Why are quotes all over the shop?

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Mos said:
Yeah, this explains it. Thank you, that was genuinely helpful.


How do I avoid coming across high maintenance!??
I'm not really, I don't expect perfection, just a decent standard- smooth skimming and straight lines. And it's only plaster for heavens sake- so long as the boarding is sound, anything wrong can easily be rectified with filler or sanding.

When tradesmen are working, I leave them to it. I don't think it's right to breathe down anyone's neck- they're a professional and if they do a shoddy job, then it is their reputation at stake. That should be motivation enough to do a good job.

I have let people tell me their price. I don't try and dictate what anyone charges. that's rude. My budget is a personal figure based on the fact that materials are £700 retail delivered to my door:

20 boards
10 adhesivee bags
12 insul pb 37.5
10 bags multifinish
screws & angle beads

So surely trade will be around £100 cheaper, therefore £800 is fair enough for what is about 3 days work for a plasterer. You guys are acting as if that is way off the mark? To give you an idea of the cost of living here:

a 3 bed semi in a good area in a good state of repair: £150k
a 2 bed terrace in an less leafy part of town: £75k
average private rent: £450 - £600 per month for a family home
housing benefit for a 3 bed home: £500 per month

Homeowners spend on their homes what they can reasonably recoup when they sell. How can it be right that you're asked to spend thousands when a builder or a home developer would pay only a fraction of that?
When you pay more than a builder, you're out of pocket because the market value of the house means you wont see that money back. If you mutiply that by every trade, then you're waayyy overspent on something like an extension.
Click to expand...

Well i think that pretty much sums up why you cant get a plasterer!
 
Why are quotes all over the shop?
 
Mos said:
Yeah, this explains it. Thank you, that was genuinely helpful.


How do I avoid coming across high maintenance!??
I'm not really, I don't expect perfection, just a decent standard- smooth skimming and straight lines. And it's only plaster for heavens sake- so long as the boarding is sound, anything wrong can easily be rectified with filler or sanding.

When tradesmen are working, I leave them to it. I don't think it's right to breathe down anyone's neck- they're a professional and if they do a shoddy job, then it is their reputation at stake. That should be motivation enough to do a good job.

I have let people tell me their price. I don't try and dictate what anyone charges. that's rude. My budget is a personal figure based on the fact that materials are £700 retail delivered to my door:

20 boards
10 adhesivee bags
12 insul pb 37.5
10 bags multifinish
screws & angle beads

So surely trade will be around £100 cheaper, therefore £800 is fair enough for what is about 3 days work for a plasterer. You guys are acting as if that is way off the mark? To give you an idea of the cost of living here:

a 3 bed semi in a good area in a good state of repair: £150k
a 2 bed terrace in an less leafy part of town: £75k
average private rent: £450 - £600 per month for a family home
housing benefit for a 3 bed home: £500 per month

Homeowners spend on their homes what they can reasonably recoup when they sell. How can it be right that you're asked to spend thousands when a builder or a home developer would pay only a fraction of that?
When you pay more than a builder, you're out of pocket because the market value of the house means you wont see that money back. If you mutiply that by every trade, then you're waayyy overspent on something like an extension.
Click to expand...
I consider myself abit of a grafter (others may laugh when I say that considering I allowed more time for boarding than them) but like f**k am I putting up 32 sheets of board, and putting on 10 bags of multi in 3 days in an awkward space, while being expected to being screwed on price for materials too. Pay peanuts and all that
 
Mos said:
Yeah, this explains it. Thank you, that was genuinely helpful.


How do I avoid coming across high maintenance!??
I'm not really, I don't expect perfection, just a decent standard- smooth skimming and straight lines. And it's only plaster for heavens sake- so long as the boarding is sound, anything wrong can easily be rectified with filler or sanding.

When tradesmen are working, I leave them to it. I don't think it's right to breathe down anyone's neck- they're a professional and if they do a shoddy job, then it is their reputation at stake. That should be motivation enough to do a good job.

