speed that up, other than being respectful of your own physical limits.
I honestly cannot fathom the mindset you grafters have. You literally sacrifice your own health and well-being just so you can brag on an anonymous forum about how much you used to put out before you retired. I mean... that in itself paints the picture.
People like you have actually driven prices down for everyone else. You actually ruined it for everyone. The result? Hardly any interior solid plastering being done in the UK today.
This job is extremely hard on people but if you respect your body and plaster with wisdom rather than your dick, you can actually plaster well into your 60's and perhaps beyond. There is no reason for your body to break down prematurely if you do not abuse it on daily basis for decades on end. In fact, it's the paper pushers in offices whose bodies tend to break prematurely.
Having a good work ethic is great. But behaving like an animal just to prove a point is the most single r******d thing a tradesman could do.
Do you even realise how destructive your entire career has been? Plastering with sand/cement? Do you even understand how quickly those plasters deteriorate, how they negatively influence the longevity of houses? How they make damp issues worse? Of course not. Because you never bothered looking into it. You were too busy dishing out meters and destroying (not only yourself) but also the planet, the environment and the economy.
And now you're gonna try and tell me to repeat that? Go suck a dick, friend, no offense
essexandy
The Lake Governor
You delusional know nothing t**t.customers here insist on meter price. If they wouldn't, this thread wouldn't exist
Like I said before: solid plastering in Belgium ranges from 15 to 35€ per m2. If I pay myself a wage slightly above the official median wage in Belgium, my price is 18€ per m2. Not only am I competitive, I also offer a higher quality product because I do lime/earth base coats with a lime/chaulk skim. My plaster is vapour open and hyper capillary active which are just fancy words for saying: they dry out your walls super fast (keeping water out of your wall < designing your walls so they can dry hyper efficiently). And I'll let you in on a secret: the future of wall assemblies is this. High performance builders and designers are tapping into this at quick speed.
I agree: proper nutrition, no alcohol/drugs, sleep at 9PM and massages/stretches. But let me tell you... you can't do s**t for your joints. The muscles are not the problem, they get used to whatever you throw at them in 99% of the cases. But it's the joints that have to recover. And there's very little you can do to speed that up, other than being respectful of your own physical limits.
I honestly cannot fathom the mindset you grafters have. You literally sacrifice your own health and well-being just so you can brag on an anonymous forum about how much you used to put out before you retired. I mean... that in itself paints the picture.
People like you have actually driven prices down for everyone else. You actually ruined it for everyone. The result? Hardly any interior solid plastering being done in the UK today.
This job is extremely hard on people but if you respect your body and plaster with wisdom rather than your dick, you can actually plaster well into your 60's and perhaps beyond. There is no reason for your body to break down prematurely if you do not abuse it on daily basis for decades on end. In fact, it's the paper pushers in offices whose bodies tend to break prematurely.
Having a good work ethic is great. But behaving like an animal just to prove a point is the most single r******d thing a tradesman could do.
Do you even realise how destructive your entire career has been? Plastering with sand/cement? Do you even understand how quickly those plasters deteriorate, how they negatively influence the longevity of houses? How they make damp issues worse? Of course not. Because you never bothered looking into it. You were too busy dishing out meters and destroying (not only yourself) but also the planet, the environment and the economy.
And now you're gonna try and tell me to repeat that? Go suck a dick, friend, no offense
Woods
Active Member
you delusional thinks-he-know-it-all has-been
enjoy retirement
Unfortunately these products weren't about and we did what was required at the time to earn moneycustomers here insist on meter price. If they wouldn't, this thread wouldn't exist
Like I said before: solid plastering in Belgium ranges from 15 to 35€ per m2. If I pay myself a wage slightly above the official median wage in Belgium, my price is 18€ per m2. Not only am I competitive, I also offer a higher quality product because I do lime/earth base coats with a lime/chaulk skim. My plaster is vapour open and hyper capillary active which are just fancy words for saying: they dry out your walls super fast (keeping water out of your wall < designing your walls so they can dry hyper efficiently). And I'll let you in on a secret: the future of wall assemblies is this. High performance builders and designers are tapping into this at quick speed.
