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
Newer housing than the London end
Dartford and the development around it is noticeably newer than the Bromley and Lewisham end of the patch. There is Victorian and interwar stock in the older centre, but a large share of the housing is postwar, and a very large share of what has gone up in the last twenty years is new build on former industrial land.
That changes the mix of work. New build and recent housing means plasterboard throughout, tape and jointed or skimmed, and the jobs are more often extensions, conversions and finishing out than they are repairs to hundred year old plaster.
More screeding, and more new floors
Newer stock and more new work means more floor screeding. An extension floor that has to meet the existing hall, a through room where two levels have to become one, or underfloor heating that needs covering at the right depth.
The level is set off the doorways and the existing finished floor before anything is mixed, and the drying time gets said at the estimate rather than the week the flooring is booked. A traditional screed at a normal domestic depth is comfortably over a month before it takes a covering.
Rendering on newer walls
A lot of the newer housing and the extensions on it are blockwork, which wants rendering rather than pointing. Beads first, mesh bedded into the basecoat and taken diagonally across every window and door corner, then the finish.
Whether that finish is sand and cement to be painted or a through coloured system that is not is a real decision with a real cost difference, and both prices get put in front of you rather than one being assumed.
New build, extensions, and the cracks that come with both
Dartford is the newest housing on this patch by a distance: large postwar estates, a great deal of nineties and two thousands development, and the Ebbsfleet and Stone growth areas still going up. That means plasterboard and tape-and-joint rather than lath and lime, and a completely different set of problems.
New houses move. A modern timber or light steel frame dries out and settles for the first two years, and the result is hairline cracking along board joints, at ceiling-to-wall junctions and around openings. Filling it while the building is still moving means filling it again. The honest answer on a house under two years old is often to wait, get the developer back under the warranty where one applies, and do it once.
The other constant here is the extension and the knock-through. Where a new rear extension meets the original house there is a junction between two structures on different foundations, and it will always want to move a little. That joint gets a movement bead or a proper scrimmed and taped detail rather than being filled solid and skimmed over, because filled solid it cracks in a straight line exactly where the two buildings meet, and it does it every year.
Access is generally the easiest part of working here. The estates were laid out with parking in mind, most properties have a drive or an allocated bay, and there is usually somewhere a skip can legally stand. That is worth having on a refurbishment, where the difference between carrying waste out through a house and dropping it straight into a skip at the door is most of a day over the length of a job.
“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