I have let people tell me their price. I don't try and dictate what anyone charges. that's rude. My budget is a personal figure based on the fact that materials are £700 retail delivered to my door:

20 boards
10 adhesivee bags
12 insul pb 37.5
10 bags multifinish
screws & angle beads

So surely trade will be around £100 cheaper, therefore £800 is fair enough for what is about 3 days work for a plasterer. You guys are acting as if that is way off the mark? To give you an idea of the cost of living here:

a 3 bed semi in a good area in a good state of repair: £150k
a 2 bed terrace in an less leafy part of town: £75k
average private rent: £450 - £600 per month for a family home
housing benefit for a 3 bed home: £500 per month

Homeowners spend on their homes what they can reasonably recoup when they sell. How can it be right that you're asked to spend thousands when a builder or a home developer would pay only a fraction of that?
When you pay more than a builder, you're out of pocket because the market value of the house means you wont see that money back. If you mutiply that by every trade, then you're waayyy overspent on something like an extension.
Click to expand...
How would you know how many days work for a plasterer it is!!! Have you ever done any Plastering before? That alone would wind any self respecting tradesman up!! And yes you ARE trying to dictate what the price of your job should be that’s blatantly obvious!
 
Cockney1 said:
How would you know how many days work for a plasterer it is!!! Have you ever done any Plastering before? That alone would wind any self respecting tradesman up!! And yes you ARE trying to dictate what the price of your job should be that’s blatantly obvious!
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It's only plaster for heaven's sake :pcmala:
 
Mos said:
Yeah, this explains it. Thank you, that was genuinely helpful.


How do I avoid coming across high maintenance!??
I'm not really, I don't expect perfection, just a decent standard- smooth skimming and straight lines. And it's only plaster for heavens sake- so long as the boarding is sound, anything wrong can easily be rectified with filler or sanding.

When tradesmen are working, I leave them to it. I don't think it's right to breathe down anyone's neck- they're a professional and if they do a shoddy job, then it is their reputation at stake. That should be motivation enough to do a good job.

I have let people tell me their price. I don't try and dictate what anyone charges. that's rude. My budget is a personal figure based on the fact that materials are £700 retail delivered to my door:

20 boards
10 adhesivee bags
12 insul pb 37.5
10 bags multifinish
screws & angle beads

So surely trade will be around £100 cheaper, therefore £800 is fair enough for what is about 3 days work for a plasterer. You guys are acting as if that is way off the mark? To give you an idea of the cost of living here:

a 3 bed semi in a good area in a good state of repair: £150k
a 2 bed terrace in an less leafy part of town: £75k
average private rent: £450 - £600 per month for a family home
housing benefit for a 3 bed home: £500 per month

Homeowners spend on their homes what they can reasonably recoup when they sell. How can it be right that you're asked to spend thousands when a builder or a home developer would pay only a fraction of that?
When you pay more than a builder, you're out of pocket because the market value of the house means you wont see that money back. If you mutiply that by every trade, then you're waayyy overspent on something like an extension.
Click to expand...
Here's why you can't get a plasterer.

You see, we're all just over the f**k**g moon when we get to a job and find the customer has worked out a fair price for us. Saves us a lot of bother.

Especially if he's a penny pinching who's already factored in being a bit rough for us. It's just so fcuking convenient.

And that's why.

Best thing for you is to get your brother in law to do it for a tenner.
 
Ah Mos, I don't know what to say other than you've proven a point admirably. Just not the one you intended.

Your approach has failed and you've provided all the evidence as to why. Have a read back through your posts and reply and all will become clear.
 
Mos said:
Why are you folks soo crazy?

I've received quotes ranging from £1200 all the way to £4500!

Some think materials will cost around £1000 whilst others think they'll be £350.

I've had to approach 20 plasterers to get 4 to even come out and quote, despite all saying they want the work. A few even made a commitment to come and look at the job after giving a ballpark quote that seemed promising then didn't even bother to show.