I agree: proper nutrition, no alcohol/drugs, sleep at 9PM and massages/stretches. But let me tell you... you can't do s**t for your joints. The muscles are not the problem, they get used to whatever you throw at them in 99% of the cases. But it's the joints that have to recover. And there's very little you can do to speed that up, other than being respectful of your own physical limits.
I honestly cannot fathom the mindset you grafters have. You literally sacrifice your own health and well-being just so you can brag on an anonymous forum about how much you used to put out before you retired. I mean... that in itself paints the picture.
People like you have actually driven prices down for everyone else. You actually ruined it for everyone. The result? Hardly any interior solid plastering being done in the UK today.
This job is extremely hard on people but if you respect your body and plaster with wisdom rather than your dick, you can actually plaster well into your 60's and perhaps beyond. There is no reason for your body to break down prematurely if you do not abuse it on daily basis for decades on end. In fact, it's the paper pushers in offices whose bodies tend to break prematurely.
Having a good work ethic is great. But behaving like an animal just to prove a point is the most single r******d thing a tradesman could do.
Do you even realise how destructive your entire career has been? Plastering with sand/cement? Do you even understand how quickly those plasters deteriorate, how they negatively influence the longevity of houses? How they make damp issues worse? Of course not. Because you never bothered looking into it. You were too busy dishing out meters and destroying (not only yourself) but also the planet, the environment and the economy.
And now you're gonna try and tell me to repeat that? Go suck a dick, friend, no offense
Fortunately I earnt enough not to have to suck any dicks. I expect you will if required, it seems to be the modern way.
Woods
Active Member
found these earlier today, but decided not to post them because I was gonna try to be nice, hoping that that would get you lot to open your mind, place yourselves in my place and then offer advice based on your own experience in way way that would be relevant for the market today. But f**k it, we've crossed that line. 
Traditional plasters used to last hundreds of years. Sand/cement doesn't, because it doesn't properly deal with moisture. Damp courses deteriorate over time (within 20 years and often less) and once that happens, the walls soak up moisture and the cement traps it inside. And once that happens, the house is finished.
Same with reinforced concrete foundations. Did you know a foundation like that is designed to last 50 years? With expensive treatment it can last another 25-50 years but after that it's done and needs to be broken down.
Very few people have realised this, but we're sitting on a massive time bomb. All those concrete houses your generation shat out, it's gonna have to be torn down within the next 25 years. It's already happening.
Nah dicks ain't my thing. And bro, lime has been around since the Romans and probably well before them. In fact, after the technological revolution, masons (and plasterers) were fighting the companies and architects to not have to use cement in stead of lime. If you at all want to dive deeper into this, get Nigel Copsey's book: "Hot Mixed Lime and Traditional Mortars". It has pictures and scientific research on plasters from the past. What I'm doing now is nothing new. I'm literally doing what our ancestors did and they did it this way pretty much all over the world. They mixed lime with earth and fibers and plastered their walls with it. The reason I came to this forum is because the technique used to do sand/cement is very similar to doing lime/earth. And I will admit that you are the best in the world at your craft. You just used the wrong materials and were perhaps too focused on productivity and short-term-thinking rather than longevity and sustainability.
Traditional plasters used to last hundreds of years. Sand/cement doesn't, because it doesn't properly deal with moisture. Damp courses deteriorate over time (within 20 years and often less) and once that happens, the walls soak up moisture and the cement traps it inside. And once that happens, the house is finished.
Same with reinforced concrete foundations. Did you know a foundation like that is designed to last 50 years? With expensive treatment it can last another 25-50 years but after that it's done and needs to be broken down.
Very few people have realised this, but we're sitting on a massive time bomb. All those concrete houses your generation shat out, it's gonna have to be torn down within the next 25 years. It's already happening.
