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
Twentieth century stock
Bexley and the villages around it are largely twentieth century, built out between the wars and again afterwards, with older cores in the village itself. That means consistent semis and terraces with sound walls, boarded ceilings in the later stock and lath in the earlier, and a very high rate of rear extensions.
The standard job is a room or a house taken back to flat after years of decorating, and the second standard job is making good where an extension or a knock through meets the original building.
Where the new work meets the old
A rear extension puts modern blockwork against interwar brick, and the two move differently. Plastering straight across that junction gives you a crack along it within a year or two, so the joint gets treated as a joint rather than ignored.
The ceiling line is the same problem in a more visible place. Getting the original ceiling and the extension ceiling to read as one continuous surface is mostly set out and beading, and it is the difference between an extension that looks built in and one that always looks added.
Artex, and taking it back safely
Textured ceilings went on across this stock in the seventies and eighties and plenty are still there. Shallow patterns take a skim, heavy ones get boarded over, and the choice is made by feel rather than by hope.
Nothing gets sanded or scraped. Textured coatings from before the mid eighties can contain asbestos, and disturbing one is the only genuinely hazardous part of the job. Sealed under plaster or behind board, it is left undisturbed.
Old Bexley village, and the walls that are not brick
Bexley village and the lanes towards North Cray and Joydens Wood hold something the rest of the borough does not: buildings that predate the suburb entirely. Timber framing, weatherboard, flint and knapped rubble, and a conservation area around the High Street. These are not houses to put a hard cement render or a gypsum skim onto.
A soft, porous background wants a soft, porous finish. Lime lets a solid wall take up moisture and give it back; gypsum and cement do not, and on an old wall they trap it, push the damp sideways and blow the face off whatever is behind. Where the original is lime, what goes back is lime, and it takes longer to set and longer to cure, which is a scheduling fact rather than an inconvenience to be worked around.
The majority of Bexley is of course ordinary interwar and postwar suburb, and that is standard skimming, ceiling and artex work. But the two are within a mile of each other, so the age of the building is established at the visit before any method is agreed. Guessing wrong on this one is not a finish problem, it is a damage problem, and it shows up two years later.
Access splits the same way the housing does. The interwar and postwar streets have drives and room for a skip; the village and the lanes around it are narrow, in a conservation area, and a skip permit there is a conversation with the council rather than a phone call to a hire company. Which of the two applies is settled at the visit, because it changes both the programme and the price.
“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
