Plasterers

What to put in your job description

• Which walls or ceilings, and roughly how big.
• What is there now: old plaster, plasterboard, a textured coating, wallpaper.
• Any cracks, damp or loose plaster.
• Whether the room will be empty, and when it can be painted.
• Whether old plaster needs taking off and taking away.

Don't put your name, phone number or address in the description: every trade who covers your area reads it. Your name, phone, email and address go only to the trades who take the job (3 at most).

Questions to ask before you hire

• How long should the new plaster dry before it is painted?
• How will you protect floors and keep the dust down?
• Who takes the old plaster away?
• My ceiling has a textured coating put up before 2000: how will you deal with it?
• Do you have public liability insurance?

Registers and schemes to check

There is no legal register for plasterers. Artex and other textured coatings put up before 2000 may contain asbestos: don't sand or scrape them, and ask the plasterer how they will deal with it, or have a sample tested first. We don't check this for you yet.

What the job usually involves

• Skimming: a thin new coat over existing walls or ceilings.
• Patch repairs after electrical or plumbing work.
• Boarding and plastering ceilings, or new walls built from plasterboard.
• Rendering outside walls, or lime plaster on older solid-walled homes.
• Leaving new plaster to dry fully before a mist coat and paint.

How quotes and visits work

Plasterers usually price by the room or the job after seeing it, because the state of the existing wall matters. Ask whether the price covers removing old plaster, beads on corners and taking the waste away.

Ask for a written quote (a fixed price) rather than an estimate (a guess that can change), and for what it includes. If you agree a job in your home, you usually have 14 days to cancel under the Consumer Contracts Regulations; if you want work to start sooner, you may have to pay for what has been done.

Safety

• Textured ceilings such as Artex, put up before 2000, may contain asbestos. Don't sand or scrape them; have a sample tested or ask how the plasterer will deal with it.
• Older homes with solid walls often need breathable lime plaster, not modern gypsum, to avoid damp.

Insurance and TrustMark

Ask for public liability insurance before work starts. It covers damage or injury caused by the trade to you, your home or someone else. Ask for the insurer's name and the cover's end date; you can ask to see the certificate.

TrustMark is the government-endorsed quality scheme for work in and around the home. Its registered businesses agree to its code of practice, and you can look them up on trustmark.org.uk.

Guides for homeowners

• How to compare quotes from local trades

We take jobs from anywhere in the UK: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Trades choose the postcode districts they cover.

Plasterers by town and city

England

Scotland

Wales

Northern Ireland