Woods
Active Member
if you oldfags had any sense, you'd leave your retirement home to get together, read Nigel's book and then recruit a crew of young lads and teach them how to do solid interior plastering again but with lime/earth mortars and educate them on the importance of respecting the limitations of your body.
This is the future, purely from a logical perspective, it is inevitable that this is going to happen and it is already happening, as a matter of fact. Your generation are the last ones who know how to do this type of stuff, do it well and efficiently.
Not only will you have a better use for your time than to sit all day on this forum shitting on young people but you would actually make significant contributions to our future generations. And who knows? You might even find some joy again. Because being on this forum, it's not working for you guys.
This is the future, purely from a logical perspective, it is inevitable that this is going to happen and it is already happening, as a matter of fact. Your generation are the last ones who know how to do this type of stuff, do it well and efficiently.
Not only will you have a better use for your time than to sit all day on this forum shitting on young people but you would actually make significant contributions to our future generations. And who knows? You might even find some joy again. Because being on this forum, it's not working for you guys.
Perhaps I worded it wrong, we used the products supplied to us and specified by the architects and building companies at the time. Hopefully we'll be able to move into one of your amazing properties when all ours fall down!found these earlier today, but decided not to post them because I was gonna try to be nice, hoping that that would get you lot to open your mind, place yourselves in my place and then offer advice based on your own experience in way way that would be relevant for the market today. But f**k it, we've crossed that line.
View attachment 80191View attachment 80193
Nah dicks ain't my thing. And bro, lime has been around since the Romans and probably well before them. In fact, after the technological revolution, masons (and plasterers) were fighting the companies and architects to not have to use cement in stead of lime. If you at all want to dive deeper into this, get Nigel Copsey's book: "Hot Mixed Lime and Traditional Mortars". It has pictures and scientific research on plasters from the past. What I'm doing now is nothing new. I'm literally doing what our ancestors did and they did it this way pretty much all over the world. They mixed lime with earth and fibers and plastered their walls with it. The reason I came to this forum is because the technique used to do sand/cement is very similar to doing lime/earth. And I will admit that you are the best in the world at your craft. You just used the wrong materials and were perhaps too focused on productivity and short-term-thinking rather than longevity and sustainability.
Traditional plasters used to last hundreds of years. Sand/cement doesn't, because it doesn't properly deal with moisture. Damp courses deteriorate over time (within 20 years and often less) and once that happens, the walls soak up moisture and the cement traps it inside. And once that happens, the house is finished.
Same with reinforced concrete foundations. Did you know a foundation like that is designed to last 50 years? With expensive treatment it can last another 25-50 years but after that it's done and needs to be broken down.
Very few people have realised this, but we're sitting on a massive time bomb. All those concrete houses your generation shat out, it's gonna have to be torn down within the next 25 years. It's already happening.
essexandy
The Lake Governor
No I don't think I know it all, far from it. However, there are subjects I know plenty about and sand and cement float and set is one of them.
It was you that came on here asking about prices and meterages, none of us come on here to brag about much work we've done or can do, Christ most of us barely mention plastering most of the time.
I'm 59 now and despite the way I've worked in the past I'd say I'm in pretty reasonable physical shape, certainly better than many my age that have never had an overly physical job. I generally work four days a week (plastering), but then spend time at the lake and land that my hard work enabled me to buy.
See not everyone works hard and ends up a physical wreak before their time.
dustydave
Active Member
Then places a sign outside site entrance (once knackered) stating. GONE FISHING
customers here insist on meter price. If they wouldn't, this thread wouldn't exist
Like I said before: solid plastering in Belgium ranges from 15 to 35€ per m2. If I pay myself a wage slightly above the official median wage in Belgium, my price is 18€ per m2. Not only am I competitive, I also offer a higher quality product because I do lime/earth base coats with a lime/chaulk skim. My plaster is vapour open and hyper capillary active which are just fancy words for saying: they dry out your walls super fast (keeping water out of your wall < designing your walls so they can dry hyper efficiently). And I'll let you in on a secret: the future of wall assemblies is this. High performance builders and designers are tapping into this at quick speed.
