A few questions, photos if you have them, and a written price after a look at the job.
Pricing
Written price after a look at the job
Who turns up
Family run, City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma
On site
Dust sheeted, swept and cleared down daily
What we take on
Domestic and commercial, all property types
Large houses, and what happened to them
Beckenham has a lot of substantial late Victorian and Edwardian housing, especially around the park and up towards Copers Cope, and a good proportion of it was divided into flats decades ago. That division is what most of the plastering work here comes out of: walls put in where there were none, cornice interrupted halfway across a room, and ceilings that have had a bathroom put above them.
The rooms are generous and the ceilings are high, which makes them pleasant to work in and slower than they look. A reception room in a house like this has a lot more wall area than the same room in a thirties semi, and the coving run is longer and more detailed.
Cornice worth keeping
Where original cornice has survived, it is usually worth saving and it is cheaper to save it than to replace it. Ceilings get overboarded up to the cornice rather than through it, and where a section is missing because a wall was moved, the run can be taken from a mould of the original and carried back across the gap.
What does not work is butting modern coving up against a period profile and hoping. The joint is visible from the doorway and it makes the whole room read as patched. If the original is too far gone, the honest answer is to take the whole run off and put a consistent one back.
Working in a converted flat
A flat in a converted house means somebody lives above and below, and that shapes the job more than the plastering does. Noisy work goes early in the day, common parts get sheeted rather than walked across, and waste leaves on a schedule instead of stacking up in a shared hallway.
If there is a lease with working hours in it, or a managing agent who wants notice, that is worth saying at estimate stage. It changes the programme rather than the price, and it is far easier to plan around before the first day than to discover on it.
The Cator Estate, the conversions, and what the trees do
Beckenham splits cleanly in two for this trade. The Cator Estate and the roads around Copers Cope are large detached and semi-detached houses, mostly Victorian and Edwardian, many of them with original cornice and ceiling roses still in place and a fair number in a conservation area. The rest is interwar semis and a very large amount of flat conversion.
The conversions are the ones that need the most thought. A big house cut into three or four flats has party walls and party ceilings that were never designed to be either, and sound is the thing the owner actually cares about even when they ring up about a crack. Where a ceiling is coming down anyway, that is the moment to put insulation between the joists and resilient bars under them, and it costs a fraction of doing it as its own job later. Where it is not coming down, saying so is more useful than selling an overboard that will not fix the noise.
The mature planting Beckenham is known for has a less pleasant side. Large trees on shrinkable London clay move foundations seasonally, and the diagonal crack over a door head that opens every summer and closes every winter is subsidence-shaped movement, not a plastering fault. Filling and skimming it makes it look fixed until August. That gets said at the visit, with a recommendation to get the cause looked at first, even though it is the opposite of taking the work.
“Good honest business, we called SMB after we had a bad experience with previous contractors. ... The work is immaculate (we had our house skimmed), the detail, care and attention is spot on.”
“Frank and Steve did a fantastic job on my hallway! Really professional team and their work is seamless. I was really impressed, and they even fixed my skirting board and put it back on for me, a very appreciated extra! Would highly recommend.”
“They did a great job. I had an awkward hallway area and a large ceiling to skim. I thought they'd finished earlier in the day as it looked great to me then, but they went over the whole area to make sure that the finish was perfect.”
“Excellent work! Scott plastered our living room including some tricky details around fireplace and bay window. Great finish looks really good, all the work was tidy and well communicated all done on time. Would highly recommend.”
“Frank completed a wall for me that needed plastering, he was on time, very polite and nothing seemed an issue. ... Although only a small job, kept my house tidy, even outside the house, cleaned up after he finished and done a perfect job, highly recommended from myself.”
“Hi, Had the team in plastering for a week. What a joy. There were no problems they turned up on time everyday and very polite. Would recommend them to anyone. Thanks very much guys.”
“I don't often leave reviews, but Frank was so helpful and pleasant to work with that he deserves 5 stars. Very responsive and professional. He did a great job and left our place clean and tidy. Thanks again Frank!”
“Frank very kindly stopped by to plaster a chipped wall. Perfectly done and really helpful and kind guy. 100% calling if I ever need any more plastering done!”
“Although we didn't require any work, Frank was extremely helpful and knowledgable on his visit to inspect our issue. He was prompt and on time and responded quickly.”
“Very, very happy with Franks work finishing off kitchen walls after having been let down by a builder. It was a tricky job as the granite worktops ect had already been installed but I couldn't be happier with the result.”
“Really happy with the work. Great finish and very professional. Turned up on time, kept things tidy, and did a top-quality job. Would definitely recommend.”
“very pleasant experience in communication and the level of service provided. tradesman was very polite. He came around for a diagnosis before outlining the job in details with cost and what needs doing.”
“Just had Scott round, Arrived on time started straight away and just got on with the job. Pleasant at all times clean & tidy worker will definitely use again. Work looks good and he stuck to his price. Thanks Scott was was good to meet you.”
“Very professional, was very clear on what exactly will be done. Agreed a price and kept me update all the way through. Happy with the work completed and after care as well. Very helpful and highly recommended.”
“Scott called me before booking a date to come and do work. He reasured me about somethings i was worried about. He come in time he said he would and helped me with another job as well. Very helpful and happy with service”
“Great job by Scott plastering the small room, he managed to sort out the uneven ceiling and walls. Will be using Scott again to sort out a couple of other rooms.”
Plastering, screeding and rendering out of Bromley, across South East London, the Kent border and Central London, on every kind of property, domestic and commercial. If you are outside that it is still worth asking, because it depends on the size of the job and how the week is already booked.
Yes, always in writing, and after somebody has looked at the job rather than off a description. If something turns up behind the plaster once work starts, you are told before it is dealt with, not after.
Most of the work is in occupied property. Floors get sheeted, doorways get sealed where the rest of the house is in use, and noisy work is kept to the middle of the day so the neighbours can live with it.
Yes. Domestic and commercial both, and a commercial fit out tends to run to a tighter programme with more of the work happening out of hours, which is planned for rather than charged for as a surprise.
It depends what is already booked and how big the job is. A single room repair usually fits in sooner than a whole property. The honest date gets given at estimate stage rather than an optimistic one.
Yes. Hacked off plaster, board offcuts and packaging all leave with the job. Nothing gets left in a communal hallway or stacked in a front garden.
Nearby
Bromley, South East London, Kent and Central London
CoveringBromley, South East London, Kent and Central London
Qualifications and training
City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma in PlasteringFrank McBride, College of North West London, 2021Federation of Damp: Damp Proofing Technician trainingFrank McBride, January 2026be Accredited health and safety trainingAsbestos awareness, abrasive wheels, confined space, accident and incident, environmental awareness
