Cost of " traditional" plastering

[MimieMM]

We have had difficulty finding a plasterer able to cope with plastering a very old, bowed ceiling. Eventually, we did manage to find someone through our plumber. He is "very good" according to our plumber but has put in a quote of between 2,500 to nearly 3,000 for what is a moderate sized room (we have taken nearly all of the old plaster off and wonder if he is charging excessively for the removal of the rest - he does not stipulate the dimensions of anything on his quote).

He has loads of work and it is obviously hard to find craftsmen who are not insisting on using modern plasterboard - it would not work on this celing anyway!

Can anyone out there advise us as to whether this is an excessive quote?

[Punch]

What concerns me more is the apparent lack of detail on his estimate. He should have shown precisely the m2 and detailed what he is using. Plaster is not excessively priced unless he is using a ready bagged specialist product, so it seems the bulk of the money is his labour. It is hard to judge by your description alone, but maybe he is supplying a new base support structure of lattes? You need to get him back to expalin the job in more detail and ask him how long it will take. this will give you a better idea of how he reached this price.

Best Regards,

Paul

[Evianers]

Electricite de France backed their camion into our gatepost and damaged it to the extent where it was dangerous. Very, very sadly no-one actually saw them do it. Upshop was, we had to obtain quotes from masons for rebuilding the post. First one was 3000!!!!!!! We told our agents 'no way' and they shopped around for another quote. It took a long time, as they are few on the ground, but eventually we ended up paying 750. So the moral of the story is, unfortunately, one has to be patient, but patience pays off in the long run. Good luck.