I agree: proper nutrition, no alcohol/drugs, sleep at 9PM and massages/stretches. But let me tell you... you can't do s**t for your joints. The muscles are not the problem, they get used to whatever you throw at them in 99% of the cases. But it's the joints that have to recover. And there's very little you can do to speed that up, other than being respectful of your own physical limits.
I honestly cannot fathom the mindset you grafters have. You literally sacrifice your own health and well-being just so you can brag on an anonymous forum about how much you used to put out before you retired. I mean... that in itself paints the picture.
People like you have actually driven prices down for everyone else. You actually ruined it for everyone. The result? Hardly any interior solid plastering being done in the UK today.
This job is extremely hard on people but if you respect your body and plaster with wisdom rather than your dick, you can actually plaster well into your 60's and perhaps beyond. There is no reason for your body to break down prematurely if you do not abuse it on daily basis for decades on end. In fact, it's the paper pushers in offices whose bodies tend to break prematurely.
Having a good work ethic is great. But behaving like an animal just to prove a point is the most single r******d thing a tradesman could do.
Do you even realise how destructive your entire career has been? Plastering with sand/cement? Do you even understand how quickly those plasters deteriorate, how they negatively influence the longevity of houses? How they make damp issues worse? Of course not. Because you never bothered looking into it. You were too busy dishing out meters and destroying (not only yourself) but also the planet, the environment and the economy.
And now you're gonna try and tell me to repeat that? Go suck a dick, friend, no offense
Yes
Woods
Active Member
It's called the plasterers forum. If you want to talk about something else, f**k off to reddit
I'm genuinely pleased for you. However, you may have to take into account that you're an anomaly to the mean. More old tradesmen complain about their bodies than not. And all of my bosses have always told me to not overdo it because it's not worth it in the end. You may have won the genetic lottery... physiologically at least.
Everywhere online you read a good plasterer can output 15 - 30 sqm per day consistently. And from personal experience I don't know anyone who does more than that. 70sqm just seems bonkers. Honestly I think you overestimated yourself and are too proud to admit it. Or maybe something went wrong in the yards to meters conversion. But here's the thing: even if you only did 40sqm consistently on a daily basis within 3mm tolerance, I'd still be in absolute awe. But 70sqm? You do realise that's 28 meters of wall right? I don't see how you can mix, bead, spread, rule, float and set all of that in 8 hours. I just don't see it. You wouldn't happen to have any proof would you? Then this discussion would be over
It's called the plasterers forum. If you want to talk about something else, f**k off to reddit
I'm genuinely pleased for you. However, you may have to take into account that you're an anomaly to the mean. More old tradesmen complain about their bodies than not. And all of my bosses have always told me to not overdo it because it's not worth it in the end. You may have won the genetic lottery... physiologically at least.
Everywhere online you read a good plasterer can output 15 - 30 sqm per day consistently. And from personal experience I don't know anyone who does more than that. 70sqm just seems bonkers. Honestly I think you overestimated yourself and are too proud to admit it. Or maybe something went wrong in the yards to meters conversion. But here's the thing: even if you only did 40sqm consistently on a daily basis within 3mm tolerance, I'd still be in absolute awe. But 70sqm? You do realise that's 28 meters of wall right? I don't see how you can mix, bead, spread, rule, float and set all of that in 8 hours. I just don't see it. You wouldn't happen to have any proof would you? Then this discussion would be over
I thought it was over
When you f**k*d off to Mumsnet
Woods
Active Member
I f**k*d off to Yourmumsnet. Get your facts straight
essexandy
The Lake Governor
No one said anything about setting it (70sqm) in the same day, we were all talking about floating out. All my sand and cement work was given five to seven days to cure/shrink before it was skimmed.
It's called the plasterers forum. If you want to talk about something else, f**k off to reddit
I'm genuinely pleased for you. However, you may have to take into account that you're an anomaly to the mean. More old tradesmen complain about their bodies than not. And all of my bosses have always told me to not overdo it because it's not worth it in the end. You may have won the genetic lottery... physiologically at least.