I agreed on £1400 with one and he strung me along for nearly 3 weeks, and once we were a whole 10 days after he said he'd start, he'd only just ordered the materials.. And then on the day he should have started he didn't even turn up, no phone call, no messages. Gee, thanks mate.

Then another agreed to the job for the same price, waxing lyrical about how satisfied his customers are and how he can't defend any of the others I've dealt with, but he himself was a stand up guy who kept his word. An hour into the job...."Mo, this isn't gonna work, I've just got this funny feeling, and when I get a funny feeling things just don't go right, you need somebody on day rate to do this job, you want the job to too perfect, it's not possible, we discussed splaying the reveals on the veluxes (on the day I changed my mind & asked him to just use the insulated pb to close the gaps around the veluxes)- no one insulates the reveals its not a child spot, I worked for a loft conversion company and they never insulated the reveals!! You want the ceiling corners straight but I'm telling you it looks better rounded blah blah...." I says look if you want to splay them, fine, you wanna round the corners, fine, if it'll take a day longer, fine. I'll pay for the time no problem, I'm a reasonable guy.
But..."no I've already put the plasterboard back in the van mate, Its just not gonna work, when I get the wrong feeling then it won't work, the reveals are not square here / need to splayed there, i should have been done with the reveals for 4 veluxes in the 1st hour and I'm still doing them..."

Then off he put his tools Into the van, leaving me a cut piece of insulated pb as "goodwill" as if that could make up for the 2 weeks of waiting I had done for him.

Madness!


Where am I going wrong? Is there some special technique of dealing with your breed of tradesman that I need to deploy?

Is my budget of £1400 unreasonable for this job? I'm live in Bradford, which is relatively deprived city. Is it the case that quality tradesman are harder to come by in deprived areas- do they all flock to where the money is in my case posh parts of Leeds or Harrogate (even if they live in said deprived area)? Does that mean then the local customers are then only left with cowboys and amateurs who still demand a proper craftsmens wage because there is no one else offering to do the job hence you've got to pay top dollar for below-par work?

Cheers
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Hi Mo,

Thank you for the plan and photos attached.

The estimated cost to carry out the works to a high standard exactly how you want them, finish ready for painting no filling or sanding, professional and reliable service, property left spotless as found.

Estimated cost labour and access £4400 (materials can be supplied at trade price if required, we only charge for the time to collect (£30 per hour).

I hop you are happy with the estimate and proceed to have the works carried out, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

I hope you are happy with the estimate.
 
tapit said:
How much will the snooker table cost?
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He'll get a carpenter to craft it out of a sheet of MDF. He's not hoping for the earth just for it to be perfectly flat and play like the one in the crucible, after all it's only abit of woodwork. Should only be a mornings work and with trade discount on the MDF he'll be surprised if it's more than £100 all in.

However shocking this blokes approach to finding tradesman is or his attitude towards them I really can't condone calling him a P****i because of it though. A misguided idiot yes, but there's no need for that
 
Cockney1 said:
How would you know how many days work for a plasterer it is!!! Have you ever done any Plastering before? That alone would wind any self respecting tradesman up!! And yes you ARE trying to dictate what the price of your job should be that’s blatantly obvious!
Click to expand...

I don't know how it would take. I ask the person giving me quote.

The most frequent answer seems to be 3-4 days.
 
I like it when people take criticism on the chin and don’t get riled up! If you learn from everything everyone’s said you’ll get your job done and you plus trade will be happy.

Good luck to you Mo! You seem like a nice guy, just misguided where trades are concerned. All the best to you
 
McBentLegs said:
I wonder if he asks for a refund when the property market crashes.. Or even better, asks the Trades to pay HIM for the privilege of working on his house.
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No, but I do find that tradespeople do start undercutting each other more when house prices fall...happens everywhere there's a depressed market.

Everything's relative I suppose
 
Mos said:
Trade discount. Open secret.
Click to expand...

Trade discount my arse. That's for me not you. It represents part of my profit. And anyway, far from passing it on to you, I'm going to stick 20% on to your materials if I have to get them. That covers fuel, measuring up time, risk, the inconvenience of having to find £800 off the cuff, time loading the van and all sorts of s**t that you think happens by magic.

