Prices for dot & dab & skim

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There are a hell of a lot of plasterers in Rotherham and Sheffield, and a fair few decent sized firms battling for work.

The firms are being tight with prices because they have the pick of 1000s of men and the main contractors have plastering firms begging for work.
 
bubbles65 said:
That sounds like you'll be so close to Xmas you'll be scared to actually say anything. Take the work if you need to, but you should be actively seeking other jobs so that you can dump ones like this.

I know where you're coming from "mouths to feed" and all that :RpS_thumbup:
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good advice cheers bubbles65.
 
A Speedskim mate? With rates like that your better off with soft sweeping brush. When he goes WTF is that!. you just answer £3.75...
I understand your predicament mate but those rates are very poor, best of luck.
 
scottie5 said:
A Speedskim mate? With rates like that your better off with soft sweeping brush. When he goes WTF is that!. you just answer £3.75...
I understand your predicament mate but those rates are very poor, best of luck.
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Its a poor state of affairs. Catch 22 no work or work, some wages or no wages. Or I could have some more kids and claim **** loads of benefits. What a poor situation to find myself in
 
Where are you based mate, whats your boarding like? and would you travel as far as norwich?. have you cscs cards?
 
There is no way you could earn a living in that rate. Explain to the guys what you would earn a day after tax and working cost. Then look him in the eye and ask him if he could live on that.

Some of these blokes have no idea what the rate they are offering is worth in the real world. They just see it as a figure that they try to drive down to make more profit.
 
CurrierPlastering said:
There is no way you could earn a living in that rate. Explain to the guys what you would earn a day after tax and working cost. Then look him in the eye and ask him if he could live on that.

Some of these blokes have no idea what the rate they are offering is worth in the real world. They just see it as a figure that they try to drive down to make more profit.
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its unreal the more I think about it the less I want to do it.
it's baking my head. I just can't figure how anybody can make it pay
 
Use them ***** like they use us an use it to fill in to something better comes but make sure tell him rates r shite
 
So it's £8.60 to dot and dab and skim each board. So let's just say that's £4.30 to dab a board and £4.30 to skim. So u will have to dab 70 boards a day. Same for skimming to get a wage.
 
The price is absolutely shocking, I can't believe your even thinking about! Tell them to stick it up there arse and go find something else. There is work out there it's just a matter of finding it.


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It is a poor rate, but you would be very, very lucky to find anything over £2.50 each for d&d and skim.

If you won't do it, someone else will, sad but true
 
I was there in my youth S27. And at poor rates you will not get away with poor work either. These sharks will not pay if your work is to poor for them to get paid.

I certainly have been where you are and that is why in 1989 I walked out of the plastering game and never looked back!

But working on rendering only is not that much better. When it rains you can't earn. When it is too cold you cannot earn. Come December through to March nobody wants to employ you. It is graft all hours during the British leisure time of the year, spend bugger all and save to get over winter and it is crap!!! Especially when your workforce can claim benefits over winter so come summer it is finish by 4.30pm, lucky if you can get a 5 day week out of them and defo no Saturday mornings.

rendering is a gang job it is simply to hard to do on your own. You can do it on your own with a good labrador but it is sometimes stressful and hard work.

EWI? Plenty of that around but rates are rubbish. Had someone local (an ex trainee of mine) wanting ewi spreads. Must have own van, genny, cscs card, ppe, mixing equipment and a full tool kit. £4 m2! Was this full system or £4m2 for boarding, £4 skimming. £4 finishing? Even offered training to spreads wanting to pick it up? No wonder this trade pays crap rates when you can take people on for ewi who has never done it before. What we need is a trade organisation with the clout of Gas Safe or Fensa where if you are not up to scratch you are not employable. While ever the job can be 'picked up' then has it become semi skilled because that reflects the pay being offered.
 
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Outlaw self employment. Bring back the plastering contractors and plasterers on paye. Minimum union rates as starters on hourly rates with bonus schemes. At least there would be a minimum what a spread would be paid and anymore than that would be earned. Sound old fashioned but it worked. The recession of the early 80's killed it off.
 
Rigsby said:
I was there in my youth S27. And at poor rates you will not get away with poor work either. These sharks will not pay if your work is to poor for them to get paid.