Everywhere online you read a good plasterer can output 15 - 30 sqm per day consistently. And from personal experience I don't know anyone who does more than that. 70sqm just seems bonkers. Honestly I think you overestimated yourself and are too proud to admit it. Or maybe something went wrong in the yards to meters conversion. But here's the thing: even if you only did 40sqm consistently on a daily basis within 3mm tolerance, I'd still be in absolute awe. But 70sqm? You do realise that's 28 meters of wall right? I don't see how you can mix, bead, spread, rule, float and set all of that in 8 hours. I just don't see it. You wouldn't happen to have any proof would you? Then this discussion would be over
If you're talking about float and set in the same day with the likes of Hardwall or Browning back in the day I can remember my old man saying that if you do a 3m x 3m room a day, 28.8sqm, that would give you a steady wage, anything more was your profit. So obviously I would have been looking to do 40sqm+ per day.
If your only doing 15m a day your not a plasterer.
It's called the plasterers forum. If you want to talk about something else, f**k off to reddit
I'm genuinely pleased for you. However, you may have to take into account that you're an anomaly to the mean. More old tradesmen complain about their bodies than not. And all of my bosses have always told me to not overdo it because it's not worth it in the end. You may have won the genetic lottery... physiologically at least.
Everywhere online you read a good plasterer can output 15 - 30 sqm per day consistently. And from personal experience I don't know anyone who does more than that. 70sqm just seems bonkers. Honestly I think you overestimated yourself and are too proud to admit it. Or maybe something went wrong in the yards to meters conversion. But here's the thing: even if you only did 40sqm consistently on a daily basis within 3mm tolerance, I'd still be in absolute awe. But 70sqm? You do realise that's 28 meters of wall right? I don't see how you can mix, bead, spread, rule, float and set all of that in 8 hours. I just don't see it. You wouldn't happen to have any proof would you? Then this discussion would be over
It may be an anomaly to the mean now in your country, but over here there are spreads working hard day in day out to make a good living. (Not as hard as we did of course)
If you want proof come over see how you get on!
Woods
Active Member
I'm curious, have you ever done sand/cement by yourself on 100+ year old brickwork? If you would have, you would know that 15m each day is a good effort. It takes a lot of plaster to get it straight. Often requiring two coats. The only blockwork I've ever done was with a machine, so I don't know my actual output in that area. And besides, being a plasterer is not just about speed. And it most certainly is not about hurting yourself trying to show off or chasing money.
That being said, there's no way any of you can do 70sqm consistently day after day on your own. With a good hod carrier I'll believe you, but not on your own. No way.
KingCharlesTheTurd
Active Member
fk off back to Belgium u whining c**t and take yer fkin 'waffle' back with yer
Monkey Boy
Well-Known Member
I do 71sqm
Woods
Active Member
how about next job you set up a timelapse camera?
But none of you will... because it can't be done.
I don't think I said I did 70m2 a day but there was plenty that could.
Thick walls just need dubbing out and maybe leaving for a while, no sweat
I think speed is a big part of the trade, because I can do most trades jobs to a good standard slowly but plastering is the one I can make money at.
I Rarely work now (but help younger spreads occasionally) as I've earnt plenty and retired.
We also had more time to do the work having no mobile phones or social media to take up the day
Why would anyone want to film plastering, it's throwing a bit of s**t up the wall ffs.
essexandy
The Lake Governor
See you're just showing your lack of knowledge again.
If you're going over rough brickwork you shouldn't even be trying to get it right in one visit. The correct process is render, float and set. This was standard practice way back in time. I've done a fair bit of it on refurb jobs, an old pub being converted into residential springs to mind.
When applying the render coat you can cover vast areas as you're only knocking it into shape and there's no floating, just dragged. This is then left to cure.
The floating coat is then even easier than normal because you've already dubbed where needed.
So with the two combined you should be able, depending on areas, to cover around 45sqm. per day without killing yourself or ending up a cripple.