Working for £120/150/whatever a day is alright when it's all day, every day for an employer who pays you to do all that but you need a lot more when you're farting about working this week and not sure what's happening next.
 
Stevieo said:
Here's why you can't get a plasterer.

You see, we're all just over the f**k**g moon when we get to a job and find the customer has worked out a fair price for us. Saves us a lot of bother.

Especially if he's a penny pinching who's already factored in being a bit rough for us. It's just so fcuking convenient.

And that's why.

Best thing for you is to get your brother in law to do it for a tenner.
Click to expand...


My my you're a little precious.
tapit said:
How much will the snooker table cost?
Click to expand...


A 3/4 table? Just been looking on eBay, about £500. Will last about 2000 years, slate bed, Oak/mahogany construction. Main challenge will be transportation, but I think I'll get a professional snooker firm to to do it if it's a really nice table. Get it reclothed when it gets here. So maybe £800-£1000 all in.
 
JessThePlasterer said:
I like it when people take criticism on the chin and don’t get riled up! If you learn from everything everyone’s said you’ll get your job done and you plus trade will be happy.

Good luck to you Mo! You seem like a nice guy, just misguided where trades are concerned. All the best to you
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You ever thought bout being a ambassador
 
@Mos leave it to @John j his a very good plasterer (re plastered my full house and a lot more). wait for him to give you a quote.

i was in similar position a few months ago when i wanted my full house plastering. i posted on here as well as getting private quotes. getting ridiculous quotes. was happy with johns quote (didn't haggle at all btw) gave him the key and left him to it. paid him as and when he wanted to be paid.

To the negative comments on the forum - im sure everyone knows a little about ANY trade so its only human to assume after research how much something would roughly cost - of course that's your opinion and the professional would differ.

Asian, pakistani, white, yellow, black whatever doesn't make a difference in who begs the most discount - some more than others yes but again thats human.
 
Robbo123 said:
He'll get a carpenter to craft it out of a sheet of MDF. He's not hoping for the earth just for it to be perfectly flat and play like the one in the crucible, after all it's only abit of woodwork. Should only be a mornings work and with trade discount on the MDF he'll be surprised if it's more than £100 all in.

However shocking this blokes approach to finding tradesman is or his attitude towards them I really can't condone calling him a P****i because of it though. A misguided idiot yes, but there's no need for that
Click to expand...


Hi Robbo123

The one at the crucible, I'm sure you know, is a slate bed, and although your suggestion of a custom made table is tempting, that would be very nice treat, but it's just quicker and easier to give an old table a new home.

Yeah, the
imago said:
Ah Mos, I don't know what to say other than you've proven a point admirably. Just not the one you intended.

Your approach has failed and you've provided all the evidence as to why. Have a read back through your posts and reply and all will become clear.
Click to expand...


Hi

Thanks, I will reflect on what you've said.
 
JessThePlasterer said:
I like it when people take criticism on the chin and don’t get riled up! If you learn from everything everyone’s said you’ll get your job done and you plus trade will be happy.

Good luck to you Mo! You seem like a nice guy, just misguided where trades are concerned. All the best to you
Click to expand...

Hi Jess

Thanks, yeahhhh learnt not to get too hot and bothered online a long time ago.

Misguided, yes, i think you're right. That's why I jumped on here trying to suss things out. Get the trades' perspective. It's been interesting.

Oh I should say I made a mistake in my original post- the quote I'd agreed to was £1530. The £1400 is just personal figure- the bare minimum I was expecting. I didn't at any time disclose that to the tradesperson and I didn't try and knock him down, I already thought £1530 was fair enough. The second guy matched him.

I think it's important to have a ballpark figure in mind, no? How else would you know if something was too good to be true or ridiculously overpriced?

What I didn't get about these two gents

1st guy: Why not just admit you'd made a mistake in the pricing and let me know rather than string me along for 3 weeks? And anyway, the professional thing to do would be to honour the price and learn your lesson for next time.