I certainly have been where you are and that is why in 1989 I walked out of the plastering game and never looked back!

But working on rendering only is not that much better. When it rains you can't earn. When it is too cold you cannot earn. Come December through to March nobody wants to employ you. It is graft all hours during the British leisure time of the year, spend bugger all and save to get over winter and it is crap!!! Especially when your workforce can claim benefits over winter so come summer it is finish by 4.30pm, lucky if you can get a 5 day week out of them and defo no Saturday mornings.

rendering is a gang job it is simply to hard to do on your own. You can do it on your own with a good labrador but it is sometimes stressful and hard work.

EWI? Plenty of that around but rates are rubbish. Had someone local (an ex trainee of mine) wanting ewi spreads. Must have own van, genny, cscs card, ppe, mixing equipment and a full tool kit. £4 m2! Was this full system or £4m2 for boarding, £4 skimming. £4 finishing? Even offered training to spreads wanting to pick it up? No wonder this trade pays crap rates when you can take people on for ewi who has never done it before. What we need is a trade organisation with the clout of Gas Safe or Fensa where if you are not up to scratch you are not employable. While ever the job can be 'picked up' then has it become semi skilled because that reflects the pay being offered.
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pretty much sums the job up,
its the same why we give up on plastering circa 2009, when rates nose dived.
with rendering you can make good money but you need to know your stuff across the board about different manufactorers gear,and be set up to be flat out during the better weather. ie machines, teams of lads etc, that's how we make a do, and plenty of cash flow behind you to tick it all over.
 
Rigsby said:
Outlaw self employment. Bring back the plastering contractors and plasterers on paye. Minimum union rates as starters on hourly rates with bonus schemes. At least there would be a minimum what a spread would be paid and anymore than that would be earned. Sound old fashioned but it worked. The recession of the early 80's killed it off.
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the government wants everyone to be paye that way they can get there allowance of tax,and keep an eye on everyone.
self employed lads get nothing, not even dole, if you run a business your not much better off, your just an unpaid tax collector paying your vat every quarter and employing lads paying chunks of ni and income tax off them aswell to hmrc, the amount of money I pay to hmrc a quarter is frightening often 5 figures, and there is no gratitute just hasstle, the system stinks.
 
Spreader27 said:
It's poor for 200m2 I agree
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if those are the kind of rates offered, id be looking at doing something else. you owe it to yourself, plasterings a hard game and tough on your body,don't be letting fat cats make there pension off your hard graft.
 
If you have nowt to do and can afford it give it a couple of days, show them you are good and clean then quit because you can't make it pay. They may well come back to you. I did it on 2 jobs but I did warn them first. I did get better money but only enough to make a basic wage.

Spot on Owls about rendering, I have seen them come and seen them go. To survive you have to be smart and know how to save for a rainy day.
 
Rigsby said:
If you have nowt to do and can afford it give it a couple of days, show them you are good and clean then quit because you can't make it pay. They may well come back to you. I did it on 2 jobs but I did warn them first. I did get better money but only enough to make a basic wage.

Spot on Owls about rendering, I have seen them come and seen them go. To survive you have to be smart and know how to save for a rainy day.
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that's it, ive seen a few rendering outfits crop up and they rarely last, then go by the way side.
case in point a lad who worked for me set up on his own, tried poaching contractors off us, he lasted about 9 months, didn't have nothing behind him, took on a big job and apparently didn't get paid up because of cutting corners and producing poor work due to working for slim margins, cost him around 8 grand so ive heard, he now does bits of plastering for mr and mrs jones.
 
I can't see them putting rates up because you are clean and quick, it would still work out cheaper to pay crap rates and have some money set aside for a snagger come the end of the job.

I know who you are talking about rigsby, I nearly ended up taking up his offer of work, £16 for the full system.

In an ideal world of bright, sunny long days you could have made a wage, but we all know it doesn't work like that in reality
 
its cheaper to pay a decent rate in the first place so there is no need for a patcher,no need for extra prep by the decorator,no need for the chippy to be wasting time getting over crap,sparky looking for sockets and some other poor fcuker cleaning up
 
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