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
Bigger houses, older detail
Chislehurst runs to substantial detached and semi detached housing, a good deal of it Victorian and Edwardian and a good deal of that inside conservation areas. Tall rooms, original cornice, lath and plaster ceilings and solid walls, alongside interwar housing on the roads out towards Bromley and Petts Wood.
The jobs are correspondingly larger and slower. A reception room here has considerably more wall and ceiling in it than the same room in a semi two miles away, the cornice run is longer, and the ceiling span is wide enough that its condition genuinely matters.
Conservation areas, and what needs checking
Several parts of Chislehurst are designated, and in a designated area anything affecting an external finish needs checking with Bromley before it starts. Internal plastering is usually unaffected unless the building is listed, in which case it can be.
Where a job looks like it might need consent it gets raised at estimate stage rather than assumed either way. Checking costs a phone call and getting it wrong on a protected building is expensive.
Ceilings worth taking seriously
A wide original ceiling in a house like this is a long span of lath and plaster carrying real weight, and when the nibs above the laths start to fail it bows slowly. Because it is high, it can be a long way gone before anybody looks up properly.
Sound ceilings get repaired and skimmed in place. Moving ones get overboarded or replaced, with the board taken up to the cornice rather than through it so the original run is kept intact.
Large houses, the commons, and the conservation areas
Chislehurst is big detached and semi-detached housing, a lot of it Victorian and Edwardian, set around the commons and through several conservation areas. The rooms are larger than anything else on this patch, the ceilings are higher, and both of those change the trade rather than just the quantity.
A four metre wide ceiling in a room with a three metre head height is not a bigger version of a normal one. It is worked off a hop-up or a tower rather than a step, it takes longer to get over before the material goes off, and a wave in it is visible from the far end of a room that long in a way it never is in a box bedroom. Those rooms are set out with a datum and ruled off, not floated by eye.
The period detail is the other half of it. Deep run cornice, ceiling roses, arched openings and picture rails are still in place in a lot of these houses, and the cost of a job here is mostly in the cutting in around them rather than in the flat area between. That gets priced as the slow work it is at the visit, which is why nothing here is priced off a photograph and a room size.
Access is easier here than anywhere else on the patch and it is worth saying so, because it is one of the few places where it genuinely helps the price. Most of these houses have a drive, there is somewhere to put a skip, and a van can sit on the frontage for a week without a permit. On a whole-house job that is several hours a week that goes into the work rather than into carrying things from two streets away.
“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
