Contract required for larger plastering jobs?

BrokenArrows

Beginning a home renovation at the moment and we are likely to need to skim coat all the walls and ceilings because ill be removing wallpaper from the walls and removing patterned ceilings. Ideally it will all come off smoothly!!! But im sure thats not going to happen.

This will be the first larger cost jobs ive ever had someone do.

Would it be normal to draw up a basic contract for the work planned and have the plasterer sign it?

Calahonda52

And what might it say?

bonzodog2

Are you planning to skim over the patterned ceilings or replace. If Artex of a certain vintage, may contain asbestos.

antiskeptic

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Beginning a home renovation at the moment and we are likely to need to skim coat all the walls and ceilings because ill be removing wallpaper from the walls and removing patterned ceilings. Ideally it will all come off smoothly!!! But im sure thats not going to happen.

This will be the first larger cost jobs ive ever had someone do.

Would it be normal to draw up a basic contract for the work planned and have the plasterer sign it?

Strikes me as a bit over the top - as the man says, what would you put in it?

Get a fixed price with a breakdown of costs and perhaps post it here for comment

Bear in mind that plastering over plaster will require application of Thistlebond or similar, which will spatter all over the place so I take it your planning redecoration along with it

Is your wiring fine? Now's the time to put that socket you've always wanting in. You might need a sparks in to remove sockets face plates to give the plasterer a clean run at it and leave a single point for his mixing needs / kettle. And the radiators off (plumber / age of radiators). It'd be an idea to change the socket and light switches/roses at this point just to freshen things up - they don't cost so much and it'd be mad to replace old stuff.

Anything exterior to be done plastering wise, like an exposed bare block wall?

Ask about plastering over stippled ceilings rather than remove them.

Are your skirtings good? It might be quicker to fit new rather than work with old and now is the time to have them off so the plasterer work to close to ground

Any need for wall insulation? Insulated plasterboard (with the caveats as to suitability for your application)

Is attic access good. If not, a large ope made and good wooden stairs would be
advisable before the plasterer

Any opes you want to make between rooms?

Are bathroom tiles coming down. Most likely new, green plasterboard put up and skimmed before application of new tiles

Thoughts that strike me, mid my own plastering work

cletus

Good points above, but you probably don't need to get a sparks in just to remove socket/switch faceplates and change light fittings

antiskeptic

cletus wrote: »

Good points above, but you probably don't need to get a sparks in just to remove socket/switch faceplates and change light fittings

If your handy and confident at this stuff then no. There isn't much too it but there is something to it, given it's electrics.

BrokenArrows

@antiskeptic - Ya we plan on having all that ready. We will be testing for Asbestos. If it contains it then we will be boarding over and plastering and if not then we will remove it.

The main thing for the contract would be to define what he has quoted for and guarantee of the work

eg.
Living Room 4 walls - Skim coat.
Living Room Ceiling - Board over artex and skim.
Bathroom ceiling - Skim Coat
Bathroom walls - Leave unfinished as will be tiling.

Stating guarantee on the quality eg. 12 months guarantee.
Work to be completed by X date.

I guess im just being paranoid that the quality of the work will not be up to scratch or the boarding on the ceiling will come down after hes left.

antiskeptic

BrokenArrows wrote: »

@antiskeptic - Ya we plan on having all that ready. We will be testing for Asbestos. If it contains it then we will be boarding over and plastering and if not then we will remove it.

Strikes me as quicker to slab it in any case, removal and thistlebonding will take perhaps longer?

The main thing for the contract would be to define what he has quoted for and guarantee of the work

eg.
Living Room 4 walls - Skim coat.
Living Room Ceiling - Board over artex and skim.
Bathroom ceiling - Skim Coat
Bathroom walls - Leave unfinished as will be tiling.

Stating guarantee on the quality eg. 12 months guarantee.
Work to be completed by X date.

Certainly a written spec of the areas to be done makes sense. Would you not have normal consumer rights protections to cover quality - the problem being enforcement whether consumer rights or rights conferred by a contract.

Your best guarantee is to ensure the plaster is a good one. References, references, references. Write your questions down and go through them over the phone. Listen carefully to each and use any info gleaned from one reference to add to your list of questions for the next. And visit one or two jobs to have a look see at older work.

Was he on time, did he appear every day, did he clean up after himself, did the plaster crack in time, did plaster over screw heads fall out, did he keep to his time schedule, was he pleasant to work with, were his lads pleasant to work with, marks out of 10 (and why not 10 if other than 10), etc

Prevention is far better than cure.

Allah snackbar

How this would work out I don't know , if you get a good reference I'd say go with that if you can agree a price , to be honest your jobs sounds like sh1te , working over old work and boarding over old ceilings , if a plasterer is busy and comes to see your job and sees you at the door with a contract and a pen he'll more than likely think you're too much hard work and stay away from you

Oh and plaster cracks whether you like it or not , a good plasterer can do all in his power to prevent cracks but cracks come in plaster for seemingly no reason other than to annoy you , it could be something out of his control that causes the cracks but would you still blame him for them