2nd: You've turned up, the customer is happy to cover the cost of any modest extras in both time and material. Customer has waited 2 weeks for you. Why are you walking off? Strikes me as unprofessional, yet that seems to be okay according you guys? Should add: at this guy says "i dont wanna be on the hook for £500 of materials and you say you're not happy with the job" so I said: ok- call your merchant I'll pay for materials up front. Not sure what more I could have done at that point.

Well, anyway I'll keep you updated
 
Mos said:
Hi Jess

Thanks, yeahhhh learnt not to get too hot and bothered online a long time ago.

Misguided, yes, i think you're right. That's why I jumped on here trying to suss things out. Get the trades' perspective. It's been interesting.

Oh I should say I made a mistake in my original post- the quote I'd agreed to was £1530. The £1400 is just personal figure- the bare minimum I was expecting. I didn't at any time disclose that to the tradesperson and I didn't try and knock him down, I already thought £1530 was fair enough. The second guy matched him.

I think it's important to have a ballpark figure in mind, no? How else would you know if something was too good to be true or ridiculously overpriced?

What I didn't get about these two gents

1st guy: Why not just admit you'd made a mistake in the pricing and let me know rather than string me along for 3 weeks? And anyway, the professional thing to do would be to honour the price and learn your lesson for next time.

2nd: You've turned up, the customer is happy to cover the cost of any modest extras in both time and material. Customer has waited 2 weeks for you. Why are you walking off? Strikes me as unprofessional, yet that seems to be okay according you guys? Should add: at this guy says "i dont wanna be on the hook for £500 of materials and you say you're not happy with the job" so I said: ok- call your merchant I'll pay for materials up front. Not sure what more I could have done at that point.

Well, anyway I'll keep you updated
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Well I.ve offered twice so i.m done
 
Stevieo said:
Trade discount my arse. That's for me not you. It represents part of my profit. And anyway, far from passing it on to you, I'm going to stick 20% on to your materials if I have to get them. That covers fuel, measuring up time, risk, the inconvenience of having to find £800 off the cuff, time loading the van and all sorts of s**t that you think happens by magic.

Working for £120/150/whatever a day is alright when it's all day, every day for an employer who pays you to do all that but you need a lot more when you're farting about working this week and not sure what's happening next.
Click to expand...

Your second point about wages is fair, you take the extra risk of being self employed hence you should get rewarded that. But could a self employed plasterer keep themselves constantly employed if they accepted £170 per day as opposed to £220 per day where they can only get work for a fraction of the time?

Each to their own I suspect.
 
John j said:
I.ll price it if you can wait till november . Is it barnsley side of bradford or do I need to go through center
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Hi Jon

Thank you, however, I have another Plasterer lined up, I just need to check out a recent job he's done and then he gets the job. He has asked for £950 in labour, says it will take him & a labourer 5 days to do it and can start in 10 days. He's very local so that a plus.

If I'm not happy with his last job, I will PM you?
 
[
Ishaaq said:
@Mos leave it to @John j his a very good plasterer (re plastered my full house and a lot more). wait for him to give you a quote.

i was in similar position a few months ago when i wanted my full house plastering. i posted on here as well as getting private quotes. getting ridiculous quotes. was happy with johns quote (didn't haggle at all btw) gave him the key and left him to it. paid him as and when he wanted to be paid.

To the negative comments on the forum - im sure everyone knows a little about ANY trade so its only human to assume after research how much something would roughly cost - of course that's your opinion and the professional would differ.

Asian, pakistani, white, yellow, black whatever doesn't make a difference in who begs the most discount - some more than others yes but again thats human.
Click to expand...

Hi Ishaaq

Yeah it's great to find a trusted tradesperson. I'm glad John has your approval!

I have a local lad who is happy to take on the work, he's done Slick Cuts the barber shop on Killinghall Road in BD3 so if the work there is fine, he gets the job, otherwise I'm back to square one- well not square one now that John is happy to take a look!
 
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